1. Summertime blues
Narrative, character and jeopardy are the great drivers of engagement whether on stage, screen or in sports. I started this column in 2011 (reporting on a Warwickshire’s middle order that comprised Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Muhammad Yousuf) to retain a grip on those elements of the annual county cricket story, a task made more difficult every year.
The Blast, having reached the end of its group stage (there must be a better way of marking that?) now gives way to three different domestic cricket competitions before it returns with the quarter-finals in September. Blasts worthy of the name don’t usually peter out for six weeks.
How can a narrative, so wilfully vandalised, be expected to survive that? Which characters will be back and which will be gone? And how will the jeopardy, the thrilling sense of facing the next challenge en route to glory, with defeat just a wicket or a boundary away, be revived in the hearts of supporters?
Much of the media response to the splendid series between England and India has focused on the canvas five Tests provide for these core elements of drama, so why neglect them so carelessly in county cricket’s flagship competition?
2. Notts go out with a bang
There might not have been much riding on the match at Trent Bridge between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire – but only if you’re looking at it as a dead rubber.
With the injury to Shoaib Bashir and the call up of 35-year-old Liam Dawson, the ever-popular parlour game “who should be England’s spinner?” was back in town, with Farhan Ahmed’s name gaining mentions. It was good timing for the 17-year-old to nip in with a fivefer and an eye-catching hat-trick to boot, especially as Jos Buttler was looking on from the dugout.
Lancashire – who had already qualified for the quarter-finals, where they will join Durham, Birmingham Bears and Northamptonshire from their group – soon had Notts in trouble chasing a mere 127 for the win. Tom Moores walked to the crease at 14 for four, but hammered 75 off 42 balls, dismissed going for the winning run with overs and wickets in hand.
Tom and his father Peter (now head coach at Trent Bridge) both have plenty of history with Lancashire so it was not “just another game” – even if players always claim it is.
3. Billings cashes in
Timing means a lot in life. Sometimes it’s a matter of luck, sometimes it’s a seizing of opportunity, sometimes it’s good planning. Often it’s a bit of all three.
In the South Group, Kent – who had failed to win their last seven Championship matches and had won only five of their 12 Blast matches – took on basement dwellers Middlesex and Essex. Despite their poor form, they knew that two wins might help them squeeze past Glamorgan and Sussex, whose seasons hit the buffers just at the wrong time.
Middlesex captain Leus du Plooy could not find a partner as his team limped to 160 for five at Canterbury, a target first stalked by opener Tawanda Muyeye then destroyed by Sam Billings, who turned back the clock with a boundary blitz.
Next up were Essex, whose season is proving as moribund as Middlesex’s, with the exception that they had roused themselves to successive wins once they knew their own hopes of a quarter-final berth were gone. At home again (see what I mean about timing?) Kent were set a slightly stiffer target, but Muyeye got them off to a good start and then hung around for a good middle with Harry Finch, before Billings swanned out like Janet Webb at end of the Morecambe and Wise Show to accept the applause.
If only the knockout s started this week, we’d be talking about momentum, but I’m not sure we can.
4. Batter of the Blast: Will Jacks
The outstanding batter of the competition is probably Derbyshire’s mighty Welshman, the “sixy and he knows it” Aneurin Donald, but even his efforts were not enough to avoid his county picking up the wooden spoon in the North Group.
I recall a popular metric in the early days of T20 cricket that suggested the effectiveness of a batter was best evaluated by adding the average to the strike rate. On that metric, the closest to Donald’s absurd 250 is Surrey’s Will Jacks’ 215, all the more laudable for his scoring 500 runs in just 10 matches.
It’s 13 months since Jacks played in any format for England, but he holds a one-year central contract and he might play again in preparation for the T20 World Cup next year in India and Sri Lanka. In between, he’ll make good money on the franchise circuit and, at 26, has a decade or more to play in lots of countries and for lots of teams. Can’t be a bad life can it? Well …
That said, I wonder if he feels like he really belongs anywhere. Probably at the Oval, where he grew up. But one wonders if the “guns for hire” franchise players miss the camaraderie that old players always seemed to value. Jacks has represented 13 teams; I wonder if even he can recall all their names, never mind those of his teammates. But I bet he knows his agent well.
5. Bowler of the Blast: Ben Sanderson
Northamptonshire, like Kent, will be outsiders in the quarter-finals. They are stocked with gnarled old pros, a casting director’s dream were they tasked with recreating a Lancashire League match played on a windswept field in the lee of a barren fell, set in 1954. There’s Luke Procter (37), Ravi Bopara (40), David Willey (35) and Ben Sanderson (36), with the latter three ever-present and Procter playing 12 of 14 matches.
Sanderson is alone in that quartet in not being an all-rounder, but he’s as crafty a seamer as they come – what you would expect of a Yorkie in his 18th season as a professional. He didn’t take a single wicket in the last four matches of the group stage but that’s not really what Sanderson is about, despite still finishing third on the wickets table behind Riley Meredith and Hasan Ali. Among seamers who bowled 50 overs, only David Payne did so at a better economy rate.
Sanderson is a purveyor of control in the midst of chaos, a bowler who knows what to bowl and when – and he has the temperament to deliver under pressure. There’s no long list of franchises scattered across the globe on his profile, but very few captains would not want him in their side come the white-ball season in England.
6. The Future
Do you want to work less for the same or more money? Would your life be better if you had more time to yourself and more rest? Who is going to say “no” to any of these questions? Unsurprisingly, not the Professional Cricketers Association. The word “welfare” is mentioned seven times in the press release issued by the PCA urging reform of the current domestic calendar. One conjures thoughts of cricketers giving up the game to work on A&E wards for a less stressful life.
That’s not to say the schedule couldn’t be more sympathetic to players. It could certainly be smarter – travelling from a floodlit T20 finish to an immediate afternoon start is plainly ridiculous – but how many crickets play every match, early April to late September? Indeed, with a lighter schedule, squads could be reduced as fewer players would be required. Would less cricket mean lower pay for fewer players?
Interest parties – players, counties, franchises, administrators, governing bodies and the media – will act in their own interest, framing debates, driving agendas, levering influence. Who will do that for the fans?
