A strange summer

Normally at this time of the Spring, the blog is cranking into gear and I am writing and publishing posts on a daily basis.

This year, sad to relate, it would appear we are still several months away from county cricket and it is all so sad. Of course, there are bigger things going on in the world, but when my nightly chats with Dad always switch to the greatest of games and he, at 92, pines for news on the club it is hard for him, for me, for all of us.

Yesterday's news was the cancellation of the contracts for this summer of Sean Abbott and Ben McDermott. It was always a matter of time, when other counties were starting to do the same and indicative of  a growing feeling that there will be little if any cricket this summer.

It is tough, losing the best part of a summer in a career that is already finite and relatively short. Especially so if you have more years behind you than ahead, perhaps even more if you have earned a summer contract to show what you can do. Toughest of all, perhaps, for those in the final year of deals and hoping to show that they are worthy of a contract extension.

Counties will face a dilemma on this, of course. Will a player who was good in 2019 still have it in 2021, or will the eye have gone for batsmen, the nip for bowlers? There will be several around the circuit who will have been robbed of one last hurrah before slipping into retirement and a new career.

For club cricket it will be challenging too. Some players will get used to doing other things at the weekend, even if it is cosy domesticity and sprucing up their garden. Yet plenty of others will be chafing at the bit to get the whites washed and ironed, the new bat knocked in, the new thigh pad tried out, the new gloves given an airing.

At least Derbyshire have done the right thing in deferring the deal for their Aussies to next year, subject to agreement from their Cricket Board. It may not work out quite so well as it would have this summer, when numerous Australians were planned to be over here with a summer free of international cricket. Next year may see tours eat in to availability.

Always assuming, of course, we are able to return to normality by then. When one reads experts suggesting that a return to packed grounds and stadiums would be 'impossible and dangerous' before a vaccine has been found and made widely available, normality seems some distance away.

It is good to see counties and players trying to maintain engagement on social media though. Between players answering supporter questions, offering tips from their gardens and playing each other at a cricket video game, there is plenty to enjoy, even if it really isn't the same.

I'm not really a gamer, but am finding Stick Cricket Live a lot of fun, after the suggestion of a work colleague.

I'm just pining, like the rest of you, for the return of the real thing.