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3.20pm: Andrew McGlashan with an update
It will surprise none of you that the weather has ruined another day’s cricket. No Championship action anywhere so I’m signing off the blog for the day, but feel free to keep the conversation ticking over in the comments section. England name their Test squad tomorrow morning; pretty simple selection, isn’t it?
Despite the rain we will have stories coming in during the afternoon and George Dobell has already been busy with some interesting pieces from Guildford. Chris Adams has said he’ll be shopping for batsmen and Chris Tremlett has confirmed he’ll be staying with the club.
1.45pm: Ivo Tennant at Hampshire v Yorkshire
Match abandoned also at West End. The one aspect of playing for Durham that Stephen Harmison is not keen on is endless long bus journeys. He is about to face another back to Leeds that will be quite long enough in this driving rain.
12.40pm: George Dobell at Surrey v Lancashire
Match abandoned at Guildford.
12.20pm: Ivo Tennant at Hampshire v Yorkshire
If there is no play today - an inspection will be made after lunch - Hampshire will have lost more than 80 hours cricket this season through the bad weather. Neil McKenzie said: “A lot of the boys have got different weather apps on their phones but I’ve tended not to look at the forecast! We’ve been trying to make the best use of our time, like having a few nets. You have to look for something positive to do.”
11.20am: Ivo Tennant at Hampshire v Yorkshire
Tim Tremlett, the former Hampshire all rounder and now cricket manager - as well, of course, as being the father of Chris - is one of the nicest and most reliable men in the game. But today he has come up with a rare bum steer. "We might start a little late, but there will be play this morning," he confidently said down the telephone. In actuality we shall be incredibly lucky to have any play today. Time to go and see Nigel Gray, the exasperated head groundsman, about his thoughts on the season as a whole. Poor man - it is his testimonial year.
10.50am: Alex Winter at Gloucestershire v Essex
Yesterday afternoon was almost perfect. The clouds parted and warm sunshine greeted the entire post-meridian period. The tents were very busy, the cider flowed, corporate guests milled, everyone seemed to be in a great mood. Except we had no cricket at all. It was a disaster. The umpires decided the outfield was too damp so the groundstaff hauled the covers on – it was a ridiculous sight in such glorious weather. We were getting sun-burn from the glare off the covers. The locals heckled messers Robinson and Ravi and one chap even vaulted the hoardings to remonstrate with the umpires.
Still a very merry evening was had by all and many of us stayed outside the tents until about 8pm. Even with no cricket, Cheltenham College is a fine drinking location.
But the walk to the ground this morning has been sobering in more ways than one. We have steady drizzle and there is already a significant amount of water on the covers, forcing an abandonment. So that’s the end of this game but tomorrow’s match, a CB40 also with Essex, is in some doubt. Even with 8 hours of sunshine yesterday the ground wasn’t fit for play so without the sun today, I’m not confident the ground with dry out.
There’s also the issue of where 4,000 people are going to park. Both main car parks are off limits – the college lawn even to pedestrians so a new gate near the pavilion has been created.
The forecast for next week is no good either. It’s a truly miserable summer when even Cheltenham is ruined.
10.35am: Jon Culley at Warwickshire v Sussex
Well, on the way actually. More delays. Not on the A42 but at Edgbaston for the foreseeable as outfield still sodden. Inspection at noon and then... who knows?
10.30am: Andrew McGlashan sets the scene
Morning everyone, hope you are all having a good start to the weekend. Pretty interesting day yesterday, wasn’t it? Double hundreds for one of England’s most promising young batsmen, Joe Root, and another by some chap called Pietersen who continues to make the headlines.
So what will today offer? In some places not much I’m afraid as it’s wet. Play has already been called off at Uxbridge and Cheltenham so Andrew Strauss won’t be able to extend his innings any further. However, he looks in fine form ahead of the South Africa Tests.
Elsewhere another match starts (courtesy of the simple-to-follow fixture list) as Glamorgan face Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.
As always we want to hear from you all, so get involved.
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Andrew McGlashan
Assistant Editor Andrew arrived at ESPNcricinfo via Manchester and Cape Town, after finding the assistant editor at a weak moment as he watched England's batting collapse in the Newlands Test. Andrew began his cricket writing as a freelance covering Lancashire during 2004 when they were relegated in the County Championship. In fact, they were top of the table when he began reporting on them but things went dramatically downhill. He likes to let people know that he is a supporter of county cricket, a fact his colleagues will testify to and bemoan in equal quantities.
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Posted by Kev Crossfield on (July 14, 2012, 14:56 GMT)What a good thing it is that cricket is a global game, so that even when it persists it down all over England and Wales in the middle of the typical British summer, at least we can still follow West Indies playing New Zealand.
Posted by SanjayN on (July 14, 2012, 14:17 GMT)One day, a genius groundsman will conclude that laying a plastic sheet on the wicket and surrounding square is insufficient coverage against an English summer.
They put a man on the moon in '69 but we still can't figure out that the solution is quite simple: a series of medium sized covers - similar to the Wimbledon covers - which are off the ground, cambered, and on wheels so that can be mobilized quickly. All the rain water should be re-cycled too.
The entire playing field should be covered during the night. How many times in the history of county cricket have we seen an entire day's play abandoned despite dry conditions during the day but where overnight rain left the outfield waterlogged?
Posted by expatyorkie on (July 14, 2012, 12:49 GMT)Well I think everyone would agree that brains isn't KP's strong point, though you'd also have to agree he's not bad at batting. In which case let him carry on making a t*t of himself but as long as he scores runs for England, who cares?
Posted by Alan Harrison on (July 14, 2012, 12:48 GMT)Disappointing that Yorkshire's match has been called off, depriving Steve Harmison of the opportunity of getting something else in the "W" column.
Posted by Appliance repair Irvine ca on (July 14, 2012, 11:53 GMT)Now i'm glad that I noticed blogs.espncricinfo.com , exactly the suitable information which wanted!
Posted by tony chatfield on (July 14, 2012, 11:29 GMT)I have been watching Root's performances for a couple of seasons now and rate him highly , so for me this is no surprise. As for KP? Well we all know he has the talent we just don't get to see it often enough . Given the weather has not for the first time ruined a set of matches batsmen if they get the chance may as well improve their averages .
Posted by Jack Sheldon on (July 14, 2012, 11:11 GMT)...memberships
Posted by Jack Sheldon on (July 14, 2012, 11:10 GMT)This weather is having a terrible effect on the first-class counties and international grounds.
But its effects are even worse at club level. My team has had 44 of this year's 105 junior and senior fixtures scheduled up to this point called off. The 4th XI, which I play for, has only got on the field five Saturdays out of 12.
This has had numerous side effects:
1. The junior season is almost over. Some age groups have hardly played at all. The finals days have been washed out, and the U13s will have a 4th attempt at playing their quarter-final next week...
2. Peripheral players are put off cricket. Picking them, then calling the games off all the time is no fun for them.
3. The club's finances aren't topped up... our ground hire charges are a fixed cost, whether rained off or not, and we have had two runs (one at the start of May and another over the last two weeks) where barely a single match has been played. This means a/ no match fees come in and b/ its impossible to chase...