The All New Cricket Thread!

[d-d-d-dAz]

The County Championship is back!

I'm a Surrey fan, or should be, but it feels weird haunting the halls of somewhere you used to work so got myself a Middlesex membership for the season and took myself off to Lords for a few hours today.

Sat in the sun for the morning session, had a shawarma, pint and a read of my book at lunch and nearly dozed off in the shade in the afternoon session. 

Barely anything happened on the pitch, beside a couple of nice boundaries. The pitch was doing nothing for either bat or ball.

Bliss.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I know we have some Somerset fans in here, Pato Banton flaying 371 against Worcestershire in double quick time is an impressive start to the season. 

[Fog Dude]

47 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I know we have some Somerset fans in here, Pato Banton flaying 371 against Worcestershire in double quick time is an impressive start to the season. 

Wore my replica one-day jersey to Colwyn Bay CC this week and it seems to have brought us luck so far. That's a Bubblin' Hot performance in the opener!

[JNLister]

Looking forward to the new season where I’ll mainly be going to womens matches (cheaper, more accessible, easier to see top stars regularly.) There’s a big overhaul this year as they’ve dropped the previous system of eight regional professional teams and instead gone back to it being county based. It’s as follows:

 

Tier One, fully professional (15 pros per squad), eight selected counties (one from each of the old regiona) with the same Vitality Blast T20/Metro Bank One Day Cup as in the men’s game.

Tier Two, amateur but some money in the clubs for staff, training, etc. The 10 other ‘major counties’.

Tier Three, amateur, the same counties in the National Counties mens game (aka the old minor countries).

There’s also an FA Cup style knock-out T20 tournament will all the counties, though with byes and some clearly regionally-rigged draws in the first couple of rounds so you don’t get Cornwall having to traipse up to Cumbria.

I’ll be going to a whole bunch of games as I’ve got a womens club membership at Somerset which has the ridiculous price of £45 (reduced to £25 because I’m a former member of Western Storm, the previous regional side) which covers all their home One Day Cup games, all their home T20 games that aren’t doubleheaders with the men, plus the England-West Indies womens match and the finals day of the County Cup which is at Taunton.

I’ll then also be going to a few County Cup/Tier Two games at Gloucestershire in Bristol. Rather bizarrely a scheduling clash means the Somerset-Durham county cup game is at Exmouth where my sister lives, so I’ll go down for that. And then I plan on seeing at least one Tier Three game for Devon who are playing all their home games at Budleigh Salterton where my mum lives.

Chuck in England-India at Bristol and a Hundred game at Cardiff and it should be quite the season.

 

On the other hand: 

Edited April 10, 2025 by JNLister

[Jesse]

Your post made me impulsively by a ticket for England Women's T20 against India at Old Trafford, having not watched cricket in years. Unfortunately I did it without checking the date and it's on the date of the one domestic work conference I get sent to every year - so fingers crossed I actually get to go.

Also looked into a membership but they don't separate memberships at Lancashire and it's too rich for my taste (same as a Sky Sports subscription)

[JNLister]

Shame about the membership as Lancashire (which was pretty much interchangeable with the northwest regional team) was already one of the best counties for making the womens team equivalent in treatment to the men (dedicated dressing room, play most games at Old Trafford, etc.) Individual games look pretty affordable though - £7 to £8 when it's not a doubleheader.

[Jesse]

Oh that's not too bad. I'll be honest, as someone who's been out of it for years I really struggled to navigate and understand what was what - was hoping for a big calendar or something but I need to figure out the difference between the RoseT20, The Hundred, and Vitality Blast.

I'm sure I'll manage it though!

EDIT: Okay, managed to actually get to a page that would show me the Women's fixtures at the venue and it's a lot more manageable now. Absolute faff to get there though so I'm bookmarking these or I'll never find them again

Edited April 10, 2025 by Jesse

[The Curious Orange]

On 4/6/2025 at 4:19 PM, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I know we have some Somerset fans in here, Pato Banton flaying 371 against Worcestershire in double quick time is an impressive start to the season. 

Feels like a missed an opportunity to use Bato Banton there.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Sometimes you do just knick the ball to slip for no reason. 

[Gus Mears]

On 4/6/2025 at 4:19 PM, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I know we have some Somerset fans in here, Pato Banton flaying 371 against Worcestershire in double quick time is an impressive start to the season. 

Damn right. And in classic Somerset fashion we still didn't win.

I'm fucking off down Oval this weekend to watch the heathens of Surrey vs the bastards of Hampshire. Hoping for a great game where both teams lose.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

23 minutes ago, Gus Mears said:

Damn right. And in classic Somerset fashion we still didn't win.

I'm fucking off down Oval this weekend to watch the heathens of Surrey vs the bastards of Hampshire. Hoping for a great game where both teams lose.

It's great supporting a team but nothing beats hatred of other teams. I always feel I want both sides to lose the Roses match. 

[Tamura]

6 hours ago, Gus Mears said:

Damn right. And in classic Somerset fashion we still didn't win.

You'd think a county previously captained by Brian Rose would know the benefits of an early declaration...

[Gus Mears]

I've got a backpack full of sandwiches and a scything hangover. It's 20 degrees and Kemar Roach is bowling ineffectually. Doesn't get much better as Saturdays go.

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, Gus Mears said:

I've got a backpack full of sandwiches and a scything hangover. It's 20 degrees and Kemar Roach is bowling ineffectually. Doesn't get much better as Saturdays go.

There's very little in the world more delightful than watching Kemar in full flow, though.

That line up of quicks that Surrey have (Kemar, Dan Worrall, Jordan Clark, Jamie Overton, Atkinson) are phenomenal. Add in Tom Lawes when he plays and that's been a real differentiator for them over the past three seasons.

[Gus Mears]

You're absolutely correct, and it's one of the many reasons I despise your club!

Cracking first session. About 12 runs. The strip is insane, groundsman has put it so side on that you've got the MCG's outfield one side of the wicket and my back garden on the other.