Does tradition count for anything?

The start of the English domestic season and the subsequent schedule reflects the shift in priorities among counties and the ECB, writes Simon Wilde in the Sunday Times.

Tradition counts for nothing any more. Anything can be sold or moved for a price. Tomorrow’s match in Abu Dhabi has been relocated from Lord’s partly to facilitate a project being driven by MCC to find a suitable coloured ball for day-night Test cricket, and partly because the season is starting earlier than ever. There is also MCC’s financial deal with Abu Dhabi.

Vic Marks, in the Observer, while agreeing that the decision to start the domestic season in Abu Dhabi marks a departure from the conservatism that once characterised English cricket, says it might just be a good idea. The experiment with pink balls, he adds, too may prove a favourable development.