TOPIC: End of 2015 cricket season

Just been listening to the final few overs of the season. BBC 5Live extra is great for coverage of the county games and the local commentators are excellent. Surrey have just given up the run chase v Northants but still just pip Lancashire for the title.

As usual I managed to see a couple of Lancashire games this season. Went to Blackpool and Southport as they are lovely little grounds, matches are well attended and everyone is very friendly. Still prefer the 4 day matches but it looks as if there will be fewer of those in seasons to come. Good to see Glen Chapple get a game this week, although he is normally restricted to coaching these days. Unfortunately I think he will be just a few short of the wickets required to reach 1000 for his career. he needed 25 this season to reach that milestone. Must be one of the best fast bowlers not to get an England cap.

Still annoys me that can't get to see any live Test cricket on terrestrial and somehow watching the one hour highlights later on is not the same. Bl**dy Giles Clarke.

The free to air debate is an interesting one, basically if you look how cricket was trreated on FTA compared to know on Sky, it is an unbelievable improvement.

A lot of people want to criticise sky, but what they have done with cricket is unbelievable, with the coverage and the money they have put into it at all levels. I hate to think were the game would be without them.

As far as the championship goes, for me it is there to create english international cricketers, but the money these days has the counties trying to run it more like a business, which lead to a Lancs team this year with Prince/Petersen/Faulkner/Jarvis playing for them. Thats 4 overseas with only 1 playing as an official overseas. Dont see how this can be good for english cricket.

Also we should go to 3 divisions of 6, less games, better quality, tighter matches

Sixteen 4 day games is just too much. The season should start last week in April and finish one week into September. One day Cup should be done in May and June with Final in first saturday in July. T20 Comp then for 6 weeks with Finals day last saturday in August. Too many 4 day games mean fast bowlers can't bowl at the pace they want to. Its just too much of a strain on their bodies and too many spinners are dropping out of the game before they are 25. Plus the season is so long the ECB can't put any teams in the T20 Champions League. Apparently the counties have rejected the reduction in games. Absolute disgrace, stating it would be unfair on the members who pay for the matches. Its not a money spinner hardly anyone watches these games. All to do with greed and a system that is not helping the players one bit. I personally think 12 games is right. If it means you dnt play home and away with everyone so be it. The County Championship before one day games was 24 three day games (17 counties). 16 home 8 away - so didn't play everyone home and away then. I would reorganise the T20 league to 3 regional divisions of 6 with 10 group games.

Watching county cricket is bad enough, listening to it must be horrendous!

Dixy, I certainly agree with you regarding the restriction of chances for young developing players because of overseas players. it's a bit like the Premier league and young English footballers. The cricket situation is due to the Kolpak ruling introduced in 2003. Counties are only allowed 1 overseas player in County cricket ( 2 in t20 ) However EU nationals ( eg players from Ireland and Holland ) are allowed, Also players covered by EUAA ( Associate Agreements ) are allowed - that is players from Africa, the Caribbean or Pacific islands. As South Africans Lancs are allowed to play Price and Petersen and Faulkner is their overseas player.

Fat Boy Slim, one day cricket started in 1963. The previous season the counties played 32 games ( everyone twice ) That was reduced to 28 the following season. By 1978 counties were playing 22 championship games, 16 John Player League games, 4 group games in the Benson and Hedges cup followed by QF, SF and Final for those that progressed that far ( so the finalist Surrey and Essex each played 7 games ) and 5 possible rounds in the Gillette Cup.

I think part of the problem for players is the distance and time spent travelling from one game to the next. The organisation of the fixture list is total chaos. Also the season started on 22nd March and finished on 25th September. That's more or less 27 weeks. Three rounds of fixtures were between the counties and the University Academies - total mismatches but great for county cricketers wanting to improve their averages. Scrap these games and let the Academies play each other. One day fixtures could be organised to follow or precede a county 4 day game against the same opposition ( so keep the same leagues for county and 50 over matches ) There is no need for QF - just have semis and finals for the one day competition.

The reason the counties rejected the reduction in county games was that the powers that be wanted to implement it in 2016. I have many friends who have already renewed their Lancs membership based on what was to be 16 4 day games. Counties such as Sussex and Somerset thought there should more consultation.

Regarding potential burn out for bowlers this season the bowlers who bowled most overs in the different competitions were
County championship Chris Rushworth 585 overs
One day Cup David Payne 96 overs
t20 David Briggs 59 overs.
So if we take the maximum for each competition we get a total of 740 overs. Of course no one would come anywhere near this total.
In the season one day competitions were first introduced here are some of the totals of overs bowled by spinners and pacemen
Freddie Trueman 1141
Les jackson 1017
Derek Shackleton 1717
Fred Titmus 1236
Don Shepherd 1421
Altogether 20 bowlers ( some spin, some medium pace, some fast ) bowled over 1000 overs that season.

Freddie Trueman reckoned he kept fit by just bowling in games and wasn't one for doing much else outside that.

PS Frank , you don't know what your missing.

Good info there 54, I saw a season table in the 50's and genuinely seen it with 24 games. I only started following cricket from 1980. My point about burn out of fast bowlers still hols true. Chris Rushworth would get slaughtered in test cricket he's not quick enough. England aren't producing enough fast bowlers (90 mph +) because of too many games. Ryan Sidebottom said this 8 years ago you just can't do it for a full season and bowl to your full speed. Players now play far more International Cricket for about 10 months a season. If Fred played now he would've played more cricket all round the year. As overseas tours were less frequent - only 7 Test teams and not always every winter.

Yes, you're right about the workload for international cricket, Fat Boy, but this is compensated by central contracts. However with the incessant round of international matches the management need to rotate players more like Premier League teams. However the likes of Cook, Bell, Anderson and co probably only played a couple of county games this season - and the counties have to get permission first. It is greed by our cricket authorities which produces such incessant, demanding schedules.

Of those in or on the fringes of the various international squad the player who bowled the most overs was Footit of Derbyshire. He bowled about 550 overs in county games but they rested him for most of the one day games.

My point is Freddie Trueman regularly bowled over 1000 very fast overs a season and he rarely broke down ( just a couple of Tests on the 1958 Australian tour ) They reckon he had such a good sideways on action that he put less strain on his body. Some of today's fast bowlers have poor actions which leads to injury problems.