What’s my na-a-a-a-ame, na-a-a-a-ame…

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Friends Provident Group Stage, 20th April – 28th May

20th April 2008. A historic day for Yorkshire CCC, as it was the first time we took the field in a county game under our new sponsored one day name – “Yorkshire Carnegie”. Nice that we have a committee of our betters able to make decisions like that, without having to waste a lot of time and energy checking with the peons first. Knowing, as they do, that the change is in everyone’s best interest, and, in fact, fits so seamlessly with our history, it’s a surprise Lord Hawke never called us “t’Co-Op All-Stars” to begin with.

But don’t think it’s just the team that’s being asked to undergo an identity makeover; management have been prepared to do their share of placating our business sponsors as well. So next time you see the Chief Exec or Committee Chairman round and about the ground, feel free to walk up and refer to them by their new sponsored names: Stewart “Chocolate HobNob” Regan and Colin “Leather Pro Abdominal Guard, for all your groin protection needs” Graves. They won’t mind – it’s for the good of the club.

Colin Graves: Word up!

Meanwhile back on the field of play, “Carnegie”, or as I’m going to nickname them, “Yorkshire”, were continuing their quest to compete in a limited overs tournament without leaving our supporters feeling traumatised and humiliated.

In general we seem to be slowly moving in the right direction since the nadir of our recent one day performances – 2006’s Pro40 campaign; which can be measured on the trauma scale as something akin to being touched by a strange man on the night bus. With this year’s last minute failure to secure a home tie for our FP quarterfinal being more like the uncomfortable feeling that you’ve paid more than your fair share on a works outing to a restaurant. Although I suppose for many Yorkshiremen, having their wallet emptied is “being touched in your special area”.

Tell tale bulge in the trousers: A Yorkshireman ’s ”Special Area”

Early season cricket in the north of the country can be a grim business. With the limited overs version of the game in particular far removed from the swagger and fireworks of batting on the international stage. You only have to quickly glance at the scorecards from Yorkshires games to see how ball dominated bat in the group stage of this competition, with Yorkshire’s opponents being bowled out in fifty overs five times out of seven, twice for less than a hundred.

As you’d expect in what were generally murky conditions, it was the seamers, Gough, Mags, Bresnan and Pyrah who did most of the damage, managing 47 wickets between them at less than 17 runs each. Nice to see the pre-season directive, “No more pies”, has been observed in one sense at least.

Obviously our batsmen struggled in the testing conditions too. With our top order getting out for single figures so often, a couple of the scorecards look like we’re trying to spell out a premium rate phone line. As we’ve come to expect, the rock our innings where so often built around was Jacques Rudolph. He might have taken Lumb’s place in the batting line-up, but its Lehmann’s runs he scoring.

Rudolph: Like Lehmann, except he doesn’t make the club dietician cry

The rest of the batting never really got going. There where signs that Gale could be the fast scoring opener we’re looking for, but it wasn’t until Craig White was moved to the top of the innings to play an anchor role, that we seemed to being getting the balance right.

Which brings me back to a subject I touched on when writing about our first game in the FP Trophy this year: the twenty overs of powerplays. I’m still not convinced they work during the early season in England.

The principle is sound enough. Mirror the format and regulations of international 50 over cricket and we’ll produce players who are better equipped to make the step up. The trouble is the powerplays have almost the opposite effect to the one intended.

In international cricket, the pitches are flatter and the ball isn’t moving so much in the air or off the seam, so batsmen can be aggressive from the start and take advantage of the fielding restrictions. But on an overcast April day in England the ball is doing far too much to play like that. As a result, sides see out the first 20 overs, knowing they will be bowled by the oppositions best seamers and that the back up bowlers will be brought on for the next twenty. The fielding captain could twist rather than stick and bowl one or two through their full ten, but it’s a brave man who takes that risk.

So instead of the powerplays adding excitement to a game, they make it predictable. The first twenty overs are played out, trying to loose as few wickets as possible, the next twenty are milked against the back up bowlers and spinners, leaving the final ten for the real onslaught. How many times this season have we seen a side lose wickets early on only to get themselves back into the game by being able to tread water for the middle part of their innings? Too many.

People who say that the first class game is threatened by 20/20, should spend some time watching county cricket. It’s the 50 overs game that has become predictable and safe, not the championship.

Si’thee later,

Len

~ by lentheyorkshirekitman on 30 May, 2008.