Confirmed. This WAS his last walk.
Glad I was there for it.
We'll never see his like again because slow, accumulating batters are not valuable anymore
But also, there's the humility.
No fuss, no fanfare. Deliberately avoid the nonsense, back to the farm & real life
Well done Chef
Held on school nights in dodgy Sept weather, scheduling ruined the narrative, never been on terrestrial TV*, gets a tiny fraction of marketing budget.
And two games hosted by โsmalllerโ non-franchise teams.
Set records despite all that
Yet future of the Blast looks bleak.
A record 44,000 fans have attended the Vitality Blast quarter-finals this week, beating the previous record of 39,000 in 2013! ๐
The Kia Oval also set a quarter-final record for a single match with more than 19,000 fans attending Surreyโs win over Durham ๐
โ Another fine crowd at Essex for
#MetroBankODC
. Lots of kids
Despiteโฆ
โ No jeopardy. Final group game. Wooden spoon at stake
โ Few star players
โ Tues 11am start
โ All attention/marketing elsewhere
๐คHmmmโฆ just maybe people like watching counties play cricket in August
No-one watches county cricket right?
Good few thousand in for the opening day of the Yorkshire game
No spin, no dubious figures. Just a panoramic around the ground.
"Trent Rockets had 12,363 for the visit of Birm Phoenix. Five yrs ago, that was Nottsโs average home Twenty20 attendance.
"On Thurs, 15,716 for London Spiritโs v Welsh Fire at Lordโs. In Aug 2019, a Blast match there betwn Middx & Hants pulled in 27,000"
Tomorrow, a quarter of the Championship fixtures will be complete for most counties before the end of April
Rain, cold, rain, Kookaburra ball experiment, rain and rain.
Domestic red-cricket suffering death by a thousand droplets
Due to the schedule.
Forget being top scorer, top wicket-taker & some big catches on boundary.
Contracted to Major League Cricket but stayed for
#FinalsDay
when others did not.
Nearly got us over the line on his own. AND is rooted to spot in disappointment when he could not
Daniel Sams, top man
Over 500 runs at a packed Oval as Middlesex get their first Blast win after 15 straight defeats
Highest run chase in Blast history, second highest in T20
Bethellโs stunning catch at Yorks
Essex sell out too. Full-price ๐๏ธ
All on a Thursday night in term time
BACK THE BLAST
Remember, Leicestershire would be the first county to go if we cut the number of counties
Rehan Ahmedโs path to international cricket has been laid by the county structure. Only 4 f-c games but think of the years in age-group cricket & 2s etc.
Jamie Porter passed 500 fc wickets for Essex today
First player to do that since Mark Ilott
Seventh time gone past 50 wkts in a season
Currently got 55 @ 19.24.
Played all 13 games but not taken a catch
Starting to see everything in county cricket as Franchise Hosts vs Non-Hosts.
Desperate for Gloucester to win this for that reason alone. They need the help, the money, the glory and the reason to exist going forward
Talk about splitting the game.
Incredible Essex inns 244-7
Record Blast score, 261, by Bears at Notts (who sold 1,300 to free Test fans on Tues)
Sell out at Chelmsford
Sell out at Chesterfield tomo
Surrey and Durham look pretty near full
Many streams getting 6k-8k viewers
THE BLAST AIN'T BROKEN
Tonight's Member's Forum headline:
In July, the ECB sent through a high-level summary re: franchise sales. Asked for feedback by mid-August
Essex - rejected proposal in full.
Set out their 'legal position', or words to that effect.
5/6 other counties had the 'same view'
Unbelievable. Yorkshire win by one run. Parnell nicks behind.
What struck me was the sportmanship at the end. Immediate handshakes, congratulations and commiserations.
Took this screen grab maybe 10 seconds after the catch.
Cricket is a proper sport.
Grey and drizzly. Ground staff poised to put covers back on but set to start on time.
We lost the toss, will bat and conditions will be v tough.
ยฃ20, no refunds, cold, sitting on my own.
Couldnโt be happier
Happy new season everyone
Yes, we won. But this is the moment of the day. A proper โwalkโ from Wheater. When it mattered. Could have cost us game but he came back & won it for us.
THIS IS HOW I WANT CRICKET PLAYED BY MY TEAM.
(It would be nice if it got some PR too,
@Paul_NewmanDM
@huwzat
@miller_cricket
)
Kent putting Blast games behind a paywall is short-sighted
YT streams have invigorated county cricket. We now have quality & choice
Use the attention of free access to grow database, get a specific sponsor.
But put as few barriers as you can afford btwn punters & the product
Congratulations to Somerset.
Best team in the competition this year. Record amount of wins in group and did a job on Surrey and Essex today
Again, a wonderful Blast. Always full of drama, fun and quality cricket
NOW BACK IT!
And reunite the game.
PROOF AT LAST: No-one turns up to
@CountyChamp
games (especially in September) and the 100 is the only salvation for cricket
(All pics taken on one walk around just after lunch, no puffing up)
Again, so strange Sky News sport news do not even mention
#Blast23
#FinalsDay
They were based at Wimbledon, then had golf & talked of "a big day of cricket" with the women's Ashes.
But ignored the 25k sell-out (full-priced ๐๏ธ) that will be live on Sky Sports for 12 hours today
Supposedly ECB have been taking prospective franchise buyers to Blast games
Hilarious.
Presumably it shows the rivalry, history & meaning that UK sport is exceptional at producing
Atmosphere is a huge selling point for U.K. sport. PLโฝ๏ธ
Franchises sport in UK canโt compete
The Guardian
When Virat Kohli announced last year that he would be playing no part the Hundred, he used one phrase that for many rang particularly true: โI feel somewhere the commercial aspect is taking over the real quality of cricket and that hurts me.โ
๐ฏ for ๐จโ๐ณ. Cook's last 7๏ธโฃ innings for
@EssexCricket
in competitions are:
๐จโ๐ณ100*
๐จโ๐ณ54
๐จโ๐ณ65
๐จโ๐ณ67*
๐จโ๐ณ109
๐จโ๐ณ37
๐จโ๐ณ127
Last day of the season
Nearly October. Big coat on and woolly hat
10.45am, floodlights on
Meaningless game, almost certainly a draw
Just happy to be here
Yorks & Middx in big ๐ฐ trouble
At Essex AGM, we were told current losses were unsustainable
Key: ECB payments for talent creation
Flat for 5yrs. Will be flat 5yrs more. But cricket costs rising
The reason: Sky deal
Harrison did it & left (with bonus)
Champagne moment of the day. Who cares about the weather?
No other major sport allows you to play on the pitch in the breaks.
Critical fan engagement tool for kids in the Easter hols
Blimey, it is the Big Bash final today.
Had no idea.
There are so many franchise leagues, it is all pummelled into meaninglessness
But Strauss says this is cricket's future, our "sunlit uplands".
Well... he would do, wouldn't he?
I want to flood Twitter with positivity about the Championship this season
The more people see positive things about it, the more likely they are to try it
But I canโt do it alone
You are the best advocates for County Cricket. So please help me grow the game and share the fun!
Looked like Elgar just had his bat taken off him by umpire because it would not go through the measuring grid.
Could be problems.
Durham lost 10 points for that a couple of years ago
๐ Hereโs my book. Out 27 July.
For further details or to buy, click the link below.
Thereโs an Instagram and Facebook account too
@lastwicketstandbook
โก๏ธ
This
@TrentBridge
crowd is fantastic. Loud and full of kids on a school night.
Once again, the
@VitalityBlast
is a great competition. Shove your massive marketing budget into developing that, not the ๐ฏ.
@opposethe100
New newsletter coming in the next few days.
But I fully admit, I'm running out of steam.
When the ECB would rather spend that much on fireworks for a month-long, loss-making event, yet counties are cutting playing staff due to poverty... and people still defend them
A victory with real meaning in a derby. A little team winning agin odds with talent, nous & guts
New heroes made recapturing glories of old. Ex-players in coachโs dugout &, alas, stricken in the presidentโs box.
History, identity & the story make it special
Canโt be faked
Absolutely obvious to me.
Centralise the coverage. Get data (not money) for the content.
Grow engagement and connection. Utilise CRM for longer term monetisation
The ECB should be bringing this together.
But just look at their actions. They donโt care about county cricket.
๐ฃ๏ธ "Do NOT put County Cricket Streams behind a paywall, ffs"
๐ฃ๏ธ "You've got an audience. Sell adverts"
#FinalWord
๐ |
@westfieldlondon
๐๏ธ
I thought
@EssexCricket
โฆ
Did not deserve to get out of the group
Would not beat Surrey in last game
Would not beat Warks in qf
Would not beat Hants in sf
Let me state here and nowโฆ
โฆwe wonโt win the
#Blast23
final
The Strauss HP Review is heading towards abject failure in its key county recommendations
This piece suggests they will be rejected by counties & now the talk is about contracting The H*ndred.
Which was the very thing it sought to protect and promote.
BOOOOOOOM
That is a stonking win. By 4 wickets
โ 235 behind on first innings.
โ Second-biggest chase in the last two seasons
โ Cox 100 against type. Patient
โ Critchley 4/24 & 99* in 2nd inns
Lots of guts and character shown.
Captain, Leader, Legend
A swashbuckling self-made player who was the personification of positive cricket
A great career played the right way
Astute, unselfish captain who turned us into winners
A fine person worthy of the utmost respect & admiration
โฆbut Iโm heartbroken.
After 19 seasons of fantastic service to the Club,
@rtendo27
has announced that he will retire at the end of the year.
Thank You Tendo ๐
Read More โคต๏ธโคต๏ธโคต๏ธ
Tom Banton coming out to bat last man and very injured then putting Somerset into a defendable lead ahead of the last day of a 1st v 2nd clash at end of the season is a great sports story.
Little or no high profile coverage anywhere.
"County cricket needs a Mick Lynch"
Fine line from
@GeorgeDobell1
when asked THE key ques by
@kevinhowells100
at lunch
"Why do all members not get vote on latest proposals? They did on Strauss Report?"
"But they did not on the H*ndred"
"How did they get away with that?"
๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ
As ever, zero logic & vested interested from Pietersen.
He says Eng's display is down to too many counties because Eng players don't play for them.
In fact, we are underprepared because lack of emphasis & proper scheduling of domestic red-ball cricket
Never understood any opposition to two divisions in Champ
Interest all over the counties before this round of games. And lots of big names signed to achieve targets, especially in lower half of Div One.
Shows it matters
Without it only Essex & Surrey would have interest now
6๏ธโฃWe held our nerve in the final game
7๏ธโฃWe came back from the dead to win the
@VitalityBlast
This is a very special team. IMO, in
@EssexCricket
history, only second to the Fletcher team of 1979
๐ฆ VALUE THEM
I will NEVER go to Headingley for Essex or England while he is chair at Yorkshire. Not supporting his divisive, destructive influence on cricket.
Whoโs in? ๐โโ๏ธ
๐ Super Blast win for Gloucestershire. Thoroughly deserved.
If ever a county needed a trophy it was them. Maybe the county cricketing gods are redistributing a little glory, like Foxes in Metro Bank
Alleyne knows how to win one-day cricket games
Hope Syd Lawrence enjoyed it
The Commercial Director of The H*ndred has left ECB after 7 years to join Premiership Rugby as Chief Growth Officer. He was a Telfon Tom appointment, joined as Head of Marketing a few months after Harrison joined ECB.
More signs of a new broom, perhaps??? ๐ค
Exec boxes full. Some kids with bats waiting for the interval. All on a Thursday daytime with little or no promotion.
Just had to break into my social media sojourn to bring the good news
Will pop off now.
See you in a bit
It is ironic that the H*ndred (a manufactured event) was criticised for having v few close finishes this yr
Yet the last 2 days of the Champ had two excellent ones involving Yorks and Warks.
And the slow-burn, organic nature & historic narratives make it so much more meaningful
You see if Mickey Arthur (sensible, vastly experienced all over world at the highest level, not ECB linked or lacking in job offers) laid into county cricket then Iโd listen.
But he takes a job at perhaps the most unfashionable county and praises the game.
"That wicket replicates what you get at international level. So, that's how you develop your players. County cricket is alive and well."
Mickey Arthur was full of praise for the Lord's pitch following the draw between Middlesex and Derbyshire...
โ Legendary opener retired
โ England batter gone to biggest rivals
โ 2 key players injured, 1 more in-game
โ Two debutants
โ Thumping victory over big team
Warning bells should be clanging in county cricket.
All the clever execs and private equity money getting it wrong again.
Because they chase short-term cash and ignore the importance of long-term resilience.
The H*ndred is the same process
Read this now.
Itโs both barrels from โฆ
@GeorgeDobell1
โฉ and skewers so much of the BS, bluster, vested interest and hypocrisy surrounding the H*ndred.
Watch this. Incredible. MP for Leeds NW catches out Graves.
County members need to protect their membership or it will be gone forever.
That whole relationship needs reframing IMO. But It is not like the leadership of UK cricket has acted as custodian FOR ALL over past few yrs
I had repeatedly warned against and opposed demutualisation of Yorkshire CCC. I support the members
Today at the DCMS Select Cttee Mr Graves denied he planned to demutualise
I had a letter from Mr Graves from 25 Sept making an offer conditional on demutualisation
Its shocking!
A small but incredibly welcome line from my column in
@TheCricketPaper
today
(One for
@kevinhowells7
,
@KevinHandBBC
,
@NickGledhill
etc to read while humming the Great Escape)
Thanks for the service, itโs helped sustain county cricket in past few decades
Long may it continue
Big loss to Essex. But he goes with best wishes.
The Silvers-McGrath-Tendo axis took Essex from Div 2 to 2nd most successful era in the club's history.
The others moved on but McGrath kept it rolling. No mean feat
Been batting above ave for a decade. Sign of good coaching set up
โค๏ธ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ, ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ!
After almost nine years on the coaching staff, Anthony McGrath will depart the Club to take up the Head Coach role at Yorkshire.