First-class cricket needs more than day-night matches to boost crowd numbers

Outside Edge: Whites under the lights are a step in the right direction but that is not all the county first-class game requires

Yorkshire and Surrey's meeting was played under the lights and in front of empty seats (Getty)

After the hottest June fortnight in history, all it took was the prospect of some innovation in the County Championship for the weather Gods to be angered. As the first ever day-night round of matches began their second day, storm clouds gathered. The BBC forecast for the UK was clear: “A lot of rain”.

The cloudbursts were a shame, given that key matches were shaping up nicely. Championship leaders Essex had dominated day one at Chelmsford against Middlesex, while elsewhere in the first division games involving Lancashire and Warwickshire, Hampshire and Somerset, and Yorkshire and Surrey were evenly balanced.

Reassuringly, the pink ball appears so far to have behaved well under the lights. Local radio commentators spoke of the ball softening a little but plainly there was nothing hugely untoward on show. The basic conclusion it appears now safe to draw is that the pink ball works.

With England taking on the West Indies in this country’s first day-night test later in the summer, centrally-contracted players were let off the leash to get a taste of wearing whites under lights. Jos Buttler was promoted to number three for Lancashire and scored just two runs on Monday; Ben Stokes bagged a duck. More brightly, Moeen Ali and Alastair Cook both tucked in. Mark Wood impressed among the bowlers with three wickets for Durham.

What about the crowds though? County chairmen had been hoping that the prospect of a bit of after-work cricket – and free entry – would tempt in commuters fresh from the office. That appears at most matches not to have happened – not yet anyway.

With England stars on show that is worrying up to a point, although clearly it will take longer than one day to discern any definite pattern. What’s more, one of the great pitfalls for cricket watchers in this country has been working out when matches are likely to take place. For the first half of this summer, Championship games have begun on Fridays. Suddenly, we have switched to Monday. It is hardly the best day of the week to try and pull in office-workers or school-children.

Day-night first class matches ought to have a future in England – the weather, after all, isn’t a great deal more likely to put people off on a June evening than a June afternoon. But better scheduling, pushier marketing and some good old-fashioned persistence will be needed if the desire for bigger crowds is ever to come to pass.

England must make most of new-found exposure

England’s World Cup campaign got off to a disappointing start on Saturday in Derby. Four run outs and a 35 run defeat were not the anticipated outcomes against an India side which, though fast-improving, ought to have been outdone by the home side’s greater experience in English conditions. Only Fran Wilson and captain Heather Knight emerged with much credit.

To be sure of making it through to the semi-finals, England will almost certainly need to win at least four games in the eight-team, round-robin portion of the tournament so they could have done without a loss right at the outset. With rain likely to play a part in the mathematics, they will need to improve.

Scoring 375-7 against Pakistan today was a positive sign of intent. Knight and Nat Sciver both scored impressive centuries; the latter reaching 137 off only 92 balls.

The Women’s World Cup is getting the kind of media coverage that might have seemed impossible even twenty years ago – and quite right too. But for the competition to really fire the public imagination, England will need to locate their best form consistently.

Netcrix and chill

There can be few more amiable ways to while away an afternoon than by watching Championship cricket online via a silent, fixed-(single) camera, live-feed from Trent Bridge.

To anybody who doesn’t love the game, it would be the most appalling way to try to convince them of the errors of their ways. For anybody who understands the charm of Darren Stevens’ metronomic outswingers, the footage is as soothing as a warm bath and as compelling as anything Netflix can throw at the world.