Warwickshire Title Win Shows Hundred Trails County Cricket

Warwickshire won their ninth County Championship title on Saturday, and the talk at Edgbaston was of the title, not of Birmingham Phoenix. Phoenix, 50.4% owned by the county, finished poorly in both the men's and women's Hundred, according to Ali Martin in The Guardian. In the men's competition they sit eighth, with 4 points from 8 matches.

Martin writes that the outfield was flooded with supporters and that nobody seemed bothered by Phoenix's summer. There was no talk of atonement, he says, and no talk of a mixed season.

Old Trafford tells a different story. Manchester Super Giants won the men's Hundred, and Lancashire hold 30% of the franchise and share some staff with it. Yet Lancashire finished second bottom of Division Two with 2 wins all season. They have cancelled their end-of-season awards evening, Martin reports. Chief executive Daniel Gidney is leaving the club. The extract available cuts off mid-sentence on the mood among supporters.

Martin's argument is that the Hundred was poorly placed to lead the summer, despite the money put into it and its new private ownership. There was no Ashes or India series in the Test calendar, only a run of smaller touring sides. The Women's T20 World Cup was played at home, but the men's football World Cup took the attention. His point is that six weeks after the finals at Lord's, the counties that host these teams are still measuring their year by the Championship and Division Two.

If that holds, the franchises may find that their county shareholders judge them by what happens in the four-day game. A Hundred title did not soften Lancashire's season, and a poor Hundred did not dent Warwickshire's.