The new T20 trend for replacing batters at crucial moments will upset traditionalists, but that doesn’t necessarily make it wrongFor a game rooted in centuries of tradition, cricket has often found itself curiously susceptible to fashion. Did you spot the moment, about five or six years ago, when it quietly became mandatory for any good fielder to be described as a “gun”? Bowling attacks were “the bowling unit” for most of the 2000s before imperceptibly morphing into “the bowling group”. Left-arm wrist-spin is having its long-awaited moment in the sun, itself a reaction to the 2010s trend for spinners who didn’t really spin the ball at all, but just did funny flicky things with their fingers while going “oooh” and...
It is fascinating to recall now that when Twenty20 was starting out there were real questions about who would come to colonise this new worldThe weather forecast for Birmingham this weekend isn’t messing about. Usually weather in this country is described in gentle language, using words such as patchy or intermittent, and reflecting the fluid nature of these things on an island of mild fronts and shifting breezes.Not so here. Frankly the weather forecast is annoyed you’re even asking these questions. “Yellow warning: rain,” was the Met Office’s first draft. This was updated on Thursday to a Danger To Life Alert. To be clear, the Met Office thinks it’s going to rain so much in Birmingham this weekend it might...
A 10-team First Division is a good idea but the shires will host the most low-key games during the school holidaysViewed in isolation, the proposals for English domestic cricket from 2020 onwards from the men’s domestic playing programme (MDPP) group, which was chaired by Leicestershire’s CEO, Wasim Khan, display rare common sense. The problems arise when all the packages outlined are put together.The most striking change has the First Division of the County Championship containing 10 teams in 2020 with the Second Division reduced to eight, a reversal of the current format. This is a good idea that more fairly reflects the strength of the counties. It removes the necessity for 25% of the sides in the First Division to...