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April 4, 2012

Welcome to the 2012 county blog

David Hopps
James Taylor got acquainted with his new home at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, December 22, 2011
James Taylor at his new home, Trent Bridge  © PA Photos
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Welcome to ESPNcricinfo's live county blog – the home of county cricket.

The forum will play a central part in our extra commitment to the English professional game and we hope that you will play an active role in developing a community that underlines our belief that county cricket remains, in the words of our senior correspondent, George Dobell, "an unappreciated, priceless gem".

Throughout the day our reporters up and down the country will provide a flavour of the matches as they develop on the liveliest, most wide-ranging forum in county cricket.

We hope that you will share your insights with us. Anything relevant, entertaining or pithy will be welcome. Help us to build a community in which we can take pride.

Our renowned live scores service will again run throughout the day and we are also displaying live Twitter feeds from county media officers and a selection of the most thought-provoking independent observers so you can keep pace with opinions and news from around the counties.

In 2012, we are also committed to covering more county news and reports than ever before, all backed up by an unrivalled statistical service, making us the natural first port of call for county cricket on the web.

Match reports on all the counties will be carried on our county cricket home page soon after play ends for the day and will be provided by some of the most respected cricket writers around, including George Dobell (@georgedobell1), Andrew McGlashan (@andymcg_cricket), Jon Culley (@culleycricket), David Lloyd (the real David Lloyd) and Myles Hodgson (@hodmyl), as well as exciting young voices such as Alan Gardner (@alanroderick), Alex Winter (@alexjwinter) and Sahil Dutta (@sahildutta).

There will also be audio and video feeds throughout the season, soon to be led by a short series of interviews with some of county cricket's journeymen by the cricketing iconoclast Jarrod Kimber. We can’t wait to see how they turn out.

And in County Cricket Matters, we have what we are confident will soon be hailed as the funniest and most original county cricket blog around.

So why not make ESPNcricinfo part of your season? And help us prove that county cricket really does matter.

You can get started by reading our Division One and Division Two previews, and commenting below the line here.

Please be advised that we will routinely remove comments from email addresses that we do not believe are valid or comments that do not enhance the debate. This is for your own satisfaction.

You can also report abuse at edit_uk@cricinfo.com

David Hopps is the UK editor of ESPNcricinfo

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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Posted by Irretlyelex on (February 12, 2013, 14:45 GMT)

minecraft for free

Posted by pletchermyp on (December 28, 2012, 1:31 GMT)

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Posted by lizzy on (April 28, 2012, 15:42 GMT)

So we are off for bad light but can't use the floodlights because the Ageasbowl couodn't guarantee at the beginnning of the season that the lights would be available throughout the whole season because of building work which means that they can't use them at all for the LVCC.

Cricket doesn't help itself sometimes

Posted by John J Sutherington on (April 7, 2012, 20:36 GMT)

Well done to Leicestershire in beating Glamorgan at Grace Road in less than 3 days, we didn't do to well in 2011 and finished bottom of Division 2. Lets hope this is the year for promotion?

However having looked at the result on “Cricinfo” I find they were only awarded 15 points for the win? They were fined 5 points for a slow over rate! Sigh. Come on Matthew Hoggard shake them up a bit. I hope this loss of points doesn't come back to bite us at the end of the season.

Its hard enough to get points without being penalised for dawdling. Begs the thought though, how long would the game have lasted "if" both sides had kept up to the required over rate because Glamorgan were also deducted 1 point. Well done the Foxes.

Cllr. John J. Sutherington.

ANSTEY. Leicester. LE77DT.

Posted by AotearoaXI on (April 5, 2012, 20:19 GMT)

Fantastic innovative - living abroad this will be a great source of 'truth' for all my county cricket news and views. Well done on getting behind the county game - cricket old be poorer without it, both from a player and a viewer perspective. Let's hope a few of the Kiwis come to the fore throughout the various competitions - Williamson, Guptill and Styris among them.

Posted by David Hopps on (April 5, 2012, 13:03 GMT)

I have just witnessed a traditional harbinger of summer. It is Andy Afford on Twitter soon after lunch, saying: "Bollocks, Notts are seven down."

Thanks for all your posts and interest so far. Full reports follow within an hour of the close for those who don't just sneak read at work between 9 and 5...

Posted by George Dobell on (April 5, 2012, 9:39 GMT)

Thanks for all the best wishes; hugely appreciated. And Jeff: wee bit early to write us off, surely? Room for one or two more spectators here at The Kia Oval, by the way. If you’re passing with 15,000 or so friends, I’m sure we can find room for you.

Posted by Alex Parkin on (April 5, 2012, 9:17 GMT)

Looking forward to a good year, and Yorkshire fulfilling Sir Geoffrey's wish of promotion to Div 1, just need the weather to be good! Hope everyone has an enjoyable season

Posted by Nigel Winter on (April 5, 2012, 9:00 GMT)

Good luck with county cricket blog - Great idea - i personally hope for a better CC season for Leicestershire (guess can't be worse than last !)Best wishes to James Taylor for a good season with new county Notts - perhaps without our 'key man' all our batsmen will make useful contributions throughout the season . Another 20/20 cup success would be very nice - Enjoy the season everyone

Posted by Forrest Hamilton on (April 5, 2012, 8:37 GMT)

Good to see county cricket finally garnering more attention. Going to watch the first day of Yorkshire vs Kent at the home of cricket today. Wrapping up warm! Division 1 too close to call. Yorkshire to gain promotion with ease.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Hopps
David Hopps joined ESPNcricinfo as UK editor early in 2012. For the previous 20 years he was a senior cricket writer for the Guardian and covered England extensively during that time in all Test-playing nations. He also covered four Olympic Games and has written several cricket books, including collections of cricket quotations. He has been an avid amateur cricketer since he was 12, and so knows the pain of repeated failure only too well. The pile of untouched novels he plans to read, but rarely gets around to, is now almost touching the ceiling. He divides his time between the ESPNcricinfo office in Hammersmith and his beloved Yorkshire.

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