The new pavilion

I went and watched some of the last day of the match between Warwickshire & Sussex in the county championship today (which the Bears won not long after lunch). It was my first trip to Edgbaston since the opening of the new pavilion (though that was only Wednesday i believe). Very impressive it is too!

The old pavilion had been a crumbling disgrace to be honest so the amazing new facility just looks like it has come out of a new dimension. I really like the walkway under the pavilion which you travel through to get to your seat, its very futuristic and sci-fi like. Hey well i have an overactive imagination.

Whats happening on the pitch is very impressive too as Warwickshire racked up another win, they are in with a shout of the county championship which will be a great way to top off one of the most important years in the club's history.

Can we dream the impossible dream

Following the dramatic events in the Warwickshire 1st innings in their current match against Lankyshire at Edgbaston when the Bears amassed 113ao in reply to 354 (and 69 of those coming from Carter - no one else made double figures) the Bears looked to be in trouble to say the least.

Especially when the northerners scored 199 in their next innings and set the Bears an Earth shattering target of 441. No doubt the Bears felt like Liechtenstein having to face the Red Army in battle. They didn't get off to a good start either in what looked to be "interesting" conditions with 3 down in short order.

But cometh the hour cometh the... er... Trott! The Bears ended the day on 263-6 with Trott still there on 102*. 178 more to win but with only 4 wickets left... can we dream the impossible dream? You never know. Well i think this every time there is a lottery and i am not a millionaire yet so i am not getting my hopes up.

Bears vs Hampshire

Was at the ground today to see the first day (or session rather) of the Bears latest county championship match against Hampshire. Good entertainment too as Michael Carberry looked in good form but the Bears' bowlers also! Pics from the morning are here. Some very large drills appeared to be whirring away in the new development area, presumably drilling holes for the foundations? Certainly made plenty of racket anyway!

Gilo wants a 7 strong premiership

The King Of Spain wants the county championship to have a 7 team premiership and the other 11 teams in a first division. Its better than a conference idea anyway though why 7-11 and not 8-10 which would seem neater? Also do we have to copy the namby pamby idea of a "premiership" and a "first division" from football which logically doesn't make any sense and has always appauled me.

Conference call

Switching the county championship from 2 divisions to 3 conferences is being mooted again and may well happen this time. It is something i could live with as long as there were semis and a final to decide the county champions (3 conference winners and best runner up). A 5 day grand final at Lords at the end of August could be pretty good. I disagree with Rob Steen though in that the conferences should be regionally based and not randomly drawn every season. After a few years it could get boring seeing the same teams over and over again.

Whither the Kolpak

New Home Office rules will been the gradual demise of the Kolpak player in English county cricket. Good news for young English players. Good news for South African cricket probably as so many of the players come from there. Bad news for the Kolpak players themselves of course. Mixed news for county supporters as the new rules will mean genuine quality players like Dwayne Smith are ruled out though its no doubt good that the waves of SA journeymen coming here is over.

Bears vs Pears

The "must-win" game at the bottom of division 1, in football they have 6 pointers so i guess this is a 28 pointer. Play was delayed but started after 11 and lasted for an hour when curiously the players came off it seems because they thought it was going to rain.

Some more pics.

Game of death

The game against Yorkshire starting at Scarborough is (to lapse into footie speak) MASSIVE. Surely the Bears have to win if they are going to stay up in division 1. IR Bell returns after his Ashes glory though Rankin is out injured. Calum MacLeod is back after getting his action sorted out. The squad:

• Westwood *
• Botha
• Bell
• Frost
• Troughton
• Ambrose +
• Clarke
• Carter
• Woakes
• Sreesanth
• Tahir
• MacLeod

Strictly Come Opening Batsman

Warwickshire seem to have developed a new reality show called Strictly Come Opening Batsman where everyone seems to be given a go opening the batting for the Bears in County Championship matches. Westwood and Frost of course, Trott had a go i believe. Then Carter in the last game and now in the current game against Nottinghamshire Ant Botha is given his turn. He made 19 opening with the captain which doesn't sound that good but their opening partnership of 35 out of 214-9 at stumps was probably one of the better opening stands for some games!

Frosty gets a wicket!

Tony Frost has one of his occasional bowls in the current match against Hampshire and got his first wicket! Sean Ervine is the unlucky chap who may now turn up in pub quizzes and cricket trivia for years to come.

Debut 1st class ton for Woakes

Chris Woakes scored his debut 1st class ton in the county championship game against Hampshire. Still not out at the moment, his big partnership with Trotty is approaching 200.

Well done to Woakes-y, the next Botham/Flintoff i think. An all-rounder the common man can relate too. You read it here first.

Warks vs Sussex

Well day 2 saw a full day's play, though earlier on Warwickshire's batters probably wished it was pissing down again. It was very dodgy early on with the Bears at 16-3 at one stage. Trott and various partners helped steady the ship though and his mighty 166 took us to 349-9 at stumps.

Yasir Arafat bowls to Ian Bell

Jon Trott plays a shot while Peter Willey looks on.

Full photo set.

The day was definitely moist

It brightened up around noon and play had started so i went to the ground but by the time i got there it was raining again and play had stopped after 4 overs (Bears 5-1). Play did not resume despite the best efforts of the staff because of the returning rain.

Reducing the county championship?

Next season will be even more congested than usual because of the Champion's League and thus the fixture planners at the ECB are looking at "radical" ways to relieve it. One suggestion is to reduce the county championship to 14 games down from 16 for one season only.

But how can they possibly do this and retain the fairness and relevance of the county championship? 16 games means each of the 9 counties in the 2 divisions plays the other 8 teams home and away. Reducing the games means that this is no longer possible. What then happens to the concept of every team in a division playing each other and the best team at the end of it winning? Also how will they decide what are the missing games? Could some counties end up "lucky" in that their missing games are against the best teams in the divisions (and of course vice versa?) It is lunacy, but what do you really expect from the ECB?

Players may strike

No not Warwickshire bowlers striking wickets, that's a rarity in county championship games at least, but players could strike over controversial ECB plans to incentivise counties for fielding younger players which could leave older players (and that means players in their late 20s onwards) in the cold. Under the plans only 4 places for English qualified players over 26 will be available if the county still wants the full funding from the ECB. I hope these plans can be modified, the honest journeyman pro is one of the things that makes county cricket for me. People you can identify with.

Squad for CC game against Yorkshire

The next CC game starts tomorrow against Yorkshire (hopefully will still be play by Saturday!) The squad announced :

Ian Westwood (*)
Tony Frost
Ian Bell
Jonathan Trott
Jim Troughton
Tim Ambrose (+)
Rikki Clarke
Ant Botha
Jeetan Patel
Neil Carter
Chris Woakes
Boyd Rankin

Sadly it has been confirmed Darren Maddy is out for the rest of the season.

Warwickshire vs Hampshire CC1

The first home county championship game of the season, to many fans this is real cricket not the pjyama game. I like all forms to be honest but this is the best of the lot. And we had plenty of excitement this morning as Hampshire especially in the form of Michael Carberry (below) feasted on some poor Bears bowling especially from Rikki Clarke who seems badly out of form. One big six into the back of the Hollies was especially memorable. However he fell before lunch and the Bears staged a big time comeback after lunch with HAM (as the scoreboard calls them) currently on 301-7.

Andrew Miller made his county championship debut for the Bears and immediately impressed. He looks a good prospect for sure. Currently on 3-70, another one to watch. I took my camera again, here is the photo set. Only 81 photos this time!

Rankin could return vs Hampshire

Boyd Rankin, fresh(?) from his exploits for Ireland in the World Cup qualifiers, could start for the Bears in their first home county championship game of the season against Hampshire tomorrow. Jeetan Patel is still waiting for his visa to be sorted out so Ant Botha will have to see if he can find some form.

Jimmy Anyon and Tony Frost are fit though Neil Carter and captain Ian Westwood are still unavailable.

As for Hampshire well KP Nuts is busy in the IPL but not having the best of times.

IPL begins

Mumbai extinguished the Superkings (arf arf!) who had Flintoff in their ranks. The later game between Bangalore and Rajasthan pits KP Nuts against the only man in the universe with an ego bigger than his, SK Warne.

Meanwhile in Taunton i'm getting the impression the pitch is a little flat, Somerset made 672-4dec. Hildreth 303no. Warks 45-0 at tea.

Bears vs Somerset LVCC Day 2

I don't know if i will keep a posting on every day's play of every game, it'll probably depend on how busy i am at work.

Ian Bell has just reached his ton though Troughton fell on 77. Warks 226-4.

Update : Warks made an awesome 500ao. Bell 172, Ambrose 57, Woakes 63

Maximum batting points ahoy! Somerset in reply are 15-0