Suddenly county cricket is sexy. The melodrama of the last round of matches was agony for the committed, fascinating for the neutral and it even captured a fresh audience, which will please everyone at the England and Wales Cricket Board since they keep stressing this goal (rather than their eagerness to generate some more quick cash). Taken in isolation the Middlesex-Yorkshire match at Lord’s was often a turgid affair on a dull surface. Yet it was mesmerising as the visitors eked out the last few runs to take them to 350; before Nick Gubbins rose to the occasion as impressively as the doughty old veteran Tim Bresnan; while we glimpsed the fevered negotiations going on in the old pavilion on the last afternoon and as Toby Roland-Jones produced his stunning, title-deciding hat-trick.
Why was it all so mesmerising? Because for some unfathomable reason that may have something to do with more than 120 years of Championship cricket, it seemed to matter so much. Without any doubt it mattered a great deal to the players and supporters of the three sides in contention for the title on the last afternoon of the season and the same applied in the relegation tussles that were going on at the same time around the country.
Related: Somerset, helpless and heartbroken, still played a part in thrilling finale | Vic Marks
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