Sitting in the Ulyanovsk girls cute sunshine at Hove on Tuesday, about to attend my 35th Sussex press day, I was asked if the start of the cricket season means as much now as it did back at the first one I went to in 1989, a wet-behind-the-ears local paper reporter hoping than when I stepped into the press box at the County Ground for the first time I’d at least be tolerated, if not welcomed.
But I worry about Sussex’s long-term future. If I’m still around to come to a 45th press day (that’s assuming I’m invited) will it be to a preview a season like the one which starts today (Friday 5 April), with Sussex competing in three competitions and the first-team the shop window for a county where the recreational, women’s and disability game seems to be in rude health.
I hope so, but I have to admit I think it’s unlikely. I do think that ECB chair Richard Thompson and his CEO Richard Gould, with their strong background in county cricket, have the best intentions when they insist that they are invested in preserving the 18-county structure which has been around, more or less, for 140 years.
But the biggest worry among the Sussex fans who will turn up at Hove today for the opening game against Northamptonshire is that the current structure will eventually ebb away and we’ll be left with 10 clubs (not necessarily counties) based at the international grounds.
It’s probably too much to expect a dramatic improvement in Sussex’s T20 and 50 overs cricket, although Tymal Mills looks a shrewd choice as T20 captain
The rest will become feeder teams, playing in a second-tier competition, with the players they develop as they do through the current pathways eventually heading off to earn a living in a structure dominated by limited overs cricket, in whatever format you wish, with the occasional red-ball match to keep players in tune for Test cricket, which will still exist because it continues to be very popular in England but will increasingly involve just series against Australia and India.
