County cricket supporters - "They couldn't make it worse".......Andrew Strauss "Hold my Beer!"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-11128601/English-cricket-set-NEW-red-ball-competition-played-alongside-Hundred.html

Struass is proposing ANOTHER new competition during August. To try and sugar the pill about reducing the number of championship matches, he is apparently going to propose either: (a) regional red-ball matches in August (so we would play Essex, Kent and Middlesex) or (b) regional teams playing "exhibition matches" against one another (for example, a "home counties" team comprised of players from ourselves, Essex, Kent and Middlesex) v teams comprised of players from northern, midlands and south/west counties..).

What you would end up with is fairly meaningless matches which no doubt a lot of the best red-ball players who were not involved in the Hundred would just opt out of, just as Rory Burns, Hashim Amla and Kemar Roach have chosen to skip the RLC. It would end up being the red-ball equivalent of the RLC, with lots of second-raters and academy players wheeled out to make up the numbers.

We have to oppose this and continue to push for an unreduced county championship programme, in which all red-ball players are expected to play, including centrally contracted players unless England are playing at the time.

Strauss should be stripped of his Knighthood for suggesting such a ludicrous idea.
Has he forgotten how he became a test match player? By learning the trade in the County Championship.

I hate Andrew Strauss.

I don't hate him, though I do find the annual "Red for Ruth" day at Lord's rather self-indulgent. It must have been terrible for him to have lost his wife,  other top sportsmen have done so too (eg Glenn McGrath). The ECB could support cancer charities without making it all about SAS and having all the red everywhere.

See my post in other thread?

SAS?

Jackers wrote: I don't hate him, though I do find the annual "Red for Ruth" day at Lord's rather self-indulgent. It must have been terrible for him to have lost his wife,  other top sportsmen have done so too (eg Glenn McGrath). The ECB could support cancer charities without making it all about SAS and having all the red everywhere.

There is the "pink test" at the SCG for Jane McGrath (day 3 of the SCG test) so I'm not sure about this particular quibble.