County Cricket 2024 Season

[phantom]

Crazy to see that Somerset have started training today for 2024

[Lrrr]

A side case that some will probably be off around the world over the winter for 20/20 competitions? Keeps them all ticking over and they’ve probably had about as long off as footballers have in the summer. 
 

would be interested in what their winter training schedule is like though 

[And Its Smith]

The kids have started already. Been training for 2 weeks now. Lazy adults!  

[miser]

Generally dull and damp with the occasional bit of sunshine. Ideal conditions to practice for the opening rounds of the County Championship in April.

[phantom]

First T20 home fixture announced for 2024 

Somerset vs Essex on Friday 31st May, it follows the Western Storm vs Sunrisers match

There'll be 7 double header fixtures this season

Rest of the fixtures are released 10am next Thursday 

[ralphindevon]

Somerset’s first two championship games will be away from home as they want to give grass extra time to grow after some more drainage work.

At first I liked the idea of not having to go to Taunton in early April and get hyperthermia. But knowing are luck we’ll get warm sun at the start of April and freezing and wet at the end. Plus we’ll probably now have back to back games which makes attending a few days of each more difficult.

[phantom]

15 hours ago, ralphindevon said:

Somerset’s first two championship games will be away from home as they want to give grass extra time to grow after some more drainage work.

At first I liked the idea of not having to go to Taunton in early April and get hyperthermia. But knowing are luck we’ll get warm sun at the start of April and freezing and wet at the end. Plus we’ll probably now have back to back games which makes attending a few days of each more difficult.

Blimey, how many more summers are we going to do this work

Every season we seem to be digging it all up, and every season we seem to struggle with flooding

[ralphindevon]

2 minutes ago, phantom said:

Blimey, how many more summers are we going to do this work

Every season we seem to be digging it all up, and every season we seem to struggle with flooding

Yeah, I think I’m right in saying one of the efforts at doing the drainage didn’t go according to plan. Hopefully they’ll get it right this time and that’ll be that.

[ralphindevon]

Back to 8 points for a draw next year.

Not sure why, I thought they’d have given the 5 points experiment longer.

[phantom]

[Lanterne Rouge]

Nice feature on James Rew on PW earlier. He looks much older than 19 mind!

[ralphindevon]

Much better championship starting days next year, a lot of Thursday and Friday which should mean a lot more weekend cricket than recent years.

With the T20 finals day and the 50 over final both in September there won’t be much weekend cricket for the championship final games though.

[Super]

Tom Abell to step down as Captain.

[ralphindevon]

I've always felt the responsibility of the captaincy has hindered Tom's batting.

He's such a great talent and should have scored a lot more runs, maybe given it too early. He never looked relaxed as captain. 

Anyway we'll see how he gets on now, I'm predicting runs galore. 

[Super]

4 minutes ago, ralphindevon said:

I've always felt the responsibility of the captaincy has hindered Tom's batting.

He's such a great talent and should have scored a lot more runs, maybe given it too early. He never looked relaxed as captain. 

Anyway we'll see how he gets on now, I'm predicting runs galore. 

Who is likely to take over?

[ralphindevon]

8 minutes ago, Super said:

Who is likely to take over?

No idea. 

If you pushed me for a guess I'd say Sean Dickson or Ben Green. 

Or msybe tempt someone in from another county. 

 

[PHILINFRANCE]

30 minutes ago, Super said:

Who is likely to take over?

Not an easy decision.

Normally, I would suggest Lewis Gregory, but, unfortunately, he is frequently unavailable due to injury.

Similarly, whilst Ben Green has some limited captaincy experience (50 overs), he is not guaranteed a first team place and, of course, his experience in captaincy is effectively limited to second eleven players who are even younger than him.

[GrahamC]

Telegraph reporting today that Gloucestershire are considering selling Nevil Rd & moving outside of the city.

All part of a trend, the zoo, majority of the major shops now at Cribbs & the alleged arena that all seem to be headed out South Glos way.

[phantom]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Telegraph reporting today that Gloucestershire are considering selling Nevil Rd & moving outside of the city.

All part of a trend, the zoo, majority of the major shops now at Cribbs & the alleged arena that all seem to be headed out South Glos way.

Would be the same planning problems the sags have been battling for years

[GrahamC]

9 minutes ago, phantom said:

Would be the same planning problems the sags have been battling for years

Do you mean in terms of trying to develop it?

I guess the difference with cricket though is sides have somewhere to play in the interim, if they did this, don’t they?

Glos already use Cheltenham for a bit.

I don’t know the full facts here (& like you, they’re not my team) but was highlighting the trend where a lot of stuff is moving outside the city boundaries, whether that is sporting, leisure or commercial.

Edited December 1, 2023 by GrahamC

[ralphindevon]

27 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Telegraph reporting today that Gloucestershire are considering selling Nevil Rd & moving outside of the city.

All part of a trend, the zoo, majority of the major shops now at Cribbs & the alleged arena that all seem to be headed out South Glos way.

Interesting. It makes sense I suppose as far as being accessible, which the current ground certainly isn’t, but I’ve never been a big fan of out of town stadia.

Especially a long day at cricket, it’s nice sometimes to nip into town, get some food or whatever. I wonder where it’ll be exactly? 

[StapleHillPhil]

6 hours ago, GrahamC said:

Telegraph reporting today that Gloucestershire are considering selling Nevil Rd & moving outside of the city.

All part of a trend, the zoo, majority of the major shops now at Cribbs & the alleged arena that all seem to be headed out South Glos way.

Apparently Glos are looking at land near the Bristol & Bath Science Park in Emersons/Lyde Green. This screams White Elephant to me.

[Barrs Court Red]

30 minutes ago, Kings Norton Red said:

Apparently Glos are looking at land near the Bristol & Bath Science Park in Emersons/Lyde Green. This screams White Elephant to me.

Does it? Supposedly where the new M4 junction will go which I can see makes it appealing from a commercial sense - without that though, I’m not sure that it’s a great location.
 

I wonder if it’s the same site that was offered to Rovers, if not, I can’t see where else it would go. 

[Kid in the Riot]

1 hour ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Does it? Supposedly where the new M4 junction will go which I can see makes it appealing from a commercial sense - without that though, I’m not sure that it’s a great location.
 

I wonder if it’s the same site that was offered to Rovers, if not, I can’t see where else it would go. 

It'll definitely be east fringe. SGC draft local plan was published the other week and that's where most dev is going. 

Different approach now Libs and Labour are in control. 

[Barrs Court Red]

6 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

It'll definitely be east fringe. SGC draft local plan was published the other week and that's where most dev is going. 

Different approach now Libs and Labour are in control. 

I think the actual details will be published on the 4th, or at least the accompanying maps anyway. 
 

If it was to go East fringe, I think this means it’s a long way off becoming reality. 

[BS15_RED]

I’m a Gloucestershire member, I also live not too far away from Lyde Green. I love a Friday night blast game, a few beers and a meal on Gloucester Road and then into watch the game with my mates has become a tradition over the years. However, the club is stagnating badly, we’re light years behind Somerset. The last redevelopment of the ground was a massive downgrade on what they originally wanted to build.

Getting away from Bristol and the never ending supply of NIMBY’s would definitely be a good thing, building anything within the juristiction of BCC seems to be an impossible task. There’s a chance to build a really top class ground here, maybe something similar to the Rose Bowl in Southampton? If so, it would be great for the whole region, and mean us getting more top England games, not like this years offering v Ireland. I’ll reserve full judgement until more details are available, but I feel there’s a chance to be really bold and ambitious here.

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by BS15_RED

[phantom]

On 01/12/2023 at 16:30, GrahamC said:

Do you mean in terms of trying to develop it?

I guess the difference with cricket though is sides have somewhere to play in the interim, if they did this, don’t they?

Glos already use Cheltenham for a bit.

I don’t know the full facts here (& like you, they’re not my team) but was highlighting the trend where a lot of stuff is moving outside the city boundaries, whether that is sporting, leisure or commercial.

Apologies for the delayed reply, had a busy weekend 

Yeah, I meant the restrictions and blocks Rovers have had to deal with in the area must be similar, purely on the basis of being relatively in the same area. 

I've a feeling Cheltenham wouldn't be viable, not only due to a severe lack of facilities, but I believe it can only be used a specific number of days a season due to the ownership of the ground 

Coming up from Weston on public transport, it's actually one of the worst grounds to currently get to and know many friends that avoid the games there for this reason, so it would be interesting to see what a new location would mean for getting to 

[BS15_RED]

There’s a meeting at the County Ground tomorrow afternoon , luckily I’m on a week off work so will be able to attend. I’ll post an update on here tomorrow afternoon of what’s going on.

[BS15_RED]

Just got in from the meeting, first thing to say is that nothing has been decided yet, and the club is still only exploring this as an option. They’ve been talking to South Gloucestershire Council for around two years now, and they’re very supportive. No site has been chosen, but it will be on the northern fringe of Bristol, between Almondsbury and Emerson’s Green.

The ECB are very supportive, and Richard Gould was there for a meeting this morning. They’ll be looking for a site of around 20-25 acres, and will need plenty of facilities for the club to tap into new income streams. The current site is 8 acres, so it’s restricting what they can do there. The suggested £10-40m value of Neville Road is only a ball park figure, the exact value is not known, but if £15m was offered, the project wouldn’t be viable. They reckon there are grants from the ECB and other organisations available.

With regards to capacity, they said they’d be looking for an initial capacity 12-14,000 permanent seats, with the addition of temporary seating and the option to develop further when demand/revenue streams made that viable. They won’t be going for Test Match status as they feel there’s already plenty of those around, and going after that would lead to building a White Elephant!  
 

A move closer to the ring road  and M5 would make cricket more accessible to those from the north of the county. They also said that it would help them secure a franchise for The Hundred. I don’t know others opinions on this form of the game, I’ve never been keen, but I’ve been somewhat put off by the nearest franchise being in Cardiff, as a true Bristolian I can never support anything Welsh! 
 

That’s about the gist of it.

[Bristol Rob]

2 hours ago, BS15_RED said:

Just got in from the meeting, first thing to say is that nothing has been decided yet, and the club is still only exploring this as an option. They’ve been talking to South Gloucestershire Council for around two years now, and they’re very supportive. No site has been chosen, but it will be on the northern fringe of Bristol, between Almondsbury and Emerson’s Green.

The ECB are very supportive, and Richard Gould was there for a meeting this morning. They’ll be looking for a site of around 20-25 acres, and will need plenty of facilities for the club to tap into new income streams. The current site is 8 acres, so it’s restricting what they can do there. The suggested £10-40m value of Neville Road is only a ball park figure, the exact value is not known, but if £15m was offered, the project wouldn’t be viable. They reckon there are grants from the ECB and other organisations available.

With regards to capacity, they said they’d be looking for an initial capacity 12-14,000 permanent seats, with the addition of temporary seating and the option to develop further when demand/revenue streams made that viable. They won’t be going for Test Match status as they feel there’s already plenty of those around, and going after that would lead to building a White Elephant!  
 

A move closer to the ring road  and M5 would make cricket more accessible to those from the north of the county. They also said that it would help them secure a franchise for The Hundred. I don’t know others opinions on this form of the game, I’ve never been keen, but I’ve been somewhat put off by the nearest franchise being in Cardiff, as a true Bristolian I can never support anything Welsh! 
 

That’s about the gist of it.

I'm planning to join the online meeting in about an hour.

One thing I'd love them to address is why the membership experience is so poor, and the matchday experience is no better for non-members. Take the T20 against Somerset last season. I ended up leaving the ground and watching a lot of the game in the Foresters, the queue to get a drink (any drink) was 90mins-plus - I was with 4 other members and if we'd have been able to, we'd have probably collectively spent between £100 and £150 that night, but it just wasn't possible. 

Do they really think that they'll be able to sell more memberships, attract new fans who might attend on a more regular basis when the best they can offer is portaloos, dreadful, awful choices of alcohol, food that falls in to the category of 'take it or leave it' and leave people feeling positive about their day/afternoon/evening out. 

Thanks for the update though, I'll let you know if they've changed the message later on!