Posted by There’s another top of the table clash looming in the County Championship this week. That’s not as dramatic as it sounds though because as tables go it’s something of a chabudai.
Quite a lot of teams have only managed one win so far this season – and they’re the high performers. After three games, no-one’s notched a second victory.
That leaves us with Nottinghamshire v Sussex as this weekend’s big game. Not that there’s much choice because – joy of joys – we’ve now entered that portion of the season where not everyone plays each week and the table therefore becomes even harder to draw conclusions from. Surrey v Somerset and Worcestershire v Durham are the only other top flight games and they’re currently the four table-proppers (legs?).
So we’re left with Notts v Sussex. The home team have the division’s top wicket-taker in the form of long-term rental, Fergus O’Neill. The visitors have the top run-scorer in opener Tom Haines – who must be eyeing Zak Crawley’s England spot.
It’s early days, but are we set for a drawsome season? We’re back at eight points for a draw these days after a dalliance with five points in 2023. Is there any chance someone could get close to Warwickshire’s feat of taking the title with five wins from 16 matches in 2004? (Kent finished second with seven wins.)
We’ve already waved goodbye to a record low points total though. In 1890, Surrey won the inaugural County Championship with six points after notching nine victories in 14 matches. Sussex finished bottom that year on -10. Now that was a table.
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