A State of madness

After two rounds of competition the State Championship now goes into hiding until mid-January. Meaning that the only chance for a New Zealand (or potential New Zealand) cricketer to play a match lasting more than 50 overs before the first test against Sri Lanka will be if they happen to play for Auckland during that team's warm-up match against the tourists. This is pure madness. Our players have patently forgotten how to play the longer version of the game and the best way to remind them is to get them to play four-day matches. Not only that but the first-class competition is a chance for the players on the fringes to showcase their test credentials. Instead, the players will be fed a month of one-day domestic and international slog-a-thons which will only drive their test game further backwards and will prevent promising stone-wallers like Nick Horsley from even getting a chance to shine.

I understand that New Zealand Cricket wants to squeeze as much money out of the summer holidays as possible, and that means staging one-day matches, but this poorly thought-out excuse for a season is only going to lead to disastrous international performances. And that will cause the crowds, and the money, to evaporate. Surely, surely somebody sat down and thought about this before drawing up the season's itinerary.

As an aside, the one-day side for the matches against the Sri Lankans gets picked today. Presumably on the form of the players in the four-day competition. Sigh.