And So This Is White-Ball

… and what have you done?

Another half of the county season over,

a new one to be begun.

Fun is over

If you want it Unless you want to watch cricket, of which there is going to be a lot, including between counties (including Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Gloucestershire, and other disposable community enterprises with a hundred years or more’s history).

The Blast may not be the County Championship, but it is cricket between counties.

I won’t try and discuss the stuff that has emerged about Banks and Graves with Gloucestershire and Yorkshire because I’d use vocabulary which would get me into trouble but I do think it’s very important to make as much noise as possible, all the time, about the privatisation thing and what it would mean. I hope people have read the articles by Atherton and others I’ve posted.

There’s also the World Cup. I’m not a great follower of T20 at all, but I am a proper follower of Associate cricket, and we get Nepal, Scotland, Netherlands, USA, Namibia, Oman, Canada, PNG and for the first time ever Uganda (which is rather exciting).

Many places say it starts on Sunday but it actually starts on Saturday if you’re at the first match.

406 thoughts on “And So This Is White-Ball”

    1. Romeo ,seeing as you seem to like Willie and Neil Young , theyre are plenty of utube videos of the two together playing at Farm Aid over the years.

      Also Mr Young has recorded with Willies sons band Promise of the Real a number of times.

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    1. I think if Scotland beat the Aussies, the Aussies will deserve a hammering in next year’s Ashes. On the other hand watching England play so negatively against Namibia today – not really trying to take wickets but just relying on scoreboard pressure perhaps I might think justice was done after all.

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    1. Scotland played very well indeed and deserved to win. Meanwhile Australia were lacklustre and sloppy in the field and seemed somewhat ambivalent about the outcome. Apparently the qualifying group results do not carry over into the Super 8s so they had nothing to play for but professional pride and momentum. Scotland could teach them a thing or two on that score.

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  5. I’ve only just turned on the stream, but it looks like Holly Armitage somewhat hogged the strike in this Northern Diamond innings.

    Also, I hope the rain that’s just started will stop soon so our world-class drainage can do its work.

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    1. Lewis Gregory is a very fine cricketer, but he can vary greatly between expensive and economic spells – your bad luck to meet him on a day when he has put in an electric bowling performance. I was expecting Meredith to do the damage because of his form lately – but no it is Lewis Gregory.

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  9. Kent Spitfires appear to have been caught on the ground at the St Lawrence aerodrome by the visiting Gloucester Bombers yesterday.

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  10. ATTENTION PETER ROWNTREE AND ANY OTHER UK CITIZENS WHO LIVE OUTSIDE THE UK OR KNOW UK CITIZENS WHO DO.

    The fifteen-year rule travesty has been abolished.

    The deadline to register to vote in the UK General Election is midnight UK time tomorrow.

    Scroll down to see the bit about overseas voters.

    https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

    And, everyone generally, make sure everyone eligible is registered to vote.

    The deadline to sort out proxy votes is still a week away.

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    1. Have completed the registration, but system is looping round and when you press ‘CONTINUE’ on the last screen it takes you back to the first screen and is never-ending. There is also an issue that here, there is no national postal delivery service and I live in a place where a service of postal delivery to my house is non-existant.

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      1. You don’t need a local postal address if you know someone in the UK who can vote for you, as a proxy. Ideally someone who lives where you last lived/were on the electoral register in the UK.

        Check you have filled all required fields. I found it pretty simple.

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        1. It is very simple to complete and when it starts to loop it does so with all the information you filled in from the first pass. But even if there was no looping there are further complications for voting from here. This is because the Colombian National postal service (called 471) has been in decline for years here. The only option I would have is a postal vote, and the only opyion I have to post is using a courier service such as DHL, Servientrega (Colombian Courier Service) but a 4 day service to the UK these days costs about 50 pounds.

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    1. I suppose that now that the first stage of the competition is over, there will be a lot of discussion about the format of this competition and the time it absorbs (a month) out of already congested cricketing schedules. I think most of us on here are ‘inclusionists’ as far as cricket goes and have vented our thoughts about this subject probably more in relation to the Rafiq affair than anything else in recent years. So yes, I am very happy indeed, that we had 20 countries playing in this competition – wish it was more. Others though hold the view that cricketing schedules are over congested, and will point to the fact that this first stage produced many very one-sided matches. And although I would point to the fact that three of the eight going through were non-seeded countries, and that a fourth Scotland, with 5 points from this first stage were very unlucky to be going home -they do have a valid argument as well.

      Perhaps a compromise could be investigated, with an FA Cup type of preliminary qualifying final. If we keep to 20 countries this would include the 12 associate sides playing in two leagues of 6 teams, with the top 4 going through to play the 8 seeded countries again in two leagues of 6. This would reduce the time required for players in the top cricketing countries to be halved.

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      1. Your ‘compronise’ suggestion is very similar to what happened ten years ago in Bangladesh, before Afghanistan and Ireland became full members.

        Full-member Zimbabwe were knocked out in the first round by the Netherlands.

        Fundamental to the difference this year is that sides like Nepal have played teams like South Africa and almost won. USA actually beat Pakistan.

        Going back to a two stage tournament won’t, and shouldn’t, happen.

        If countries decide to halt all domestic cricket because 15 or 16 of their players are at a world cup, they need to go home and think again.

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        1. As I said above, personally I am all for the current format, I respect those who hold a different view. I think another aspect of this is that this is very much a shop window for players from smaller (cricketing-wise) countries – and for example currently we have never had any US players and only limited Afganistan players (Nabi at Kent is the only one I remember) as overseas signing for county cricket (red and white ball) – but the advantage of having players from such countries is that they are unlikely to have many international commitments during the UK season and could be long-term signings rather than for three of four matches. Such players, would benefit from the experience of playing in the UK, and the counties would benefit in being able to sign them for full tournaments.

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  12. I’ve spent hours being fascinated by a map from the 1920s of road surfaces in London.

    I had no idea there were over 53 miles of wooden roads then, usually in posh areas. Apparently some still exist, although they are often/usually under modern tarmac.

    The map is zoomable and draggable. It covers the area between Hendon, Ilford, Sidcup and Kingston.

    This copy is from Amsterdam University and is annotated as being from 1928 or 29, but the data in it must be from 1922 or earlier, as Wembley Stadium isn’t marked. It was built in 22/23 in the middle of Wembley Park.

    https://vu.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/krt/id/1616

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    1. I didn’t know there were roads with wooden paving. It seems pretty impractical, but apparently the horses made less of a noise.

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      1. Yes, horses and carts/carriages made much less noise on wood, but the wood soaked up the horses’ wee, a gallon a day per horse, I read, and when something heavy rolled over a sodden wood road, wee would spurt out everywhere.

        These wooden roads were invented and built before the rubber tyre was, and that invention made cycles and later motor cars much quieter than on cobbles. John MacAdam’s surface created loads of dust. Cyclists were the principal agitators for better road surfaces, and provided lots of the data for this map.

        Asphalt (asphalt concrete) was still in its infancy/toddlerhood in 1920 in cities like London, built centuries before, showing how the UK (England, mainly) rested on its Victorian genius and didn’t update its infrastructure (viz. the Central Line, where tunnels are too small to take trains which can accommodate people six feet tall).

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      1. I was very much drawn to my East End roots (and routes) so never got as far Neasden. Wonderful resource, how on earth did you come across it?

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    3. The RF Delderfield Trilogy) ‘God is an Englishman’ (I don’t like the title much) is a fantastic read for the history of horse drawn transport in the UK, and takes the reader through all the early years of petrol-powered vehicles, it is a fabulous read, because it covers all te problems of car pioneers, for the types of raod, for the fact that cars for a time were illegal, and a variety of other problems, not least the unreliabilty of such early vehicles. Takes some reading because each of the three books are about 800 pages – but is an absorbing read and is supposedly based on the evolution of Pickfords as a company.

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    4. The trouble with maps is that they are out of date almost as soon as they are drawn, so the data could be from 1928 or 29, but added to the most recent current map, which was drawn and published before Wembley stadium was built.

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    5. Although it could be that the data from 1928 or 29 had been added to the most recent map available which had been published before Wembley was built.

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  16. Very brave attempt by the USA – only 18 runs short at the end. Tremendous knock by Gous. Rabada, really the difference between the two teams. He is a very fine bowler these days.

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      1. Good day for cricket (if it doesn’t rain). England currently playing South Africa. This afternoon eight matches in the Blast.

        This weekend I intend to make a reservation for a cruise in January which interests me, because it goes to a lot of places I have never visited in my life. It starts in Panama City at the west end of the canal (Pacific) and then sails through the canal to the Atlantic. I have never been to Panama, but ithas some of the best natural reserves for wildlife in Central America. It then calls at Cartagena, one of the most beautiful cities in South America, and I intend to spend some time revisiting the Castle of San Felipe and strolling round the historic centre. From there it heads to Jamaica, and I have never visited the West Indies in my life. From there to the Cayman Islands, which is a British overseas territory. It then visits to Central American countries that I have never been to, Honduras, and Belize. Belize has always fascinated me because it is one of the largest surviving rain forest areas on the planet. After this it heads for Mexico and Cozumel, which has many Mayan ruins to visit in its immediate vicinity. It then finishes in Tampa, Florida and although I have vsiited the US many times in my life for both business and tourism, I was never in Tampa. I expect to get some great photos of these places, but I don’t expect any of it to equal Macchu Picchu in Peru, which remains my favourite place I have ever visited.

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    1. No, but unfortunately, I saw a caught and bowled yesterday where the bowler (Nathan Sowter) sprinted across the field and caught the ball not too far from the boundary.

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    2. I’m not normally a fan of Buttler’s keeping but it was very impressive, as was the one-handed catch to dismiss de Kock high to his left.

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    1. Most remarkable result of this tournament to date, and as you say well deserved. Totally outplayed Australia to win by a margin of 21 runs. Not sure how long this tournament is going to survive for matches played in the West Indies. There is a tropical storm developing in the Caribbean – even though the tropical storm/hurricane season normally begins mid-August – so something like 7 weeks earlier than normal. Tropical storms, of course less damaging than hurricanes, but they are capable of delivering an awful lot of rain.

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    2. I wrote to Tanya about this:

      Hi Tanya,

      I obviously know this has nothing to do with you.

      I just rewrote, in briefer form, a post on CC Live which vanished. It was then removed by moderators.

      It was in no way problematic. It was about the IOC showing a way for the ICC to go forward with Afghanistan Women’s sport.

      I linked to this article:
      https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/afghanistan-have-gender-equal-team-paris-no-taliban-allowed-ioc-2024-06-13/

      I am speechless and extremely angry.

      Very best.

      R

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