Wednesday 20 September 2017

Derbyshire v Kent day 2

No play

Thank you all for your excellent comments below last night's post.

The levels of anger, disappointment and frustration are quite clear for the club to see and your posts have been well-written and presented.

I think the consensus is that the greater concern is Derby and I hope that we get a clear indication of what is planned to address the issues over the winter months. Of course it is frustrating to lose two days cricket at Chesterfield, the thinking money being squarely on there being no cricket over the four days, with more rain forecast tomorrow.

Yet Simon Storey today said that improvements had been done to the drainage there. So there are only two solutions in reality.

They need to look at the concert demands for Derby, then programme them in for a time of year when Chesterfield is a more viable option - in other words, midsummer. You can never legislate for heavy rain and its detrimental impact on a ground, always likely on an out ground. Yet, as notoveryet says tonight, why was Derby OK for Nottinghamshire and not for Glamorgan? What was different?

I think the buildings and their requisite foundations will be a reason for problems, but with the people we have involved at the club - good, professional people - one would hope that this would have been thought of and addressed with appropriate drainage when work was going on.

Either way, agreeing with everyone else, it has to be looked at. Of course, the concerts are a good thing and a ballpark 100K of income from two days buys you a good cricketer. Yet the bottom line is that I am as good as anyone they could sign, if they just want people to sit around and sign an occasional autograph. Likewise, marketing is going to get messy if you're citing the merits of joining with '40 days of cricket...or maybe 30, if it rains a lot'.

The supporters and players will be equally frustrated, because sitting around a wet cricket ground is no fun, especially when you can't even get out there when it has stopped raining for 24 hours.

They will get it sorted, I'm sure and I can only say that people should give those at the club the time, over the coming months, to address this summer's issues.

8 comments:

  1. The club shouldn't really have put a Chesterfield in this position and it would be extremely unfair for there to be any blame to be attached.

    Derbyshire as a club gambled and lost.

    I personally am not interested in watching cricket when it's almost October, particularly when there's nothing on the game.

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  2. Hi

    I had booked this week off from work well before the switch to Queen's Park was announced as I always like to see the last home game of the season.

    I noticed the rainfall in Derby on Sunday and especially on Monday and did wonder how it would affect Queen's Park - having booked the week off for last year's fixture against Northamptonshire - so wasn't surprised when the club's twitter feed advised of a wet outfield and delays etc so I didn't travel and therefore do not know how bad the conditions really are. At lunch on Tuesday, when play was abandoned, I did think that this fixture would be in jeopardy given the forecast for further rain on Wednesday night and Thursday.

    Having read all the comments and seen the situation at Old Trafford, I have come to the conclusion that it may not be entirely the fault of the host team and lack of provision for suitable covering that has caused two days of inactivity.

    I suggest that the issue of wet outfields delaying play is one of the products of the litigious age we now live in. For example if a player was to injure themselves seriously whilst fielding, what would stop them filing a claim for compensation on the basis that he believed the conditions were not suitable for first-class cricket. I belive this is also why the bad light law was amended some years ago so that the umpires are now the sole arbiters and don't offer the light to the batsmen as they used to. See Thomas Bartlett vs ECB ACO 2016 for an interesting situation in a local league match from 2015.
    This situation isn't confined to Derbyshire as Middlesex's game with Hampshire at Uxbridge last week had similar issues with reports of heat lamps and pitchforks being used to combat a wet outfield (118 overs possible over 4 days).

    I also believe that the old school umpire - such as a Bird, Constant, Palmer etc - would have tried to get play started at some point either late Tuesday or at some point on Wednesday. In over 25 years of watching and following county cricket, this "Wet outfield" situation is a modern phenomena as I don't remember many days lost to wet outfields in seasons past - especially when it hasn't rained for a day or so and the sun has been out -.

    The modern umpire seems to be preoccupied with dotting the "i's" and crossing the "t's" and that conditions have to be perfect or near perfect for play to occur - it would be interesting to know how many games Chesterfield have lost to a wet outfield at Queen's Park in the Derbyshire League in the last two years, could it be that local league umpires are more proactive than their first-class counterparts?-.

    Notoveryet and yourself have asked the question "What was different between the Notts and Glamorgan fixtures at Derby?". Could the answer be that an umpire at the Glamorgan fixture was Billy Taylor - who is a recent recruit to the list - and is also at Queen's Park this week (his colleague from the Glamorgan game was at the afforementioned game at Uxbridge last week). Could it be that, in his opinion, the outfield is unfit whereas Neil Mallender - a more experienced umpire who officiated at the Notts game - would have passed it fit? In short - what we as spectators deem fit, is unfit according to the umpires, and that would depend on their experience.

    I agree that the drainage at Derby is a problem since the overhaul of the County Ground but the media centre was built after a request by the ECB for permanent broadcast facilities at all HQ grounds. For the record, 2017 has been the 11th wettest summer on record for the UK although looking at the Met Office figures and maps it suggests that locally we had about 75-90% of the average rainfall for June, July and August.

    I agree with notoveryet that the concert held earlier in the season is a red-herring for the state of the drainage at the County Ground.
    Resolving the drainage issue should be of paramouint importance this winter above signing a major player.

    Many thanks

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  3. Terrific post, thank you. Just stick a name on next time so people know who is saying what thanks!

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  4. I thought I put my name on my post at 23:18

    Jeff

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    1. No it wasnt on it Jeff but thanks for adding it now. Good post!

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  5. I was at the members forum and the reason why the boyzone concert went ahead was because of the promoter, DCCC were offered Boyzone and felt they had to take it to get the promoter 'onside' apparently they represent 20+ artists so its key we have a relationship for future events. I have no issue with holding concerts, indeed the 2 this year looks like they could bring in £100k +. One should be scheduled before the Chesterfield festival and another in September when it won't effect games, and will give the ground time to recover, we've struggled with ground this year due to the 2 concerts and the timing of the WWC. Next year I presume they will be planned better as this Boyzone gig was thrown at them at short notice

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  6. It's a good job this is a dead game but what if Derbyshire had a chance of promotion and needed the points from this game?

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  7. I think its fair to say that DCCC will need to do their own critical reflection on the provision of Cricket (aka lost days )
    I am pretty sure they have lost more days than regional comparators and that should start the root cause investigation process
    I also think that they need to give that feedback and concrete actions to the loyal (and travelling membership) with a timing plan of actions in readiness for the Provision of First Class Cricket in 2018
    Themes could well include
    Events Planning integration to Cricket Planning
    Derby Drainage/Equipment/Facilities
    Chesterfield Drainage/Equipment/Facilities
    Resources/Skills/Deployment

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