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Rain delayed the start of the season, got in a way of several games in the middle and meant teams were scratching for a side on bank holidays. Nevertheless there was plenty of exciting and good cricket played throughout the county, but it's far from perfect.

The coloured kit vs whites situation was there for all to see in the Harrison Allen Final. Cricket matches played in whites have always used a red ball, whereas coloured kit games use a white, pink or orange ball. So which one do we use? Red. However many teams have moved to coloured kits and the county's silence has made for a free for all. In theory a bowler could wear an all red kit, long sleeves and use a red ball, good luck to even the county's best batsmen in that situation. In South Wales the clubs were given some time to change to a coloured kit as it is quite expensive, but the powers that be made the call and it was a smooth transition. It's about time our powers that be did the same. 

The umpiring situation is worse than ever with hardly any games having two umpires and 80% or more having club umpires. Not only does this cause potential issues in terms of accusations of favourable umpiring shall we say, it's an unfair burden on club officials. Granted umpiring may not appeal to all, however the county pay the umpires so little it's hardly appealing, something has to change. 

The final issue is that of players being available or choosing not the play the game, many have families and work commitments. Shorter games could well be the answer, people can play football and rugby and it doesn't write off their Saturday. However a 45 over game pretty much ties you up from midday to almost 9 o'clock that is a big chunk of people's weekends. Could the games be shortened in the top two divisions to 40 overs a side? Is there a need for a Saturday 20-20 league, meaning it would be more like 2-5 rather then 12-9? All questions that need to be asked as we seem to have very strong junior and youth players who somewhere seem to drop out of the game along the way. We are keen to know your thoughts feel free to get in touch via socials or email!