***Official*** English Domestic Season 2008

[Scaly piscine]

A Samit Patel double hundred is the only thing I can see stopping Durham - he's good enough to score fast without taking lots of risks.

But you'd think Imran Tahir will do some serious damage here.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Oh and as I missed it earlier, congrats on Panesar for scraping his CC Division 2 average below 50 - with yes you've guessed it - 2 more meaningless declaration chase wickets.

 

[GIMH]

Just seems like a formality now, waiting for Durham to be given the title. Reminds me of this time last year, though that one went closer than this looks set to, and I'm not really fussed either way this time out.

 

[Richard]

Well Durham's overseas-import bowlers (plus Davies and Harmison) and their overseas-import batsmen deserve it I suppose.

Not that Notts would've been that much better.

 

[Richard]

Maiden 50 for Liam Dawson - and he may not make many more significant.

If he can score Championship centuries - and starting from that point - at that age there may yet be some hope for him as an all-rounder. Still not keen on the idea of him A-touring at such a young age (not least because he can still play for the under-19s) but hopefully he can start well next year.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Congrats to Durham. Newbies to champs in a bit over a decade and a half.

Northants, Somerset & Gloucs still awaiting their maiden titles (I think) after considerably longer, so no mean effort from Dale () and the chaps.

 

[wpdavid]

Congrats to Durham. Newbies to champs in a bit over a decade and a half.

Northants, Somerset & Gloucs still awaiting their maiden titles (I think) after considerably longer, so no mean effort from Dale () and the chaps.

Seems astonishing that Gloucs have never won it.
Even more so that you beat Scaly to mentioning the new chapms on CW.

Congrats to them though.

Time to show my ignorance - are there still 3 sides going down, or did that change this year?

 

[pskov]

Seems astonishing that Gloucs have never won it.
Even more so that you beat Scaly to mentioning the new chapms on CW.

Congrats to them though.

Time to show my ignorance - are there still 3 sides going down, or did that change this year?

It's been two up and two down for several years now.

 

[Scaly piscine]

It was inevitable Durham would win it sooner or later.

They tried to mess it up in the previous few games, but got things going their way in this last round of matches.

Good stuff, if they snapped up one of these destructive spin-bowling imports they'd be unstoppable.

 

[Uppercut]

If he can score Championship centuries - and starting from that point - at that age there may yet be some hope for him as an all-rounder. Still not keen on the idea of him A-touring at such a young age (not least because he can still play for the under-19s) but hopefully he can start well next year.

Very exciting prospect, hopefully they don't try to bring him in before he's ready like they've done with Stu Broad.

Congratulations to Durham, they now owe us one.

 

[gettingbetter]

Exciting. Rashid scores a ton and takes 7 wickets (9 for the match I think).

 

[Uppercut]

Tahir finishes with an incredible 44 wickets from 7 matches (Shane who?). Two more years of this, excited about next season already.

 

[zaremba]

A really exciting end to the season.

Congratulations to Durham - what a fantastic performance, worthy winners and a thumping win to seal it. They've been the best team this season and their transformation from novices to also-rans to champions has been great to see.

 

[GIMH]

Congrats to Durham, is it fair to say that Steve Harmison getting dropped from the England side in March has played a big part in this success? Excellent team effort, and to win the title in 16 years is no mean feat.

 

[zaremba]

The sighs of relief in Sussex could probably be heard as far away as the Oval and Canterbury.

 

[fredfertang]

.... and all without a significant contribution from Plunkett or Onions .... Otis not missed at all

Anyway thats 2008 out of the way - here's to 2009 and an Ashes victory and the title back at Old Trafford after 75 years - Lanky to win by a street!

 

[GIMH]

Yeah, both foregone conclusions tbh

 

[fredfertang]

The sighs of relief in Sussex could probably be heard as far away as the Oval and Canterbury.

The price of over confidence Mr Z

 

[zaremba]

Well, Fertang, we'll be seeing each other after all next season in Div 1 (of the Championship, not the Pro-40 of course)

btw delighted for Chris Nash who had a miserable start to the season but has since shown his class, averaging nearly 70 since nearly being dropped including another hundred in this game. All the more gratifying because the turnaround in his season coincided with Richard's announcement that Nash simply wasn't up to the job....

 

[fredfertang]

Aha the Pro 40 – cricket’s equivalent of the League Cup – Sky like it and everyone has to enter but in truth nobody gives a tuppenny toss

But the Championship!!! What a competition that is – it can inspire otherwise intelligent professional men like our goodselves Mr Z to down tools twice in 8 days for a whole day in favour of watching a text only web page update itself every 65 seconds – no sporting competition comes close

So I won’t be missing our seconds meeting your martlets over 40 overs next season but will be noting the Hove fixture in the Championship (mind you how about Horsham?) – let us hope it’s in the long vacation and you are available to get me into the pavilion Mr Z