Universities - A disgrace to first class cricket
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:08 pm
The fact that six Universities still maintain first class status is a joke, a disgrace, call it what you want but the fact is they are nowhere near good enough to be competitive against any of the 18 counties. Despite numerous poundings by county sides, they have still kept their first class status and more worringly, over the last few years, the number of MCCU's have increased.
I don't mind the University sides playing a couple of games at the start of the season but they shouldn't be considered as first class because they can't just compete. It's not only the Universities that get embarrassed by these thumpings, the county sides are as well because they can't believe how easy it is to score runs and take wickets. Nick Compton and James Hildreth are decent county batsman but there should be no way that they can put on a partnership of 450 against a first class side! Today probably signified the end of Universities with first class status (well, hopefully), Durham MCCU were bowled out for just 18. Yes, 18! This is just not acceptable at this level or any level. Ben Stokes probably enjoyed it though as he boosted his average significantly by, firstly, smashing 93 off 70 and then 65 off 45 before taking 4/3!
There is just no contest between the sides and the difference in quality is so vast that these practice matches have no worth at all. When the season starts, counties then wonder why their batsmen struggle, it's because they haven't had sufficent practice against top quality opposition.
Blasting a double hundred in a University match means nothing and even though it makes their record look better, it doesn't reflect how good they actually are. The MCC are obviously keen in giving Universities matches against county sides and i can sort of see why, because they have a chance to find some talented youngsters that could go on to play county cricket or even play at an even higher level. Zafar Ansari is a recent example of someone who has come from a University (Cambridge) and gone on to play county cricket. You might find one good player in each team but the rest are just passengers and there is no point of them actually playing as they just concede runs at 6 an over and boost the averages of the batsman (sometimes not even the batsman - David Masters and Tim Phillips hit 50's last week!)
I'm not against Universities playing against counties but i still can't fathom why they are still classed as first class. At the very least, 2 sides (probably Oxford and Cambridge) should keep their status as they can give some teams a game (for a while) but the other 4 (Durham, Cardiff, Leeds/Bradford, Loughborough) are just getting thrashed game after game after game.
I don't mind the University sides playing a couple of games at the start of the season but they shouldn't be considered as first class because they can't just compete. It's not only the Universities that get embarrassed by these thumpings, the county sides are as well because they can't believe how easy it is to score runs and take wickets. Nick Compton and James Hildreth are decent county batsman but there should be no way that they can put on a partnership of 450 against a first class side! Today probably signified the end of Universities with first class status (well, hopefully), Durham MCCU were bowled out for just 18. Yes, 18! This is just not acceptable at this level or any level. Ben Stokes probably enjoyed it though as he boosted his average significantly by, firstly, smashing 93 off 70 and then 65 off 45 before taking 4/3!
There is just no contest between the sides and the difference in quality is so vast that these practice matches have no worth at all. When the season starts, counties then wonder why their batsmen struggle, it's because they haven't had sufficent practice against top quality opposition.
Blasting a double hundred in a University match means nothing and even though it makes their record look better, it doesn't reflect how good they actually are. The MCC are obviously keen in giving Universities matches against county sides and i can sort of see why, because they have a chance to find some talented youngsters that could go on to play county cricket or even play at an even higher level. Zafar Ansari is a recent example of someone who has come from a University (Cambridge) and gone on to play county cricket. You might find one good player in each team but the rest are just passengers and there is no point of them actually playing as they just concede runs at 6 an over and boost the averages of the batsman (sometimes not even the batsman - David Masters and Tim Phillips hit 50's last week!)
I'm not against Universities playing against counties but i still can't fathom why they are still classed as first class. At the very least, 2 sides (probably Oxford and Cambridge) should keep their status as they can give some teams a game (for a while) but the other 4 (Durham, Cardiff, Leeds/Bradford, Loughborough) are just getting thrashed game after game after game.