IT’S THE UPROAR OF THE ROSES!
LANCASHIRE’S bizarre decision to stage a home County Championship fixture at a private school in the Yorkshire Dales National Park has been met with disbelief by members, who will demand an explanation at the upcoming AGM.
Lancashire host Durham at Sedbergh School on June 30 after overlooking the traditional venue of Southport. Officials moved two matches away from Old Trafford, a World Cup venue that also hosts an Ashes Test this summer. One will be at Liverpool, but moving the other out of the county — and to the Yorkshire Dales, of all places — led to bemusement.
Director of cricket Paul Allott said the Southport pitch was not up to the task and claimed there are no alternatives within the county. Members, however, feel getting to Sedbergh will be problematic and pointed out average rainfall at the Cumbria venue, close to the Lake District, is 35 per cent higher than Southport.
Meanwhile, Lancashire last week ditched their controversial green one-day kit. Some thought the choice puzzling given their tradition of wearing red. So what is the dominant colour of the Red Rose’s natty new number? Blue (see above).