Missing County Cricket

I recently came across an article on cricinfo lamenting the fact that in wake of IPL, county cricket has taken a backseat. And it suddenly hit me, I had absolutely no clue about county cricket of recent times. Not that I was a die hard fan, but I used to follow it especially when Indian players were playing. I remember checking scores when Ganguly played for Lancashire, Dravid for Kent and Scotland, and briefly while Yuvraj turned out for Yorkshire. I always wondered why Sachin did not return to County cricket after his stint with Yorkshire. 

County cricket is probably the best first class cricket in the world (international test matches notwithstanding). Indian first class cricket, on the other hand is hopelessly boring and pathetic. Here teams strive and play only for first innings lead. The number of drawn matches is exceptionally high in case of Ranji trophy matches. Only positive aspect is that Rajasthan has been the consecutive champions in the past two years (albeit on the strength of borrowed players like Akash Chopra and Hrishikesh Kanitkar). Needless to say, Ranji trophy cricket can't be classified as a good platform for youngsters who aspire for cricket at highest level. Not that players aspire for that in any case. IPL is the"thing" these days. And I loath it except for the times when I get to see the batting of Ganguly, Dravid and Sachin. 

County cricket, on the other hand was always considered a finishing school for honing the skills one needs to master for the test cricket. I remember Geoffrey Boycott commenting that Yuvraj won't do well at Yorkshire (which he didn't) because he had no feet movement and was only good on wickets where ball easily came on to the bat. Precisely the reasons Yuvraj never turned into a great Test player as compared to his exploits in the limited overs format. Players like Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gayle would always struggle at the seaming pitches of Headingley, Leeds.  

With the advent of IPL, the traditional skills seem to be waning. We hardly get to see a solid front foot or back foot defense; dilscoop, helicopter shots are what people admire. Not one spinner comes to mind (Graeme Swann aside) who has been performing well at the test level. Off spinners are more concerned about containing the batsmen, leg spinner hardly turn the ball and one rarely gets to see a classical inswing/outswing bowler. Nobody can be blamed for it though. Economics has been the driving force of this world. Players used to make good money in county cricket earlier, now they do so in IPL. 

Only the players who go unsold or are unable to represent their countries at international level play county cricket, and, not surprisingly it has lost its charm. 

If only IPL or a similar tournament could be played in England, it would be much more fun. For, it would test the real skills of the players. Here in India, the ball keeps low, does not swing, the boundaries are short and wickets are tailor made for batsmen. And, India is no longer the breeding ground for spinners as it once was (when was the last time you saw Harbhajan spinning the ball??). It's important for cricket to return to its roots. 

*****

A good article providing some food for thought on the god like status enjoyed by Sachin Tendulkar. I can't help but agree with the author.