County Cricket Question

[Soton Seagull]

I'm quite keen on England Internationals, but the County game has never fully sucked me in (oh matron!). Obviously I keep on eye on Sussex and want them to do the business. However I just don't understand the County points system.

Can someone please (possibly in the way you explain the offside rule to a dumb blonde!) let me know the score here. Batting points etc, how does that work? How many points for a win, etc?

A better understanding may fully convert me to the cause......

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Good grief! It's a really simple system.

12 points for a win, four points for a draw.

There is a 25-point penalty for a pitch unsuitable for first-class cricket; a penalty of 8 points may be deducted for a poor pitch, with the provision that this penalty be increased to 12 points if the county has prepared a poor or unfit pitch in the previous 12 months.

In a one-innings match, a tie gives 6 points each and the side batting second in a drawn match scores 6 points.

Bonus points awarded for the first 130 overs: Batting 200 runs, 1 point, 250 runs, 2 points, 300 runs, 3 points, 350 runs, 4 points, 400 runs, 5 points. Bowling 3 wickets, 1 point, six wickets, 2 points, nine wickets, 3 points.

If penalty runs are awarded to a team which at that time had faced less than 130 overs in their first innings, or completed their first innings before they had faced 130 overs, those penalty runs will be considered as counting towards the total as far as the award of bonus points is concerned. If penalty runs are awarded to a team which had already faced 130 overs or more in their first innings, or had previously completed their first innings after they had faced 130 overs, those penalty runs will be not be considered as counting towards the total as far as the award of bonus points is concerned.

A match abandoned without a ball being bowled scores 3 points to each side.


If you want complicated, just look at the LBW law.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Prior to 1890, there were 'unofficial' county champions given the title by 'popular' or newspaper acclaim.

A much better system. Just like "Big Brother" or the NSC Awards.

 

[Soton Seagull]

That all seems to make sense. Thanks.

Unfotunatley i can't watch Sussex locally, as Hampshire are Div 2 rubbish!

 

[Brixtaan]

all you need to know soton is that Cricket is getting tons of airtime on NSC because Shitssex ,for the first time in their history are competing with the big boys.

points win prizes.

 

[Simster]

Brixton, you ponies will be playing the bumpkins next season - you're merely 2nd division rubbish in-waiting

 

[teaboy]

Lord B, I believe you should get out more!

Oh, please explain how the Duckworth-Lewis scoring method works....

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The original post by Soton Seagull said that he was quite keen on England internationals, but he needed to understand the County Championship points system.

I took this to mean that he he had no problems at all understanding Duckworth/Lewis. As anyone knows, it really is quite simple.

But for those who do need it spelt out, here it is:-

The D/L method works using the notion that teams have two resources with which to make as many runs as they can - these are the number of overs they have still to receive and the number of wickets they have in hand. From any stage in their innings, their further run-scoring capability depends on both these two resources in combination. The single table gives the percentage of these combined resources that remain for any number of overs left and wickets lost.

When a match is shortened after it has begun, the resources of one or both teams are depleted and the two teams usually have different amounts of resource for their innings. In this case a revised target must be set. The D/L method does this in accordance with the relative run-scoring resources available to the two teams. If stoppages cause the team batting second (referred to here as Team 2) to have less resources available, as is more often than not the case, then their target will be revised downwards. If, on the other hand, as often happens when Team 1's innings has been interrupted, the stoppages result in Team 2 having more resources available, then their target is revised upwards to compensate for the extra resources they have at their disposal.

When there are 50 overs still to be received and no wickets have been lost, the resource percentage available is 100%. 60 over innings start with a resource percentage of 107.1% compared to a 50 over innings and 40 over innings start with a resource percentage of 90.3% compared to a 50 over innings.

In order to determine the correct resource percentage the batting side has remaining at any stage of an innings, the number of overs left must be identified. This number of overs left, in conjunction with the number of wickets lost, is then used to read the resource percentage remaining from the table.

For example, suppose that after 20 out of 50 overs a team have lost 2 wickets. They have 30 overs left. From the table you will see that the resource percentage remaining is 68.2%.

Suppose now that there is an interruption in play and 10 overs are lost from the innings of the batting side. When play can resume there are only 20 overs left but there are still, of course, 2 wickets down, and the table now tells us that the resource percentage remaining is 54.0%. Thus the shortening of the innings has caused the team to lose a resource percentage of 68.2 - 54.0 = 14.2%.

Having started with a resource percentage of 100% and lost 14.2%, then if they complete their innings with no further loss of overs, they will have had a resource percentage available for their innings of 100 - 14.2 = 85.8%.

Applying the D/L method:-

The procedure for setting a revised target, which is the same for any number of stoppages at any stage of the match, is as follows.

For each team's innings
(a) from the table note the resource percentage the team had available at the start of their innings;
(b) using the table, calculate the resource percentage lost by each interruption;
(c) hence calculate the resource percentage available.

If Team 2 have less resources available than Team 1, then calculate the ratio of the resources available to the two teams. Team 2's revised target is obtained by scaling down Team 1's score by this ratio.

If Team 2 have more resources available than Team 1, then calculate the amount by which Team 2's resource percentage exceeds Team 1's. Work out this excess as a percentage of 225 [the average 50 over score in ECB matches and one-day internationals (ODIs)] and this gives the extra runs to add on to Team 1's score to give Team 2's target.

Got that?