British County Championship vs Sheffield Shield
Rakesh DESAI
To liven up the discussion on cricket I have a topic. Which county
championship is superior - British County championship or Australian
Sheffield Shield?
Last weekend in a family gathering this topic came up. My uncles
suggested Sheffield shield is better because bignames like Hick,Botham,
Richards,Imran, etc didn't do well in australian county level matches.
I was of opinion that since aussie county doesnot have foreign players
playing it has no potential to consider itself best.
How about some net cricket connoiseurs of cricket give their unbiased
opinion to judge which 1st class level matches are of real high stds.
Rakesh
************************************************************************
* Rakesh Desai, Mech & Manf Eng, Uni of Melbourne, Parkville,Vic 3052*
* email : rak...@ecr.mu.oz.au * (03) 344 6728 *
************************************************************************
Brendan Mahony
> To liven up the discussion on cricket I have a topic. Which county
> championship is superior - British County championship or Australian
> Sheffield Shield?
The opinion of many learned commentators from Britain and Australia is
that the Sheffield Shield has the better cricket because:
1) There are only 6 teams so the talent is more concentrated. Every
Shield side has at least one or two test or ex-test players. At
least four or five players from each team could do well in test
cricket.
2) Games are played over 4 days (I think > 6 hours each day) so it is
much closer to test cricket.
The opinion of the average spectator however is that
> I was of opinion that since aussie county doesnot have foreign players
> playing it has no potential to consider itself best.
There is usually one or two prominent imports playing in a Shield Season.
--
Brendan Mahony | bre...@batserver.cs.uq.oz
Department of Computer Science | heretic: someone who disgrees with you
University of Queensland | about something neither of you knows
Australia | anything about.
John Brown
> To liven up the discussion on cricket I have a topic. Which county
> championship is superior - British County championship or Australian
> Sheffield Shield?
>
> Last weekend in a family gathering this topic came up. My uncles
> suggested Sheffield shield is better because bignames like Hick,Botham,
> Richards,Imran, etc didn't do well in australian county level matches.
> I was of opinion that since aussie county doesnot have foreign players
> playing it has no potential to consider itself best.
>
> How about some net cricket connoiseurs of cricket give their unbiased
> opinion to judge which 1st class level matches are of real high stds.
>
> Rakesh
Just some (parochial :-) opinions:
I consider Shield cricket to be superior. Firstly, Shield games are
played over 4 games, not three, which gives a greater chance to get a
decent game.
Secondly, there are fewer shield teams than county teams, meaning that
the standard of the shield teams are higher. (A higher concentration
of top players).
Thirdly, cricketers in England tend to play cricket as a daily grind,
playing County Championship, NatWest, B&H, etc etc. In Australia, each
Shield team plays only ten games a season, sometimes playing a game
only every second week. As a result, Shield games "mean more", as there
is a greater build-up, and each match can be crucial to the team
standings. Players tend to stay fresher and more enthusiastic.
The weather also plays a part. Australian summers usually provide much
more sunshine than rain (Brisbane in wet season excepted :-( ), whilst
we know what an average English summer means rain-wise.
Lastly, pitch conditions. In Australia, we have fast wickets such as
Perth and Brisbane which give batsmen a real challenge against quality
fast bowling. Adelaide, in contrast, challenges bowlers to perform on
a perfect batting track. In England, most pitches are fairly slow. (This
is my impression gained from afar: those with more knowledge may have a
more accurate view).
So, that's my opinion. I'm not denigrating County cricket, just making some
observations. There could be as many points for the opposite view.
Flashman
> Last weekend in a family gathering this topic came up. My uncles
> suggested Sheffield shield is better because bignames like Hick,Botham,
> Richards,Imran, etc didn't do well in australian county level matches.
> I was of opinion that since aussie county doesnot have foreign players
> playing it has no potential to consider itself best.
>
> How about some net cricket connoiseurs of cricket give their unbiased
> opinion to judge which 1st class level matches are of real high stds.
>
> Rakesh
>
> ************************************************************************
> * Rakesh Desai, Mech & Manf Eng, Uni of Melbourne, Parkville,Vic 3052*
> * email : rak...@ecr.mu.oz.au * (03) 344 6728 *
> ************************************************************************
Being an Australian, I naturally believe Sheffield Shield to be superior to
the English County Cricket for a number of reasons.
1/ There is only six teams in the Shield whereas there is 18(?) in the County
Cricket. Therefore, it is far harder to break into a shield side than a county
side because the shield can only accomodate 66 players in the competition at any
one time. So supposedly, the standard of the players should be higher.
2/ When you look not only at the lak of success of overseas players in the
shield, but the success of Aussie players in England, eg Moody, Waugh S&M, and
even Tony Dodemaide is successful to a lesser extent, then it must show that
the Aussie circuit is harder than the English one.
3/ I'm an Australian and the the Pommies are the enemy as far as Cricket is
concerned.
_|\___________________________________
Flashman. |___________________________________| \
He who hunts The Fox. \_|_|_|_|_|_/-----------\_l_|===\
awi...@gara.une.au.oz \====\
\___|
john pope
1. Anyone posting the score card so far for Sri Lanka v England
(by lunch on 5th day)
Sri Lanka needed something like 420 to win on the final day after
Gooch declared on Monday.
2. The discussion above: what's the betting that there'll be a
strong correlation between which hemisphere you live in and
which of the competitions you belive to be the best :-)
JP
e-mail jp...@axion.bt.co.uk (...mcvax!ukc!axion!jpope)
'phone UK +44 473 646651
Royal Mail Requirements and Risk Analysis Section, Software Technology,
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