Paul, we've got to fit in 75 one day and T20 fixtures, so we'll have to play test matches every day over 25 days soon...
but I'm something of a student of the game I suppose.
There are those who would find it difficult to believe that Lancashire's very own "Burnley Express", Jimmy Anderson, is anyway at all connected with the county any more...
I believe he has been very active in the campaigns ti get the OT improvements authorised and funded. He may rarely turn out for us, but he is still one of us.There are those who would find it difficult to believe that Lancashire's very own "Burnley Express", Jimmy Anderson, is anyway at all connected with the county any more...
And I remember the days Lancs and Yorks used to moan that their players never got picked by England even though they were in better form than their Middlesex and Surrey counterparts...You can't have your cake and eat it Paul.
I was thinking more of the batsmen, we all know that the toil and hard work should be done by those from the north as they're used to it from working down t'pit 25 hours a day. Graceful and elegant batsmanship should always be shown by those from the south, Tavare, Gooch, Brearley, Stewart (both), Ramprakash, Graveney, Cowdrey et al...
Being the age I am, you could add the England captain P.B.H.May and M.J.K.Smith to your list of batsmen from south of the "oop North" border.
Long gone are the days when it was said if England needed a new lethally fast pace bowler, all that was needed was a visit to the Nottinghamshire coalfield, a shout down a pit and a grimy-faced son of the coal seam would come up to the surface and fear would be struck in the hearts of the opposing batsmen, especially those of an antipodean persuasion. A certain Harold Larwood who went to work in the pits at the age of 14 springs to mind here.
I am sure there are some rapscallions on this thread who think that I am old enough to have watched the bearded W.G.Grace stride out to the crease to "do his duty" for England...
Paul, some of those names weren't those you'd say were stylish (Stewarts, Tav, Goochie...). Always find Gower awkward to place, Leicestershire, but very southern in temperament - oh yeah, King's Canterbury, that explains it...
So both Roses teams have been beaten by Notts - home and away - in this competition. Lancs didn't put up much of a fight on Sunday though, not in the face of some strong bowling by both Notts spinners.The "Genie of the Lamp" both heard and granted your wish, so both teams are now in the quarter-finals....
Though in fairness they wouldn't be able to predict which teams qualified.I wasn't even a twinkle in my mother's eye until well after 1955
It's certainly true there's considerably more Test cricket these days, but nonetheless the likes of Trueman used to send down a thousand overs a season, year after year, which just doesn't happen these days. But then again, the Test players generally don't play (much) first-class cricket. Too much cricket is a problem in general terms of scheduling and potential overload in the minds of the spectating public, but in the era of the central contract the Test players are relatively insulated against it.
