English Domestic Season 2024

A slightly left field War of The Roses in the final round of championship matches with Lancashire likely to be relegated to Division 2 and Yorkshire favourites for the second promotion place to Division 1.

However, it will be a small miracle of any of the games escape some sort of weather interruption.

Close to finishing? What still needs to be decided?

Just the promotion and relegation I think. Notts doing their best to shoot themselves in the foot, but dismal weather forecasts could impact any chance of decisive results.

Still don’t think we’ve quite had an English season run into October yet…

Which year was it that T20 Finals day was played on the first Saturday in October - 2020?

Basil wrote:Which year was it that T20 Finals day was played on the first Saturday in October - 2020?

Well yeah, maybe it happened in one of the Covid years, but that wasn’t a pre-planned schedule…

Norfolk Ian Goode wrote:Just the promotion and relegation I think. Notts doing their best to shoot themselves in the foot, but dismal weather forecasts could impact any chance of decisive results.

Still don’t think we’ve quite had an English season run into October yet…

Kent and Lancashire, once powerhouses, look like they’re in line for relegation if I’m reading the tables correctly. There can’t be many more games to go.

lardbucket wrote:

Norfolk Ian Goode wrote:Just the promotion and relegation I think. Notts doing their best to shoot themselves in the foot, but dismal weather forecasts could impact any chance of decisive results.

Still don’t think we’ve quite had an English season run into October yet…

Kent and Lancashire, once powerhouses, look like they’re in line for relegation if I’m reading the tables correctly. There can’t be many more games to go.

This is the final round of matches. Most will get a full day's play in today, but the forecast for tomorrow is bad, so multiple draws incoming.

That's the 2024 season done and dusted then. Surrey, county champions; Kent and Lancashire relegated to Division 2; Yorkshire and Sussex promoted to Division 1.

Best ever performance for Worcestershire since the championship was split into 2 divisions by finishing 6th.

One Rose up, one Rose down.

… and Kent down. How the mighty have fallen.

Do players with Test aspirations commonly change Counties to get Division 1 exposure?

lardbucket wrote:One Rose up, one Rose down.

… and Kent down. How the mighty have fallen.

Do players with Test aspirations commonly change Counties to get Division 1 exposure?

There was a bit of that a few years back, though they never closed the door on Division 2 players, but I think the last few years have pretty much broken that link anyway, with Test selectors picking on raw potential as opposed to those who rack up decent stats in May and September conditions with very little of the type of bowling likely to be seen at the highest level.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/hampshire-sell-majority-stake-to-gmr-group-owners-of-delhi-capitals-1451240

and so it begins, the first domino to fall.

I note that Surrey* have now won 3 Championships in a row, under the leadership of Rory Burns.

Yorkshire under Brian Close were the last to achieve this in England.

* Hot Surrey Chat, for those that remember

That goes back to the late ‘60s, didn’t realise it had been quite that long since a three-peat winner!

Surrey also won 3 in 4 years in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s under Adam Hollioake’s captaincy. Keith Fletcher and Graham Gooch’s Essex did likewise in the 80s. Those are the closest attempts in the intervening years, though Surrey’s seven in a row in the ‘50s will surely never be matched…

Well done to Surrey.

And congrats to Sussex on the Div 2 title and their promotion. And I guess all Yorkies will be rejoicing in their promotion as well.

Kent and Lancs go down.

Nath wrote:https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/hampshire-sell-majority-stake-to-gmr-group-owners-of-delhi-capitals-1451240

and so it begins, the first domino to fall.

Sold for £120 million. That'll keep Rod Bransgrove in socks for a year or two.

Jay Dello’s team, IIRC.

Indeed

Some stats for Oz in the CC 2024

Batters
Handscomb [leics] 894 at 74
Marnus [glam] 468 at 58
Webster [gloucs] 233 at 58
D Hughes [sx] 340 at 56
Bancroft [gloucs] 832 at 49
Harris [leics] 388 at 43
Renshaw [som] 414 at 37

bowlers

Worrall [sur] 52 at 16
McAndrew [sx] 11 at 17
Siddle [dur] 13 at 18
Webster [gloucs] 16 at 21
Van der gugten [glam] 30 at 22
Lyon [lancs] 26 at 30
Abbot [sur] 10 at 31
Stobo [kt] 6 at 56
Tremain [nrth] 2 at 180

by comparison some stats for england bowlers in the CC whove played for or are england squads ATM

Stone [nott] 11 at 52
R ahmed [leics] 13 at 60
Mahmood [lancs] 2 at 86
Bash [various] 6 at 90
Carse [dur] 4 at 106
Hull [leics] 2 at 182
Woakes [wark] 1 at 220

The Aussies were mostly playing in Div 2 by the looks of that.

so is County Cricket still the best breeding ground for English test selection? or are the selections more likely to pick a player type to fit the needs and/or pick on other form (ODI/T20) for those who are unavailable for county?

Picking players on potential is not new. Trescothick and Vaughan were picked because Duncan Fletcher had seen them play and liked what he saw.

What is different now is that the selectors appear to have a template for the type of test team they want to field and are prepared to ignore performance in the county game.

I'm not sure that the selection policy for white ball cricket is as coherent.

Dawsons figures in the CC 2024, 956 runs at 59 and 54wkts at 25. Both Ben Coad [Yk]  and Sam Cook [Esx] have remarkable FC bowling averages for english seamers in the current era, but never come close to selection whereas Crawleys FC av is only 32, exactly the same as his test av.

Yeah, you can’t pick players based on their ability against/to deliver 75mph seam on green spring/autumn pitches. CC averages mean very little these days in terms of who is a potential Test player (Rory Burns was perhaps the last one picked on weight of county runs, and didn’t quite cut it).

The point about the likes of Trescothick and Vaughan 25 years ago does illustrate picking on potential/raw materials is nothing new, back then though it was somewhat enforced as the county averages were topped year after year by overseas players plus Hick and Ramprakash!

So, that's Tom Hinley and Fateh Singh signed for next season. That'll be the spin bowling sorted then.