1. Some arias cricket could explore
You might not have heard of Garsington Opera, but you may have heard of its nextdoor neighbour, Paul Getty’s celebrated cricket ground. Both are on the Wormsley Estate, simultaneously just off the M1 and a world away.
Not all country house opera venues are as closely linked to cricket as this one, but there are other parallels. Both depend on weather to some extent – even the lovely Opera Holland Park is rather different in the golden hour if it’s raining – and both aren’t quite as middle-aged and middle class as you might suspect, especially if you look into their community work. And both play an important role in developing the superstars of the future.
Country house opera survives, thrives even, because it accepts what it is (i.e. not the Royal Opera House or the New York Met); it provides a distinctive all-day experience, integrating festival elements with the main attraction; and it markets itself to its niche audience effectively. Watching the live streams of the One-Day Cup largely from out grounds last week, it struck me that there’s a template to explore there. That’s if domestic 50-over cricket survives at all.
2. Bad Akhter turns good Akhter
The loss of David Lawrence is still felt sharply at Gloucestershire and it’s hard not to think that those beautiful photos of him with the Blast trophy last autumn may be inspiring his club towards another trophy this season. Perhaps that’s for the romantics, but the One Day Cup is where we fools gather in August and Gloucestershire sit top of Group A with the only played three, won three record in the country.
Zaman Akhter’s pace has been key to those three victories, his four wickets between the 37th and 41st overs in the opener against Derbyshire destroying the chase just as it was about to launch. He’s going to Essex next summer, quitting the club along with Ajeet Singh Dale (Lancashire) and Tom Price and Dom Goodman (Sussex). Tough times in Bristol.
So lots of work to do in the academy and on recruitment, but might it just free the minds of those departing players? Eliminating the fear of failure has proved successful in Test cricket after all.
3. Hampshire bowled over by their options
The other 100% record in the group belongs to Hampshire, whose two wins have been built on centuries from Nick Gubbins and Joe Weatherley, but also on a less eye-catching aspect of white-ball cricket.
In each of their matches, six bowlers have chipped in with a wicket, eight in total across the two games. Only one of them, 16-year-old Manny Lumsden, is going at above 7.5 per over and the kid got three of Glamorgan’s top five out on debut, so let’s cut him some slack.
Having options in the field across the long stretch of 50 overs is crucial for captains and Gubbins has them. It’s also a lot of fun for fans to see occasional bowlers and kids such as Lumsden given a proper go with proper fields and not just one before lunch, in hastening a declaration or when the opposition are playing out a draw.
4. Better for the lack of Imam-ul-Haq?
In Group B, Yorkshire lead the way with two wins from two, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire their victims. Their top scorer in both matches (55 and 159) is Imam-ul-Haq.
That does raise a question – and I pose this as a longstanding supporter of overseas players in the domestic game. Should we praise Yorkshire for finding such a good player, one who provides a role model for communities with whom they desperately need to build bridges? Or do we lament the presence of a man with more than 100 appearances for Pakistan in a competition with so many young pros trying to make their way in the game?
I tend to the former, but I’m unsure. If there was an easy way to ringfence XIs so such imbalances could be avoided, I suspect I could be persuaded otherwise.
5. Rews bounce into view but Flintoff unseen
A fine game of cricket at Taunton saw Somerset lose after two wins and Lancashire notch a first win after an abandonment in their opener.
All eyes were on the Rew brothers after their sparkling starts to the tournament. We all know that James is a huge prospect, but 17-year-old Thomas was spectacular against Durham, looking, already, to have everything a player needs to succeed at the highest level.
But they couldn’t make it three in a row, both failing as Lancashire, steered by skipper Marcus Harris and George Balderson, at 24, the experienced pro in the middle order, got the visitors over the line, eight down.
What of Rocky Flintoff I hear you ask? Well, he’s been wearing a hi-vis vest over adverts for crisps instead of developing his game. He’ll likely be doing the same tomorrow instead of playing in a Roses match at York. Riddle me that.
The media does not have its priorities right when it comes to cricket. At the time of writing, the BBC cricket page has two round-ups of the One-Day Cup action and 33 stories about The Hundred. It is not the only culprit, but it is the publicly funded national broadcaster, not a private cheerleader for a business enterprise.
I’ve tried to avoid the regular articles published at this time of year that denigrate the standard of play and absence of stars in the 50-overs competition, but I have seen one. They are as tedious as the “one man and a dog” pieces that used to greet the start of the County Championship – but you don’t see so many of them now the online viewing and listening figures are available.
Players, sponsors and, most of all, fans deserve a bit of respect. We’ll be here long after The Hundred goes the way of the Stanford Super Series.
