Whilst Mohammad Aamer has been castigated for appearing as a ringer in spite of his worldwide ban, the ECB has actively sought to get Andrew Strauss a guest appearance for Somerset in their forthcoming tour match against India.
Joking aside however, the move to help Strauss recover from a shocking return of 26 runs in the three Test series with Sri Lanka is a sad indictment of a ridiculous county schedule.
The County Championship should be the crown jewels of the domestic programme (ask any county coach which competition they want to win most), yet it has been treated worse than Simon Katich (by Cricket Australia) by an ECB increasingly in thrall to the irritating Twenty 20 form of the game.
This season has seen half of the County Championship programme crammed into April and May, a brief resumption now whilst the never-ending story that is the t20 takes precedent and then the rest of the matches between July and September.
If it hadn’t been for some unseasonably fine weather in April and May, the whole thing could have been an unmitigated disaster. Not for the first time, the ECB has been incredibly lucky.
However, the schedule means that Strauss would only have had the one First-Class match for Middlesex before the 1st Test against India starts on 21st July. His brief sojourn to Somerset therefore makes perfect sense. Maybe spending time with Marcus Trescothick, who has been in prolific form again this season, will rub off favourably on the England captain’s form.
The schedule also means that the selectors were not able to take the opportunity to try out new players like Alex Hales and James Taylor in the ODI series with Sri Lanka for fear of making the senior players rusty. If the likes of Kevin Pietersen and James Anderson could have played two or three Championship matches for Surrey and Lancashire respectively instead then the ODI squad may have had a fresher look about it.
The time has come for the ECB to give primacy to the Championship and put fads like Twenty 20 where it belongs – on the sidelines. Unfortunately, money talks and with many counties struggling to stay afloat, the marketing men responsible for county cricket will continue to try and appeal to those that don’t even like the sport over proper cricket fans.
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Zaheer will be looking forward to trouble the left-hander Strauss
Posted by: Riya Sen Photos | Monday, July 18, 2011 at 13:08