A day at Hove Cricket Ground
Going along the seafront on my way to Hove, I saw the Labour delegates and supporters walking to the Conference Centre with a purposeful air and gait as if they represent now the party of power. I expected loonies and activists but many were in suits and being responsible in and for government seems to be the key note. They are the first Labour Party within living memory who are not seeking to present centrist policies nor to convince the electorate that they will balance the books. No – they will be increasing taxes, ending austerity, inflating the public sector, not tackling the £2 trillion debt and generally taking us back to the seventies. This irony is that all this may well happen – because of Tory europhobia and the referendum decision – was not lost on me.
Still, as I settled into a rattan chair on the boundary, supped a Harvey’s ale and chatted to a fellow member in the unseasonably warm sunshine my political concerns soon dissipated. Sussex were 117-5 but thank to centuries from Michael Burgess (146) and Chris Jordan (147) posted their best total of the season with 565. Nottinghamshire at stumps were 105-5, needing batting points and a draw to achieve promotion. The Sussex boys seem to have dented the hopes of their former coach Peter Moores although he would derive some confidence from the late Northants collapse at Leicester .
It’s brewing up to an intriguing couple of days in both divisions though the story will be the escapades of Ben Stokes and Alex Hales who Nottinghamshire could do with right now. There was a scattering of 800 in the ground which prompted a discussion on the sustainability of county cricket. My own view is that the ECB is awash with cash, there is the SKY money and if Test cricket is to survive it needs the infrastructure of the county game to supply the players. The decision to hold the T20s competition during the Windies series meant the selectors had no handle on any aspirant red ball cricketer. Once again the championship has gone to the wire with relegation from division one being dependent on the Somerset v Middlesex fixture and the promotion from division two uncertain.
Sussex have had yet another season without any discernible success but there is some hope with the young pace attack of Jefra Archer, Stuart Whittingham and George Garton.
