Despite competition from the IPL, a severe financial crisis and having most of its matches shunted from mid-summer in favour of an over-elongated Twenty 20 competition, the latest round of County Championship games showed that reports of its imminent death have been greatly exaggerated.
As county aficionados who have had the good fortune to witness events will concur, the matches that finished on Friday or Saturday threw up a number of classics to emphasise just why first-class cricket will always surpass its impatient limited overs cousins.
Terrific turnarounds
Reigning champions Nottinghamshire (193 runs behind), Sussex (98) and Warwickshire (174) all faced big 1st innings deficits but all came back to win.
Thrilling run chases
Sussex (309) and Middlesex (328) both thrillingly chased down 300+ victory targets against Durham and Derbyshire respectively in topsy-turvy games at Chester-le-Street and Derby.
Shocks
Pre-season Division 1 favourites Somerset were on the receiving end of a second successive innings defeat, this time against Lancashire at Liverpool. Unpredictability is another facet of the County Championship – can you imagine Manchester United losing their first two games of the season heavily?
God loves County Cricket
Despite the ridiculously early start to the season, the Gods have been kind with the weather - for instance whilst the South of France (and we should know) experienced a deluge yesterday, the sun shone on England's green and pleasant cricket fields.
New stars
Wherever you looked, young players are really making their mark. A second successive double hundred from Varun Chopra and six wickets from Chris Woakes saw Warwickshire turn the tables on Worcestershire. 20 year old Luke Wells scored a maiden first-class hundred in Sussex’ssuccessful run chase and the likes of Alex Hales, Nathan Buck, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid and seventeen year old Reece Topley have also starred so far this season. The future does indeed look bright for England.
There’s certainly life in the old dog yet.
Where next?
County Championship XI of the week #2
County Championship XI of the week #1
Ten to watch in 2011: Adam Lyth, Jade Dernbach, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Samit Patel, Alex Hales, Danny Briggs, Ben Stokes, James Harris, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid
An England under-23 XI - the future looks bright
County Championship Previews - Division 2: Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Surrey
County Championship Previews - Division 1: Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Hampshire, Durham
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It has been an excellent start, although I think I'm slightly biased as a Warwickshire fan.
I do believe we have been massively helped by the weather though, as I dread to think what the media reaction would have been had these games being played in colder temperatures and with plenty of rain ruining them.
We would have heard all the usual stuff reported in the media about the end of the county championship, as it is being sacrificed for the T20 in June, the IPL is better, etc, etc.
Going back to Warwickshire, you were probably not alone in thinking they would go down this season, and they still might.
But I did believe they would be hard pushed to have as bad a season with the bat again, as they did last year.
Ashley Giles did take steps to strengthen the batting over the winter, if he hadn't of done, I'd have to worry about his credentials as director of cricket and England selector.
So far so good, but Chopra won't get a double hundred every week and Westwood is still struggling, so we need Porterfield to settle in and hopefully Yousuf will get some runs, although I do believe he leaves sometime in May.
Posted by: Dean @ Cricket Betting Blog | Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 11:40
The weather has been fantastic - this weekend it was better in England than the South of France; and I should know as I got caught in a deluge on Saturday afternoon!
Warwickshire have been impressive so far, but as you say Chopra cant keep hitting double hundreds and if Woakes carries on the way he has to date he will be in the England side. But relegation looks unlikely in my view.
Posted by: The Reverse Sweep | Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 07:22
Sussex (309) and Middlesex (328) both thrillingly chased down 300+ victory targets against Durham and Derbyshire respectively in topsy-turvy games at Chester-le-Street and Derby.
Posted by: yüz maskeleri | Thursday, September 01, 2011 at 22:18