English Domestic Cricket

[War]

David Hopps: Sky deal leaves few crumbs for frustrated fans | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

Would agree these sentiments, although i have BSKYB i know alot of people who are passionate cricket fans who don't.

 

[MUFC1987]

I've got no problem with Sky having that deal. Free to air broadcasters just want to pick and choose what to cover, in terms of what suits them. i.e. the most popular cricket. At least Sky show a commitment to all of England's games (especially overseas) as well as the County game. I for one would rather pay for Sky's excellent all round coverage, than just get a couple of Test matches each summer for free.

 

[lancashire666]

Phil Jaques signed for Yorkshire, not classed as an overseas player either as he has a UK passport now, really is a great signing for them. Hate it when that happens

 

[harrisb]

Regarding the Sky deal, it was nothing more than what was expected, my family don't have Sky, we probably can afford it, but my parents are set against lining Murdoch's pockets. Which is a shame for me, especially as the F1 is now on there as well.

Anyway, I'm more interested in the ECB/Sky decision to only show a minimal amount of County games, only 2 FC games a season! This is a disgrace, Middlesex, who i probably watch around 10 days of every summer, struggle to get crowds in at Lords and the outgrounds, however surely many counties would be better off broadcasting their matches on a PPV Internet stream, you could pay an extra ?10 to your membership and get a 'season-ticket', considering my U16 membership (?30 I think) gives me free entry to all the Middlesex games, I only have to go to 5/6 days to make it cost effective, maybe counties need to be slightly more business savvy in this age of technology?

 

[MUFC1987]

Personally, I just don't think there's a great demand for people wanting to watch First Class games. I mean sure, a lot of people watch the Tests in the summer, but beyond that, I just don't think people have the time with work, student things etc. to be able to sit down and watch 4 days of cricket. Much in the same way that FC games hardly draw a crowd anywhere at the grounds, beyond the dedicated older generation, who have the time to watch. Whereas I think One Day games and T20s can be fit in a lot more, as it's just a few hours to watch, rather than 7 hours for 4 days.

I mean personally, I'll come home from work during the summer and if I'm doing nothing else, I'll switch on the tv and watch a couple of sides that I don't care much for, play a 40 over game. I think that's a lot more appealing than finding time in the middle of the day to watch a past it pro, knock around for his 200 ball 50.

A lot of clubs do post FC highlights from a one camera view point, if people do want to watch. Maybe expanding on that would draw a bigger following, but obviously, there's not much of a financial incentive, as people are already paying plenty to watch games live/on Sky.

 

[lancashire666]

Yeah Lancashire have a daily update of every first class game. I would like more first class cricket on sky because I love first class cricket, but most people don't really care about it really. If there was a chance of good viewing figures them I'm sure sky would put more on

 

[harrisb]

Middlesex do the same too, in terms of daily highlights, however if the means are there, they are potentially missing out on some revenue. We all know how much they rely on Sky's money already.

 

[puddleduck]

It's a problem that the demand for the various forms of cricket is so lop-sided. Most of the clubs only really need a small ground to be financially sustainable, but to compete they are encouraged to develop test standard grounds.

Non-sustainable? Quite possibly for a couple of them.

 

[Sureshot]

Most of them are non-sustainable and are being propped up by ECB moolah.

2 FC games a year isn't a lot, but FC viewing figures are a bit dead. Counties alone hate them enough, they bring in no revenue whatsoever. They'd be hard for Sky to sell ad space for, it's hard to justify any more than 2. Still, all the time they refuse to make the schedule work around weekends, the longer the county game will suffer.

 

[MUFC1987]

It always seems to me that certain clubs are just badly run, in that they rely on International cricket making big profits to keep them going, which isn't always possible with the amount of competition there is for games.

I mean you look at Somerset, who made a big profit last year (CL T20 money wasn't included in that year) simply because they're run well and know what they're capable of. They know that they're never going to have International cricket, so they developed the ground for use all year around for local businesses in order to make money that way. They're run as a business and run well. It just seems to me that some clubs aren't doing well enough at that.

 

[lancashire666]

County news: County ins and outs 2012 | England Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo

Current county ins and outs, gotta say the Champions are looking a little bit threadbare, same squad as last year without Chilts, and out batting was by far our week link last year. Hoping for a decent overseas player to beef up the top order a little, but with all out money going into ground development I cant see it happeneing

 

[lancashire666]

MCC team for the opener against Lancashire announced

County news: Mark Ramprakash to lead MCC against Lancashire | Cricket News | County Cricket 2012 | ESPN Cricinfo

Ramprakash is in there

Also good to see Alan Richardson being picked, he had an amazing season in 2011 but seemed to slip under a lot of peoples radars.

 

[MUFC1987]

Lewis Gregory getting picked from Somerset is good to see. Hopefully he can stay injury free this year, as he could be a big player for us in all forms of the game. Good to see how he goes in this either way. That team looks short on pace bowlers though. Spin-a-thon pitch though, no doubt.

 

[lancashire666]

Lewis Gregory getting picked from Somerset is good to see. Hopefully he can stay injury free this year, as he could be a big player for us in all forms of the game. Good to see how he goes in this either way. That team looks short on pace bowlers though. Spin-a-thon pitch though, no doubt.

At taunton? Flattest track in England mate, nothing in it for pace or spin these days.

Lancashire have finally signed someone, ashwell prince is our overseas player. Really happy to see us sign a top order batsman, we really don't need any more bowlers, and prince has done really well in his previous two stints with us averaging over 50. The announcement was very clear he is only playing county championship and pro40/friends provident/whatever the hell the one day cup is now called. That means there should be a couple more players announced as our T20 players.

 

[MUFC1987]

At taunton? Flattest track in England mate, nothing in it for pace or spin these days.

Lancashire have finally signed someone, ashwell prince is our overseas player. Really happy to see us sign a top order batsman, we really don't need any more bowlers, and prince has done really well in his previous two stints with us averaging over 50. The announcement was very clear he is only playing county championship and pro40/friends provident/whatever the hell the one day cup is now called. That means there should be a couple more players announced as our T20 players.

Do you want to get a clue, or find someone so you can buy one?

One draw at Taunton last season and that was due to rain. Explain that one to me.

As for these couple of T20 players for Lancashire, what are you gonna do, offer them concert tickets as Payment?