Jimmy Anyon leaves the club

As expected Jimmy Anyon has left the club after signing a 2 year deal with Sussex. Good luck to Jimmy with his new club!

2010 fixture list

Is available here as a PDF, i'll update my iCal calendar later on.

Anyon to go to Sussex

Out of favour seamer Jimmy Anyon could be on his way to Sussex. He has already been told by the KOS that he is not in the boss' future plans for the Bears so has been looking for a way out. It did seem all of the possible escape routes had been closed but Sussex missing out on Hoggard has now sent them after Anyon.

TV deals

I didn't know whether i should comment on the current furore over the Ashes becoming a listed event and thus available to free-to-air TV only from 2017 or not. It is one of those things that i feel my opinion about (yes it should be FTA) is probably not the right decision for the good of the game (as in they need the money). So instead of coming down firmly on one side of the arguement or the other i will present a series of talking points. The Ashes is the "biggie" and without that Sky is likely to lose a lot of interest in cricket. That means of course they are likely to want to pay less overall for all the other rights.

• Which of course means the overemphasis on the Ashes is coming home to roost a bit. But as i wrote earlier in the year it just does have that magic you can't resist...
• Would FTA broadcasters be that interested in the Ashes if England hadn't won the home series?
• And if FTA broadcasters are that interested in cricket why didn't they bid the last time the rights were up for renewal. 
• If the Ashes are cherrypicked by a broadcaster who doesn't really care about the rest then surely that is penalising Sky who have shown a terrific commitment to showing cricket on TV, not just England, but domestic, women's even some club cricket.
• However putting all of your eggs in one Sky basket is a shame as cricket, with it's myriad of competitions, you would think would be tailor-made to be spread across various networks. T20 for example i feel would be brilliant for C4 if they rocked it up a bit more or even BBC3.
• Although money gained from Sky would be less there will be the benefit from increased exposure and increased advertising revenue. The ECB are wailing about the end of the world but its not here yet.
• The next generation of fans need to be captured (i personally became a cricket fan through watching the old Sunday league on BBC2 in the early 1980s) and Sky Sports subscribers are a minority however the minority can be underestimated. It is a minority but not a minute ..er.. minority.
  

Want to learn Leg Spin? Shane Warne Teaches you

Vote for Naq!

Big Hitter magazine is running a poll for the best English qualified player of Asian heritage. I voted for Naqaash Tahir who is a good shout for the best considering he was easily the best performing British-Asian bowler last year. Please vote!

Council approves loan for redevelopment

Birmingham City Council have approved a £20 million loan to the club for their redevelopment. Well approved as long as any legal challenges are overcome. If a judicial review into the planning permission goes against the club then the loan is off and... well lets not go into that right now.

HK 6s

No Warwickshire players in the England side this time (Maddy and Trott have done this in the past) in the HK 6s Tournament which England won last year. This year it was South Africa vs the hosts in the final...

2010 Membership

2010 Memberships are now on sale, i await my renewal details through the post (so that means they may be some time). Membership fees have been frozen for those who renew before February 1st, which is nice.

Bears accused of "disingenous cant"

Warwickshire County Cricket Club have been accused by the Cannon Hill Neighbourhood Forum of hoodwinking the Council with "disingenous cant". I must admit i thought "cant" was a mis-spelt swear word* at first but cant means "insincere, esp. conventional expressions of enthusiasm for high ideals, goodness, or piety" or perhaps more likely/sinisterly "the private language of the underworld".

The forum are trying to overturn the planning permission given to the club for their ground redevelopment. They accuse the club of backtracking on it's promises. The council meanwhile are expected to approve a £20 million loan today.

* so i went to a run-down war-zone inner-city comprehensive, so what?!