Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Aidan11 wrote:Just 44 days to go now until we open our season against the students.

No announcements on preseason games? Or are we team bonding again by climbing mountains?. FTECB decree austerity measures mean we can only go as far as Penshaw monument.

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/ ... a_new_era/

Inteview with Harker. The usual waffle but the clear inference that the sanctions were unjustifiable but Durham decided they had no option but to accept them.

captaincolly wrote:http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/cricket/15108603.Cricket__Durham_chief_Harker_looks_forward_to_a_new_era/

Inteview with Harker. The usual waffle but the clear inference that the sanctions were unjustifiable but Durham decided they had no option but to accept them.

Press conference on Monday will be interesting and encouraging news on Woody and the nursery ground. Interestingly TW hints that FTECB exceeded their remit with the sanctions. They really have been castigated and discredited by the highly respected Cricket Society in recent editions however with some scathing comment. I'm happy with that

westoelad wrote:

Aidan11 wrote:Just 44 days to go now until we open our season against the students.

No announcements on preseason games? Or are we team bonding again by climbing mountains?. FTECB decree austerity measures mean we can only go as far as Penshaw monument.

Penshaw gives us the opportunity to learn how to put up a sail in a high wind, so Andy Flower and Peter Moores would probably see that as ideal preparation for the coming season...........especially if we could put together some useful data at the end of the exercise

captaincolly wrote:http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/cricket/15108603.Cricket__Durham_chief_Harker_looks_forward_to_a_new_era/

Inteview with Harker. The usual waffle but the clear inference that the sanctions were unjustifiable but Durham decided they had no option but to accept them.

first of all.... is he still around?

secondly..... that he isn't worried about the FTECB plans for academies worries me greatly.

Durhamfootman wrote:

westoelad wrote:

Aidan11 wrote:Just 44 days to go now until we open our season against the students.

No announcements on preseason games? Or are we team bonding again by climbing mountains?. FTECB decree austerity measures mean we can only go as far as Penshaw monument.

Penshaw gives us the opportunity to learn how to put up a sail in a high wind, so Andy Flower and Peter Moores would probably see that as ideal preparation for the coming season...........especially if we could put together some useful data at the end of the exercise

westoelad wrote:

captaincolly wrote:http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/cricket/15108603.Cricket__Durham_chief_Harker_looks_forward_to_a_new_era/

Inteview with Harker. The usual waffle but the clear inference that the sanctions were unjustifiable but Durham decided they had no option but to accept them.

Press conference on Monday will be interesting and encouraging news on Woody and the nursery ground. Interestingly TW hints that FTECB exceeded their remit with the sanctions. They really have been castigated and discredited by the highly respected Cricket Society in recent editions however with some scathing comment. I'm happy with that

I wonder if any journalist has asked either Durham or FTECB about how draconian sanctions on and off the field are likely to lead to increased interest from supporters and investors. A team starting -48 in division 2 and deductions in both other competitions and a ground that has lost test status is surely far less attractive after the FTECB meddling! It's as if they've identified the problem - lack of external investment - and then made the situation even worse.

win the first 2 games and only FTECB will be worried about how draconian the measures were.... because they'll think that perhaps they weren't draconian enough

they'll have to find new ways to penalise our season.... perhaps they could consider some points deductions for not producing a pitch that breaks up and turns square by lunch on day 1.

Why do you talk about attracting investment, isn't it investment that caused all the problems in the first place.

hopeforthebest wrote:Why do you talk about attracting investment, isn't it investment that caused all the problems in the first place.

Poor choice of words by me! I meant attracting outside groups/businesses. The problem is not generating enough revenue to service the debt so we need to raise money from non-cricketing activities. I never quite understood the plan but for years the club seemed to be pinning their hopes on building a hotel inside the ground - losing test status might well kill off those hopes for good.
Writing off portions of debt does not address the long term problem, just staved off an immediate crisis.

I'm hoping the test status is reinstated some time in the future when we're back on our feet.


Can't see the present lot at FTECB giving it back but who knows....some time in the future their may be a chairman who likes Durham CCC.

I've said it before but that loss of test status was appalling. Given the financial state there would have been no test in the foreseeable future in any case so removing the status just lowers the profile/ image of the club for no good reason.

captaincolly wrote:I've said it before but that loss of test status was appalling. Given the financial state there would have been no test in the foreseeable future in any case so removing the status just lowers the profile/ image of the club for no good reason.

As long as we stage ODI's and IT20's I think we'll be OK particularly if we also have sell out concerts. Tests other than v Aussie or India are becoming increasingly difficult to sell. FTECB may well have inadvertently allowed us to dodge a bullet. They being clueless has it's advantages.

westoelad wrote:

captaincolly wrote:I've said it before but that loss of test status was appalling. Given the financial state there would have been no test in the foreseeable future in any case so removing the status just lowers the profile/ image of the club for no good reason.

As long as we stage ODI's and IT20's I think we'll be OK particularly if we also have sell out concerts. Tests other than v Aussie or India are becoming increasingly difficult to sell. FTECB may well have inadvertently allowed us to dodge a bullet. They being clueless has it's advantages.

That's true. Most test teams are no longer big draws so expensive flop test matches are on the cards.

westoelad wrote:

captaincolly wrote:I've said it before but that loss of test status was appalling. Given the financial state there would have been no test in the foreseeable future in any case so removing the status just lowers the profile/ image of the club for no good reason.

As long as we stage ODI's and IT20's I think we'll be OK particularly if we also have sell out concerts. Tests other than v Aussie or India are becoming increasingly difficult to sell. FTECB may well have inadvertently allowed us to dodge a bullet. They being clueless has it's advantages.

I think teams like SA and Pakistan would sell reasonably well if the prices were fair.

The test bidding system meant that the ticket prices needed to be high to make money. Staging test cricket in May doesn't help either. SA in July/August at £40 a ticket would be ideal.

I wonder how the new test allocation system is going to work? Getting rid of the existing bidding process must be a tacit admission by the ECB that it was deeply flawed.