Stuff the Hundred - Support Somerset in their defence of the One Day Cup
Now is the time for all true Somerset supporters to show their support for the County Club. SomersetNorth is unashamedly anti the new competition and is encouraging everyone to vent their feelings here. Please start posting today and come back as many times as you wish
Comments
We are not Welsh. We are Somerset.
how can you support any other cricket team?
Well I will be supporting SCCC v Cornwall tomorrow and the young players developed through the Academy system plus giving support to Cornwall and the fantastic work they do in bringing on Potential Somerset players and not those drafted into some team with whom I have no allegiance.
The hundred was never created for county cricket fans . It is an attempt to introduce new spectators. Problem is the long term effects of this competition in relation to the rest of county cricket ! We think the programme and fixture planning of 'real 'county cricket is bad now ,it could get butchered even more !
The best form of protest will be to have bigger crowds watching fringe and new talent playing for Somerset in the RLODC than the Hundred can get (even when they are giving away most of the tickets).
True this circus was never created for county cricket fans. But I fail to see how anyone seduced by the 16.4 comp with all it's gimmicks will gravitate to the quieter, slower paced yet more skillful days of County Championship cricket which is the life-blood of our sport.
Furthermore I am told. Cardiff is just up the road. You can go and see Tom Banton et al playing. To them I say this. I will travel to most places in the UK to watch Somerset, no matter who's playing . And Somerset IS the only team I support.
The RLODC, (50over) once the showpiece finally of the season, mainly with other sponsors (Gillette, Nat-West & C&G) It is ludicrous that The premier white ball comp for countries, is no longer considered relevant at county level by the ECB. It's like "We've one it now, so it doesn't matter anymore. And that decision baffles ALL cricket watchers
It seems to me that the counties vs 100 is the beginning? of the ecb effort to replace the counties with franchises based on the larger grounds. There will be no room for clubs such as ours who've punched well above their weight for donkeys years, that's why they hope we'll suddenly turn Welsh and take our money across the border. If the ecb were a bit more honest and open about their agenda and aims maybe many would see this in a different light. If the 100 succeeds, in a few years clubs like Somerset will be playing nothing but 2nd class cricket. That may be good for cricket as a whole, but after 50 odd years following Somerset I don't see it that way. Whatever happens I will continue to support Somerset for the rest of my days. I won't be supporting Welsh Fire or any other of them.
For several years now it has been crystal clear that ECB have not given a stuff about first class county cricket even though it is where test cricketers are made. If moving the Championship to the Spring and Autumn wasn’t enough of a clue, the latest total disrespect for the CC in pulling players out of a crucial round of matches so that an ODI could go ahead should be a call to wake up before it’s too late. Ironically we now have BBC Test Match Special promoting the Hundred. Even though it is a step towards city-based, Test match ground based, either franchised or ‘super county’ cricket. It is an existential threat to many counties including our beloved Somerset.
ECB speaks with ‘forked tongue’. There is no appetite or audience for 4 day county cricket they say. Well there won’t be when it isn’t played in the Summer where it belongs. When I was a kid, we got hooked on cricket in the school summer holidays, when we could go to Taunton, Weston, Bath, Glastonbury, and when Somerset were away, even to Bristol to watch Glos. And we were allowed on to the outfield to put a bag down for stumps and there were kids playing cricket all round the ground. And you could virtually spend the whole school holidays doing it. Those of us who fell in love with cricket that way are still besotted 50 or 60 years later.
Make no mistake. Those of us who are vitriolic about the Hundred aren’t because we are too old to accept change. It is because we know where it is headed. Towards the death of county cricket, and hence to Test matches that can only last a couple of days because nobody will have the skills to bat long enough.
To those who say that the counties like ours can’t fight the ECB over this because counties like ours need the ECB’s money, I say there won’t be any ECB money for counties like ours when there are no 5 day Tests, and only 8 or 10 teams left in existence. The counties allowing the ECB to get away with what they are doing are signing their own death warrant.
And it time for us peasants to revolt.
Trying to view this whole thing dispassionately, I can't help thinking that something new is needed to overcome the problem that cricket is a dying spectator sport at county level. There are, however, some notable exceptions of support and strength, particularly Somerset CCC and their fanbase and, of course, the playing staff.
The recent CC match against Leicestershire is, perhaps, an example of why people are not attracted to the sport and it relies on retired, ex-players and enthusiasts such as myself.
I don't want the One Hundred to succeed but if it doesn't the game as we know it will slowly die unless something is done to improve it. I also don't understand why a competition that was conceived to help us develop the 50 over game and win the World Cup is now so seriously undervalued.
This is not the answer but something else is required, no matter how emotional we all feel about it.
My ideas for the future
1) CC to go back to two divisions with promotions and relegations
2) BWT to be contested between the top Div 2 teams
Alternatively if Conference system is retained, teams not gaining Div 1 status to form two equal divisions with division winners playing off for BWT
3) T20 to be divisionalised with promotion and relegation
4) RLODC to be a knockout competition and include all National (Minor) Counties teams
just somethings to consider
I think like many true Somerset fans, the competition that must not be named is the ghost at the banquet. In what should be a joyous summer that has seen us return to our favourite seats in our favourite stands - the gentle Westcountry burr building with every wicket Craig-O takes; it is impossible not to shudder at the thought of what this crisp based circus may do to the thing we love the most and the possibility that summers may never be the same again.
Whilst I live in hope that this may be an exaggeration, I do fear that powers beyond our control , in a soulless London PR office, are conspiring to undermine the county game. And how interesting that they should be doing so at a time when support for that game - be it Championship, 50 over or the blast - seems stronger than ever. If ever there was a time to rally the troops and defend the cause, it must be now.
For me, Somerset is about family, Perhaps unusually I was introduced to the team as a boy by my Grandma. I am a Devonian but she grew up in Hatch Beauchamp and loved Somerset and in turn inspired that love in me. When I became a father I started taking my son to games from an early age and he has grown up supporting Somerset (even choosing to go to day 1 of championship match over a party for his 10th birthday!) and has become a very handy opening batsman in his teenage years. Im a proud Westcountry Man and this team represents everything that I hold dear - be that family or this wonderful part of the world and its people. So to see that threatened by a manufactured product that we are told we need, that is based in another country and that means nothing to me is heart-breaking. Would my Gran and I have spent afternoons chatting about the "Western Hula-Hoops" (or whatever they are called)? No. Would my son have been inspired by sitting in the ground watching local lads playing for our team? No. Does this manufactured nonsense represent or inspire me in any way? No
These PR clowns, have no sense of why we love county cricket and what it means to us. I will only ever have one team and that is Somerset. When you grow up in the Westcountry, what happens in our metropolitan cities means nothing to you, so it stands to reason that a snack based franchise from a city in a different country will mean nothing to you either. Those in the ECB towers care nothing for anything west of Bristol except in the two weeks of the year when they want to use us for a holiday. The rest of the time we may as well not exist and I find it inconceivable that the millions spent on advisors didn't extend to testing the feelings of those not geographically linked to a franchise city. I'm lucky that door to door I can be at the CACG in less than an hour so in what universe would I ever want to make a journey that will last longer than the game I'm travelling to watch - especially when I have no connections to that team or to Wales!!
This joke of a competition may scare me because it threatens what I hold dear; but I am also heartened by the resolve and passion of good Westcountry folk to rally behind their team, to support Somerset in every competition and to pack in bigger crowds for the RLODC than the H**ndred could ever manage.
But however much that competition threatens us, ultimately it is a fad and we all know that fads go out of fashion just as quickly as they come in - especially when they are hollow and forced upon us. I honestly believe that this franchise competition will die a death in time and when it does, emerging from the ashes will be the county system and it's faithful supporters - the Welsh Fire extinguished by the cheering voices of the cider army 🍎🍎🍎
Steve another entry and a few other thoughts from me
Striking of bat on ball is not a problem to me, my main issue is player development (both women and men) minor / National Counties eg Devon/Cornwall and / or Clubs identify prospects, Somerset keep an eye on them through the age groups (U13 - U17) pathways /academies up to 2nd, 1st XI and in some cases international standard only for supporters to see them drafted away and into random teams where there’s no concept of player development and where we have no allegiance and then eg the 50 over cup and ultimately the county system is completely degraded. Where do these PR / franchise experts expect future players to come from?
PS to my last rant
if the powers that be really felt a regional competition was needed the KSL was an ideal model to adopt
Supporting Somerset is good for the soul you say - not sure about the heart after today’s wonderful nail biting win.