I was thinking more of Kallis's batting response. Whether he'll try and now hit three singles in an over.

Har. Har.

I'm starting to get cricket jokes; this is a major breakthrough.

Well, Kallis managed a single six and was out next ball.

Bangalore 24/3 after 5 overs.

What the hell is going on with Middlesex's kit? I was almost as flabbergasted at Strauss' innings as the picture that accompanied it:

How can Northern Rock still afford to sponsor a sports team? More to the point, WHY would Northern Rock now be sponsoring a sports team?

Does anyone fancy joining our works Fantasy Cricket Superleague, done through the Telegraph website? Points are scored from the County Cricket (League, Twenty20, Pr40 and one-dayers) We need a few more teams involved so we get a few trophies for the winner.

PM me if interested.

Thanks.

This report in the Guardian has caused me a certain amount of concern. For the first time I get a clear vision of how everything I like about the game is going to be swept away in pursuit of money.

What really worries me, though, is that this six-team regional Twenty20 might prove to be very popular. I wouldn't go but if, say, London had Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting then plenty of people would, wouldn't they? But it's just so Harlem fucking Globetrotters.

And the idea of joining with Lancashire is just anathema...

By the way, Hoggard's now taken all six Hampshire wickets to fall. What's the follow-on mark in county cricket these days?

The 18 counties are not going to vote for their own destruction. I think the Twenty20 Premiership will have to exist above and beyond the current structure.

There was talk of a winter league a year or so ago, a kind of traveling global Twenty20 road show playing in covered stadiums around the world. The Amsterdam ArenA was listed as one possible venue.

It's 150 behind, GO.

I like Twenty20, meself, but I do fear we're heading for the Rugby League-isation of cricket, big time, now.

I'd like the counties to stay, partly in acknowledgement of cricket's provincial and even rural strengths. Not everything has to be in big cities. This might sound odd from someone who's always banging on about how Essex should be playing back at Ilford and Leyton, but cricket without its visits to Cheltenham and Worcester and the likes would lose a hell of a lot.

E10 Rifle wrote:

QUOTE:
It's 150 behind, GO.

It was fairly academic, 'cos they were 239 behind. So they're following on, but it's fucking raining...

Are Middlesex so skint that they've bought old Dulwich Hamlet shirts?

Anyway, cricket. Is this the place to talk about the political economy of cricket?

I've always had a soft spot for country cricket in that most counties are mutual societies, much like member association clubs in football (Barca, Real Madrid, most bundesliga etc). It's noticeable that the profiteering going on in football, such as asset-strips of ground have been absent in cricket, not least because it can't be done here.

At the same time, you have a sense of that world disappearing, all the same, because it was swept away by dirty commerce. The counties are an anachronism in many respects (as are the county FAs in England for exactly the same reasons) and conurbation-based teams seems to chime better with most people's senses of identity. And the fact that the work-life balance in the UK is so fucked is always going to hurt a sport based on committment as cricket is.

But why should it change? The counties are owned by people who aren't thrusting types wanting global domination. They seem reasonably happy with their lot. There's lots of fans who might not get to grounds much, but are passionate about their county team, so why the fuck should they change? It seems like a takeover by filthy lucre, in some misguided bollocks about 'growing the sport'. having seen where that leads in football, it all seems, well, just very very sad.

I would like to formally register my support for the county of Coventryshire.

However, before comitting myself to a season ticket purchase or anything, I would just like to confirm that there are no relegation battles in county cricket? Its just that my paranoia / apoplexy muscle could do with a rest during the summer.

First, welcome to OTF SBS, secondly you make an interesting point about the lack of relegation. If one team ran away with the competition you could end up with a lot of dead rubbers by two thirds of the way into the season.

Yorkshire and Lancashire have rejected talk of a merger for a new Twenty20 competition. Not exactly encouraging news for the smaller counties, though.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand tourists are getting a batting lesson from a team who haven't been able to buy a win so far this season. This is only Tredwell's second first-class ton.

Glory Be! Glamorgan have won a game.

Actually feeling almost optimistic this season. Wood and Dalrymple are solid players, Gillespie is a good choice of overseas player, Powell, Wharf and Harrison are back fit.

We may well manage to finish as high as 6th in Division 2. Can't see us doing much in the one-dayers though.