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While I will not be able to watch any of #PakvEng, I will be able to watch a smattering of other high quality cricket, as the final of the Ranji Trophy, India’s version of England’s County Championship, will be streamed live on bcci.tv.

As such, I thought I would do a preview of the match, I will start with a brief history of the competition:

While it is similar to the County Championship in that the matches are four-day, first-class matches, there is one major difference: a knockout competition at the end of the season decides the winner, instead of simply total points.

The format has changed several times throughout the years, currently there are two divisions, the Super League and the Plate League (division 1 and division 2, basically).

Each league is divided into two groups. The top three teams from the two groups in the Super League and the top two teams from the Plate League (decided with a four team knock out stage) play in a knock out tournament to decide the winner of the Ranji Trophy.

(The last place teams in each of the two groups in the Super League are relegated, the top two teams in the Plate League are promoted.)

(And I thought the Aussie Rules football format was overly complex.)

The league itself was formed in 1934 and is named after the wildly famous Indian cricketer, Ranjitsinhji.

Here is a great article on him. According to John Lord, author of the The Maharajahs, Ranjijitsinhji was “the first Indian of any kind to become universally known and popular.”  Neville Cardus, an English cricket writer, described him “the Midsummer night’s dream of cricket.”

He was also an Indian Prince, and represented India at the League of Nations.

Over the history of the tournament, Bombay/Mumbai has won a positively jaw dropping 39 of the competition’s 77 titles. Including 15 in a row between 1958 and 1973.

Both of those stats harken back to my posts on Surrey and their seven County Championships in a row; and Yorkshire’s 30 overall County titles.

In the former, I surmised that Surrey’s record surpassed the Celtics’s eight titles in a row, and other than that I had a difficult time finding a comparison.  Mumbai’s 15 in a row, however, no matter the quality of the league, is beyond impressive.

And regarding the former, again, no matter the league, winning 51% of the available titles in a league that has been around since the 1930s is the definition of domination.  Especially considering the next closest team, Delhi, only has seven titles to its name.

Despite the above, in comparison to La Liga and the Scottish Premiere League, the domination of Mumbai and Delhi of their league does not even approach the manner in which Barcelona and Real Madrid rule Spain’s first division (64% of the titles), or how Celtic and Rangers boss the SPL (85%.)

(Update: hat tip to @thecricketcouch (twitter, blog) for pointing out that John Wooden’s UCLA men’s basketball teams of the 60s and 70s deserved to be mentioned in the Surrey post, the Yorkshire post, and in this post.  Ten championships between 1963 and 1975, including seven in a row. Domination.)

So will Mumbai win number 40 this year?

Nope, they will be at home, watching the final on television, as they lost their semi-final match against Tamil Nadu in a tie-breaker.

In the final, Tamil Nadu will face last years champion, Rajasthan:

Rajasthan is an interesting story:  last year’s Ranji Trophy was the first in the club’s history (they had been runners up a painful 11 times before lifting the trophy.)  Even more interesting is that they started the season in the Plate League, the lower division.

This year Rajasthan played in the Super League, finishing third in Group A (Mumbai finished first) with record of played seven, won two, drawn five.   They finished level on points with Saurashtra and Utter Pradash – I am not sure what the tiebreaker is but I am guessing it’s either runs scored or head to head record or a combination of the two.

In the knockout stages, they defeated Hyderabad in the quarter-finals and Haryana in the semi-finals.  The former ended in a draw, with Rajasthan advancing on first innings runs scored; they won the semi-final outright by 64 runs.

Key players for Rajasthan this season include Robin Bist, who led the entire competition in runs scored this season with 885.  On the bowling side, the man to watch is Pankaj Singh, a right armed medium pacer.  He had the third highest wicket total in the league this season, with 32 – he also took 12 of Haryana’s wickets in his squad’s semi-final match.

Back to Tamil Nadu:  They have won the trophy twice, most recently in 1988, and have finished second 10 times.  This season, in the Super League, they won Group B outright with a record of played six, won one, drawn five.

In the quarter-finals they defeated Maharashtra via the tiebreaker and, as mentioned above, they defeated Mumbai in the semi-finals, again via first innings runs.

Tamil Nadu’s key players include Abhinav Mukund at the crease. He finished second in overall runs scored this season, and he also has 16 100s in only 88 first-class innings.

They only have one bowler that finished in the top 10 in wickets taken, though that might have something to do with the fact that Group B teams play one fewer game than Group A teams (making Mukund’s second place finish in runs scored even more impressive.)   One bowler to watch would be Lakshmipathy Balaji, he took four wickets in the first innings against Mumbai, while also restricting his opponents to a stingy 1.86 runs per over in his 16 overs, which at the end of the day probably won Tamil Nadu the match.

So who is going to win?

Well, hard to tell.  They did not face each other during the regular season, so a true head to head comparison is out the window.

Over the season, Rajasthan averaged 556 runs per game, while Tamil Nadu averaged 482.  Meanwhile the former conceded an average of 533 per game, while the latter conceded 393 per game.

The match is also being played at Tamil Nadu’s home ground, the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, so considering that along with the stats above, I predict the hosts to win in a squeaker.

First ball is at 10pm Minneapolis time on the 18th.

Hash tag…#ranjitrophyfinal? Let me know if someone comes up with something better.

Until next time.

I am home today, and therefore have the opportunity to watch the first ODI between South African and Sri Lanka.  It is the second innings, Sri Lanka are chasing 302, and they have already lost two of their openers.  So unless Chandimal and Sangakkara can steady the ship, this could be over pretty quickly.

I was however able to watch “Slinga” Malinga rip through South Africa’s tail – always a joy to watch him bowl (especially against tail enders.)

Cool stadium, by the way, at Paarl.  It is nestled in amongst the hills just northeast of Cape Town.

The ground seats 10,000, and it is full today – impressive for a week day.  (I say “seats” – but  it is mostly just a grassy hill overlooking the ground.)

Sri Lanka need six runs an over, very doable, hopefully they will make a game out of this, as it is not every day I can watch an entire ODI chase.

And speaking of Sri Lankan cricket:

During the Switch-Hit podcast a few weeks back, right after Sri Lanka defeated South Africa at Durban, the hosts mentioned how important it is for the future of world cricket to have a strong Sri Lanka, a strong West Indies, a strong Pakistan.

The latter two of those three nations will be facing England, the world test number one, for three tests a piece here in 2012, giving us all a great opportunity to see if the future of world cricket is bright or not.  If Pakistan can win one, or even two, in Dubai, and if the West Indies can travel to a damp England and win just one, I think it will be very good for this game we all love.

And even if England wins both series in a pair of white-washes, hopefully Pakistan and the Windies can at the very least give them a fight, something that didn’t happen for 386 days.

Which brings us nicely into a chance for a Limited Overs style preview of the Pakistan v England test series.

The first test starts on January 13th, the second starts on January 25th, and the third on February 3rd.

The first and third tests will be taking place at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, with the second taking place Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

(For information on the grounds, see this older post of mine.)

What can we expect from the weather?  Well, I have a feeling it will be hot, and dry, but not as hot as you would think – the forecasts calls for highs in the 70s for Saturday and Sunday, and not as dry as you might think, the humidity levels will be hovering in the 60% range.

This, of course, means the condition of the wicket will be a lot more of an issue than I had assumed.  I had assumed hot, dry, and flat, but we might get some cloud cover, might get some humidity, might get some cool mornings.  It should make for an interesting few days play.

The boys on Switch Hit also talked about the crowds, or lack thereof, expected for the matches.  I guess the ECB is giving tickets away for free, but I still expect both stadiums to be basically empty for all three matches, despite the presence of the Barmy Army.

I guess cricket is wildly popular in the middle east, and has a long and storied history in that region (more on that another day), but that fanaticism has yet to translate into people actually attending matches.

Personally, and I know it is an impossiblity, I just wish that these matches were being played in Islamabad (as does the whole of Pakistan, surely.)  That would make this series infinitely more exciting, and infinitely more challenging for England  – a real chance to prove they really the best test side in the world.

Also, unfortunately, the matches will not be available via Willow.tv here in the states, only in Canada.  Why this is, I don’t know, but considering Willow.tv is having its law firm contact those that watch cricket illegally, I think I will stick to following these matches via Cricinfo.  Too bad, though, as I think all three matches are going to be ragers.

Prediction?  It finishes 1-1.

Now back to watching Sri Lanka collapse, until next time.

There is a hole in my heart, where a test match used to be.

Really, though, I am feeling a little empty this morning.  Last night India finally completed its collapse, losing to a capable Australia by an innings and 68 runs.   And that’s it for that match, and for the series, and for the Australian Summer.  Meanwhile, in Capetown, South Africa completed a 10 wicket victory over Sri Lanka to wrap up that series.

I was thinking about writing a quick recap of the Sydney test, but what else is there to say, really?  Clarke was huge, as were Hilfenhaus and Ponting and Hussey.  India was poor, generally, with very few exceptions.

When you compare the fielding of the two sides, you can really start to see why the hosts demolished their guests.  Australia in the field were chatty and lively, chasing down boundaries even when the game was no longer in doubt.  Meanwhile India were deathly silent, and flat, and shoot: even a little lazy at times it seems.

Sure, when Clarke was batting, they were in the field for nearly 12 hours, and you have to forgive tired legs after all that time, but I don’t think that is necessarily a valid excuse.

I am not sure what the answer is for India.  A commentator yesterday suggested three days off: and I think that is a fine idea. Time away from cricket might be helpful, but it is not going to change anything.  They were poor, very poor, and putting Sharma in for Kohli in the 6th spot is not going to change that.  Tendulkar has an anvil hanging over his head in the shape of a Meaningless Milestone; Laxman looks tired; Sehwag looks old; Gambhir looks out of his depth; Kahn, their best bowler by a million miles, looks bored; and Dravid, the hero of the England series, is a shadow of his former self.

I think one thing they need is for Sachin to get his 100 and get that out of the way.  That might take a little of the weight off of the batsmen, which would help, but this team needs a complete overhaul.  Winning in the sub-continent is just not enough.

Get the boys home, and start anew.

Australia on the other hand are playing just good enough to beat a poor India.  I will be very curious to see how their young quicks do in the West Indies this spring, and whether or not the batsmen can continue to bat this well against bowling that is not, errr, India’s.

Anyway, a test match shaped hole in my heart, for sure.  I am already counting the days until the start of the next Australian Summer.

I feel like Legsidelizzy felt after the end of the England-India test at the Oval.

Sure, there are two more tests between Australia and Inda – in Perth and in Adelaide.  But the visitors will have to play out of their skins to win on those pitches, especially with Australia more than likely playing for draws.

And, sure, there are ODIs to come.  15 of them in fact in the tri-series featuring Australia and India and Sri Lanka starting in February.

Plus South Africa and Sri Lanka play five one-dayers of their own starting on January 11th.

But it’s just not the same.

And yeah there is the Pakistan-England test series upcoming, but I won’t be able to watch those matches because I don’t have Dish Network.  (Though the series is listed on Willow.tv’s website, but I am guessing that is Canada only.)

And then this morning I read this article about the death of County match radio commentary on the BBC, and my heart just broke.  One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is to listen to radio coverage of County matches online.

Sigh.

I am not in a good way, cricket wise, this morning.

But, hey, some things to look forward to:

Everyone’s favorite minnows, Zimbabwe, visit New Zealand later this month – the matches will be live on Willow and are on during prime time hours here in the states.  South Africa then visit the Kiwis in March for three tests (!!!), three ODIs, and three t20s.

Then, of course, it is April, and with that comes the English Summer: The County Championship starts on the 5th and the West Indies come in May.  (Cynical cricket fans, of which there are many, will tell you the England v West Indies series is going to be damp and boring, but I am an eternal optimist, and I am hoping for a rager.)  And then in July South Africa comes to town for three tests – those should be fantastic battles.

And, shoot, there is the IPL coming up in April, too.  I am not a fan of t20, but I have very soft spot in my heart for the IPL.

And that’s it for today.  I do have a post brewing for tonight and I should have plenty of time to write, since there is no cricket to watch damn it.

Until next time.

This particular post has been banging around inside my head for a few weeks now.

Well, truthfully, it has been in me I think in one way or another for my entire life, and just in the last few years it has been bubbling near the surface, but three events over the last few weeks have finally brought it up to breathe.

I am really setting this up to be something spectacular, aren’t I?

Unfortunately, it’s really not gong to be anything, but bear with me – and apologies ahead of time because this all a ramble, I have no outline, just a series of ideas.

My wife and I talk a lot about doing something that isn’t a 9-5 eking out of an existence.  Of actually spending our few short hours on this planet doing something we love for just enough money, instead of working jobs we hate to pay mortgages. To concentrate less on things, and more on moments.

Just last week, she (my wife) tweeted a link to a blog post about how to go about getting paid to do what you love, and it really amped me up about doing something that isn’t my mind numbing, soul sucking job, that there is a path there that I can follow if I want, that will lead me out of this cookie cutter existence does not make me all that happy.  Off of the grid, in a way, but still with electricity and high speed Internet.

We know several people who do this: painters, musicians, poets.  People who have figured it out.

Then, just this past weekend, I listened to an episode of the best podcast in the world that isn’t cricket related: Jordan, Jesse, Go.  The two hosts themselves are two examples of the people I described above: self made, off the map, on the fringes, not doing the put the khakis on and go to the office and make money for someone else thing.  Jordan is an aspiring comedy writer who puts food on the table by hosting podcasts and doing commercials and writing webisodes.  Jesse started his own public radio program distribution company (for lack of a better term.)

On the most recent episode there were talking about what it takes to create your ultimate creation.  To take something and put every last ounce of yourself into it.  Make it something you are so terribly proud of.  And if you can do that, if you can find the time and the means and the idea, then, well, you have accomplished what we are all here for to begin with.

And that brings me back to this blog.  Despite the factual errors, and the lapses in posting, and the god awful typos (I am actually an above average speller), I am really quite proud of this silly little blog, and I really feel it could be the one thing that I do, that I make perfect, that I put everything into, that I sacrifice for.

And I know to everyone reading this that that will sound ridiculous.  How many cricket blogs are there out there?  Thousands?  How many of those blogs are of SERIOUS high quality?  Scores?  What do I think that I, the silly American, could do differently?  I mean, this blog was started on a whim in April, and while I think I have offered something a bit different than most cricket blogs, the writing and the opinions and the knowledge contained here at LimitedOvers are extremely, well, limited.   In scope, in humor, in ideas.

But then I think about the article that I linked to above, and I ask myself:  what gets me really excited?  Well, lots of things: Arsenal Football Club, baseball, my studies, history, music, art, progressive politics…all things I have been incredibly passionate about at one point or another.

But then I think about it a little more, and with all honesty, two things jump out:

Travel.

And cricket.

The former is easy.  I mean, we all dream about traveling the world, seeing everything.  But when I fantasize about travel, I start to get really, really amped up about the prospect of setting foot on as many continents as possible.

I dream of London, and Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe, and India, and Tasmania, and South Africa and Dubai, and wait a minute: those are all related, aren’t they?  But how? Oh, that’s right: those are all places where they play test cricket.

This brings me to third recent event that inspired this post: the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

I have enjoyed watching this match so intensely, it almost shocks me a little.  But then I remember that I have always felt this way about cricket, ever since I “discovered” the sport back in 2007, much in the same way that Ben Franklin discovered lightning, or Newton gravity.

It gives me a thrill that I cannot explain, and that hasn’t gone away in the four (almost five) years since I first started reading about the sport.

And then I think: oh, to be in Melbourne for this match. To be at the MCG with 70,000 other cricket lovers.  And then I think, why do I have to be there as a fan?  Why can’t I be there as a writer?   Isn’t that the perfect marriage between the passions discussed above?  This blog, travel, and cricket?

I think about traveling from Melbourne to the U.A.E. to cover Pakistan-England, and then to Mumbai for the IPL, and then back to London for County Cricket.

But then I come stumbling back to earth.  I mean, isn’t that every cricket fan’s dream?  And who the fuck am I to think that I could be the one that does that for a living?

I am thirty-five years old, I am an American, I am newer to the sport than seven year olds in Islamabad who live, eat, and drink the game.

But then I think, why the fuck not?

It is what excites me, it is what I love to do, so why should I not at the very least give it a try.

I look at my wife, who out of nowhere started playing her songs in front of people, and then recorded an album, and now is recording another – and there is my inspiration! Right in front of me!

And I look at Jarrod Kimber, who admits that his whole cricketing empire began with a blog, which led to a book, and a column and a videocast and a podcast and now HE is in Melbourne, in the press box, drooling over Eddie Cowan and writing about cricket.

So I ask again: why not me?

And if the answer to that question is: no reason why not, then the next question is simply: what next?

Continue writing, I guess.  Make a real effort to do turn this into, well, a part time job that does not pay me.

In the above podcast, Jordan talks about how guys like Ryan Gosling and James Franco can afford to be Renaissance men because they will never, ever have to worry again about putting food on the table, which frees them up for learning the lute and getting multiple doctorates.   And, so, I guess I need to figure out what I am wasting my time on, and stop doing those things.  Simple, enough, eh?  But that’s really about it, for everyone who wants to do something: figure out what’s really important.

Also, maybe Conan said it best: “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

Anyway, apologies for the all too personal nature of what is supposedly a silly little cricket blog, but hopefully you will all read this and we can all become full time cricket bloggers together and talk about the sport we love over coffee in Kolkata.

Until next time, I am going to watch this test match.

Well, that sure was something, right?

Last evening came together just perfectly.  I had a free few hours, willow.tv, and the fourth day between Australia and New Zealand was brilliantly poised – and what a day it turned out to be!

It was the first time I had had the opportunity to watch a test match conclude in such thrilling form.  Sure, I have read along with Cricinfo’s ball-by-ball coverage, but it is just not the same, as much as I claimed it was previous to subscribing to Willow.tv.

The match was positively enthralling.  Every ball mattered.  As you might have seen over on Twitter, I was having the time of my life.

I am not going to write a match report, that is simply not my forte, but for me the heroes of the match were Bracewell, of course, as well as the debutant Coult, who took five for the Kiwis.  David Warner carried his bat for 123, but it just wasn’t enough.  And you have to feel for him, he left it all out there, only to watch one teammate after another lose their wicket to those hooping New Zealand deliveries.

For me, another standout was Brownlie, whose 56 in the first innings pulled New Zealand out of the fire, and Lyon, Australia’s number 11, who held on for dear life at the end, and showed courage in the face of a relentless attack.  He only scored nine, but that was more than the second innings scores of Clarke, Hussey, Siddle, Pattinson, and Starc COMBINED.

God bless that Hobart pitch, too, it was a fine stage and added some real personality to the match.  It is unfortunate that it is not hosting any tests during the Indian series, but that’s the problem with having so many wonderful grounds in Australia.

(On a side note, it was also quite the advertisement for Tasmania as a tourist destination, as Hobart has moved right up my list.  Someone, somewhere: pay me to travel the world and write about cricket, okay?)

At the end of the day, if organizers cannot see that this form of the sport is cricket at is absolute zenith, then they are blind.  And deaf.  And probably illiterate.

I don’t want to totter here, but wouldn’t be just wonderful if these two squads were set to play three more tests?  Oh well.

Finally, as my regular readers know, I have only been a fan of cricket for around five years, and this is the first time I have been able to enjoy an Australian summer properly with a Willow.tv subscription, and I must say that I am the brink of declaring Australia my country to support in world cricket* – only because I really do love that their test matches are on during prime time hours here in the states.

Even though I love watching India and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh play cricket, matches in SE Asia take place in the overnight hours.

And while I do love English cricket, their matches happen during work hours, and therefore are great to follow along with during the day, but are otherwise unwatchable.  Same with South Africa.

But Australia?  First ball around dinner time, lunch around 19:30, stumps a little after midnight.  Just about perfect.

Of course, New Zealand is in a similar time zone, but I don’t know, despite last night, they really do not have the history of their big brother to the north, when it comes to cricket anyway.

Looking through the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, Australia host India, of course, and that is the last test series they host until 2012, when South Africa and Sri Lanka visit for three tests each.   Then, of course, there is the Ashes in the fall of 2013, India returns the following year, and then the Aussies are home to the 2015 World Cup.

Whether or not I choose Australia, I have a ton of prime time cricket to enjoy going forward.

Tomorrow (or maybe tonight) the county write ups return, and the mystery is about to be solved.

Until next time.

*I know that “choosing” a nation to support is pretty silly, but come on, it is 2011, we are a global village.  Nationalism is so 20^th century.

I need to bang this out quickly, as there is an early start this morning in Hobart because of the rain yesterday, and I have dishes to do.

Okay, Somerset Cricket Club, surely they have won a bunch of County Championships, right?  I mean, their Wikipedia entry is seriously extensive and dense.

What?  Not a single one?

Yep, that’s right, the club formed in 1875, made its first class debut in 1882, was admitted the Championship in 1891, but has never won the county title.

Somerset did win a one-day double in 1979 (their first pieces of top division silverware) and they have won a handful of other one-title competitions, as well.  Most recently in 2005 when they won the t20 tournament.

120 years in the Championship and not a single title, I cannot even begin to calculate the odds.   And there are FOUR counties that have also not reached England’s cricketing pinnacle…almost unbelievable.

To gain some perspective, there are 15 NFL franchises that have never won a Super Bowl, but that competition has only existed in its current format since 1966.

In Major League Baseball there are of course several squads that have never won a World Series, but this is mostly due to expansion.  All 16 original Major League teams have each won at least two world titles.

Premiere League Football gets difficult, of course.  The Premiership as we know it has only existed since Sky Sports invented football in 1992.  And since then only four clubs have won titles.

Sky Sports aside, 23 different English clubs have won a first division trophy, and a great deal more teams than that have played at the top level in England.

I am unable to draw any conclusions from these comparisons, it is just really odd to me to think that four of the 18 counties in England that play in a tournament that has existed since 1890 have never won a title.

The Ground

Somerset has hosted cricket matches at 18 different grounds, but their headquarters is the County Ground in Taunton, Somerset, and it has been their home since 1882:

The ground holds 8,500 and hosted one day internationals in the 1999 world cup.

Somerset CCC has owned the ground outright since 1896.

Oh, and just like every other cricket ground in England (or so it seems) the County Ground has hosted an Elton John concert.

Notable Players

(Yes, I know, using titles like above is cheating, but I have completely run out of segues.)

When it comes to Somerset’s notable players, one player sticks out amongst the crowd:  Sir Ian Botham, the England all rounder who even has a stand named after him at the county’s home ground.

Botham played alongside Viv Richards at Somerset.  The West Indian was called by Wisden as the greatest one day cricketer of all time, and he scored almost 7,500 one day runs for the club, the most in its history.

The most first class runs?  Harold Gimblett, 21,142.

The most first class wickets?  Jack White, 2,165.

These days, the club features internationals such as Marcus Trescothick (their captain), Craig Kieswetter, and Kieron Pollard.

The last name on that list takes us into:

Back on the pitch:  India beat the West Indies in the 5th and final ODI, despite Mr. Pollard’s ingaugural ODI century.

Also, Pakistan are in the middle of crushing Bangladesh, and Australia look to finish off New Zealand starting in about 10 minutes, as long as the rains hold off, that is.

Until next time.

Okay, before getting on with Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, I wanted to say something about the two magnificent individual performances we saw on the cricket field yesterday:  James Pattinson and his second five wicket haul against New Zealand, and of course, Virender Sehwag’s awe-inspiring 219 against the West Indies.

However, better writers than me have already covered all of the necessary bases. There have been skeptics and worshippers aplenty  And I suggest you read them instead. Jarrod on Sehwag, for instance, is a good place to start.

I am much better off writing about the weather, and stadiums, and of course: counties:

Northamptonshire was formed in 1878, and was admitted to the Championship in 1905, the same year as their first class debut.

They also have never won a County title, and so the search for who has actually won all the titles continues.  They have enjoyed sporadic one-day success:  Friends Provident Trophies in 1976 and 1992, as well as a Benson and Hedges Cup title in 1980.  They did win the second division title in 2000, and they won some Minor County titles in the 19^th century, but that’s really about it, and no one really counts those, do they?

The club has finished bottom 11 times, and from May 1935 through May 1939, they did not win a single one of the 99 first class matches they played.

It’s not easy being a Northants’ fan, for sure.

They have made it to the knockout stage of England’s t20 competition five out of the eight years the tournament has existed, so there is some hope in that form of the game, going forward.  Maybe.

The Ground

The club has played the vast majority of their home matches at the County Ground in Northampton:

But they have also played first class matches at the Town Ground in Kettering, the School Ground in Wellingborough, the Town Ground in Peterborough, Wardown Park in Luton, the Ideal Clothiers Ground in Wellingborough, and Stowe School in, of course, Stowe.

In fact, counting one day and t-20 matches, they have played home matches at 16 different cricket grounds.

However, the County Ground has been their primary home since 1886.  It seats 7,500 and hosted two ODIs during the 1999 World Cup, including Bangladesh’s first ever World Cup victory.

Now lots of cricket grounds were also home to football teams.  But mostly this was just for a few years, and was usually in the 19^th century.  However, Northamptonshire Cricket Club shared the County Ground with Northampton Town F.C. for 97 years: from 1897 until 1994.  The club even played one season of First Division football at the ground in 1965-1966.   And, shoot, George Best and Manchester United played at the County Ground during an FA Cup match in 1970. (The Cobblers lost 8-2, a hauntingly familiar score for this Arsenal fan.)

Notable Players

The club has recently featured several famous Internationals:  Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Curtly Ambrose, and Sourav Ganguly.

Dennis Brooks scored the most first class runs for the club (28,980), and Nobby Clark took the most wickets (1,102).

Looking over their current squad, however, I don’t recognize a single name.  I know that is not exactly saying much, but that still might explain some of the problems they continue to have.

Wait, scratch my last: there are two players of note:  Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lankan quick bowler (maybe the best ever?) who played in 111 tests, taking 355 wickets before retiring from tests in 2009.  He only plays in Northant’s T20 matches, and is actually their opening batsman, and that explains their success in that format.

Also of note:  none other than Johan Botha, the South African medium-pacer cum off-spinner.  You might remember him from this post.  I know I sure do…

In a world with no rules, Captain Botha of the Border Men has one night, to break them all…

Until next time.

Again, another county that’s not the easiest to spell, and another county that has just simply not enjoyed a great deal of success, relatively speaking.

Tonight: Leicestershire.  Also tonight: beer.  Yes, I decide to finally imbibe while writing a post.  I am also enjoying a replay of the first South Africa – Australia test from a few weeks past.  All in all, a good head space to be in.

Leicestershire was formed in 1879, although records date cricket in the area as far back as 1776.  They made their first class debut in 1894 and were admitted to the Championship the following year.

Unfortunately, and this just seems to keep being the case for county after county, it took many, many years for the club to finally win a county title.  80 years to be exact.  Now, they did win two more in 1990s (’96 and ’98), as well as a couple Pro40 titles in 1974 and 1977 and a trio of t20 cups just in the last decade, most recently in 2011.

A quick note here on non-County Championship titles, or one day tournaments, as it is all very confusing.  There is the Pro40, the FP40, the Sunday League, the Benson & Hedges Cup…and so on.

The Sunday League was also known as the NatWest Pro40, a 40 over competition featuring all 18 counties.  It started in 1969 and was retired in 2009, replaced by the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition in 2010.

The FP40 has been around since 1963 and has also been known as the NatWest Trophy, the C&G Trophy, the Gillette Cup, and the Friends Provident Trophy.  It featured all 18 counties plus teams from Ireland and Scotland.  It was also replaced by the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition last season.

The CB 40 tournament was formed to consolidate the 40 over cricket cups into just one, as the evolution in popularity of t20 required a reduction in the number of matches required of the counties.  It features all 18 counties PLUS national teams from Scotland and the Netherlands PLUS the Unicorns, which is a club made up of cricketers not under a current county contract.

Now, the Benson & Hedges Cup was held between 1972 and 2002 and it seems it was the red headed step child of the one day competitions in England.   It changed formats several times over its 30 existence, and never quite reached the prestige of the other two cups.  I will however, continue to count it among the titles won by the counties I post about, even thought Wikipedia does not.

Finally, there is the t20 competition.  Which for now is rather straight forward.

Postscript: I am going to start using Wikipedia as the main source when it comes to titles won by a county, as Cricinfo’s write ups actually seem a bit obsolete on occasion.

Okay then, now back to Leicestershire.

It played its matches at Grace Road between 1877 and 1901, at which point they became rather nomadic, before finally returning to a refurbished ground in 1946.

Here’s the ground in 2007:

It seats 12,000 and has hosted several World Cup one day internationals.

Les Berry scored the most first class runs in the club’s history (30,143) while Ewart Astill took the the most first class wickets for them (2,131.) However the always trustworthy Sam Collins points his loyal readers to notable players such as Charles Palmer, a “small man with poor eyesight” who captained Leicestershire to third place in the Championship in 1953; and Tony Lock, the off spinner who captained them to second place in 1967.

James Whitaker, who only played one test and two ODIs for England but was a member of the 1986-987 Ashes winning side, played for Leicestshire his entire career (1983-1999), and was Leicestershire’s captain for the two county titles won in the 1990s.

Nowadays the side features internationals such as Matthew Hoggard and Abdul Razzaq.

Ladies and Gentlemen: the Foxes.

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Not a great deal happening on the pitch, though test cricket is back in force tomorrow.

Until next time.

 

Hampshire County Cricket Club, aka The Royals, is another club from the south of England where cricket was first played, and has been around in one form or another since the 18th century, but the club as we know it was formed in 1863 (the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg), and made their First Class debut in 1864.

However, they were demoted in the 1880s and were not admitted to the County Championship until 1895 – and it was another 66 years until they won their first title.

Hampshire won a second County title in 1979 thanks to an influx of West Indians into the side, and they have been mildly successful in the one day tournaments over the last few decades, as well, most recently winning a t20 cup in 2010.

Up until 2001, the county played their home matches at the County Ground in Southampton, at which time they moved into a state of the art new ground: The Rose Bowl:

The ground opened to much fanfare in 2001, it can seat 25,000, and it hosted its very first test this past summer during Sri Lanka’s tour of England.

Oh, it has also hosted concerts by the likes of REM and Oasis.

I don’t mean to editorialize, and I will be the first to admit that it is an impressive structure, and yes I know I have in the past drooled over newer cricket grounds in the U.A.E. …but the Rose Bowl just doesn’t do it for me.

I like cricket grounds in England to have history, and if not history then character.   And the Rose Bowl, I am sorry, really has neither.  It’s a freeway exit.

(Says the Arsenal fan.  The irony is literally dripping off my keyboard.)

Hampshire has been lucky enough to feature several quite famous players, Shane Warne notwithstanding.  Sam Collins, in his write up on Hampshire, points me to Phil Mead, who hit 48,892 runs for the club, the most in its history, including a mind boggling 138 hundreds.

On the bowling side, Malcolm Marshall played for Hampshire from 1979-1993.  Mr. Marshall needs no introduction to even the most naive of cricket fans, but for the layman: he was West Indian quick bowler, probably one of the finest pace bowlers to ever walk onto a cricket field, and part of West Indies test side that dominated the sport for 15 years.

He took 376 test wickets (his last wicket belonged to the one and only Graham Gooch) and over 1,600 first class crickets.

Sadly, he died very young, of cancer, in 1999.  He was only 41.

If I had a time machine, and could go back in time to watch one cricketer in his prime, I would be hard pressed not to pick Malcolm Marshall:

 

At the time of his death, he was a bowling coach for Hampshire County Cricket Club.

Currently the side features one my favorite cricketers around today, Shahid Afridi, as well as Aussie international, Simon Katich, and thanks to the deep pockets of billionaire owner Rod Bransgrove, the club will probably continue to feature high class international players and compete deep into most one day competitions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Hampshire County Cricket Club.