Episode 23 - County Preview, Nick Friend

Welcome back to the Sunday Service with Church and Vickers - we hope you’ve all had a peaceful cricketing week.

This week, Mark and Hector are joined by one of the great cricket journalists, with a special love for the domestic game.

He has worked for The Cricketer since shortly before the 2019 World Cup - when he joined from CNN Sport - winning the Christopher Martin Jenkins Young journalist of the Year award in 2020.

Now leading The Cricketer’s coverage of the women’s game, and writing regular features on county cricket, he can also lay claim to formerly being the Assistant coach of Cricket Argentina in Buenos Aires, as well as Pinky the Panther in the mascot race on T20 Finals Day.

Nick Friend joins the show to give his thoughts ahead of the domestic season. We find out who he thinks will win the County Championship, how the women's game is shaping up this year, and also a little bit more about a certain 'non-denominational geopathic surveyor'.

Also on the episode, Church and Vickers continue their new segment - “Whose cricket book is this?” - and Churchy delivers a sermon on cutting the Parish wicket, and the ECB review.

A huge thank you to Nick Friend for joining us on this week's show for a brilliant chat - we are looking forward to catching up and discussing further over the course of the season.

Another big thank you goes to our friends at Newbery Cricket, who have finally revealed their special prize for the months of February and March. The Mjolnir has indeed returned: Reimagined. Refined. Built for the modern player.

You can check out the premium equipment that Newbery has to offer here: https://newbery.co.uk/

If you have liked this episode of Sunday Service, please make sure to rate and review us, and share us on social media platforms.

Make sure to get in touch, we want to hear your cricketing thoughts and guest suggestions:

Email us at: sundayservice.pod@yahoo.com

‘X’ - sundayservice22

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hello everyone, and thank you for joining us again on the Sunday service with Church and Vicars. We hope you've all had a good cricketing week. The sun was out, but now it seems that winter has arrived once more. That can only mean one thing: the cricket season is just around the corner. We are here at the Key at Oval, and alongside me is the old man Peter.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

The sun was about at the start of the week when the review of the actors told us absolutely nothing. Then the weather turned to cold. But hallelujah! British summertime starts the day. And the PSL and the IPL have already started because we've not had a fortnight, I don't think, without a T20 competition.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

Roll on Friday, I say, roll on Friday. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sunday service with church and figures. Very excited by that, and it is bloody freezing once more. Churchy, how has your week been?

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Well, it's been a week of ups and downs, young Hector. As mentioned on Monday, the Ashes review revealed that the powers that be have nothing to reveal. Wednesday, I had to go back into the winter wardrobe, but the clocks have gone forward because BST, not BGT, no sign of Amanda Holden or Simon Kell, or whoever else is on that programme these days. BST has started. One hour left in bed. Means lighter evenings. And this time next week, the third day of the championship the summer, we'll have just got going. My new start book has been perfect. And I've got Tuesday until I do all my numbers for the coming season. And a wise commentator once told me the cricketing commentary proverb for the start of a new season, young Hector. New book. New pen. Fresh young dependent. What's on the show today, please?

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Cricketing sermon is all about talking about cutting the Paris Wicked and the ETP review.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

We have another edition of a hard-hitting feature. Whose cricket book is this?

SPEAKER_04 2:22

And our guest today is a cricket journalist who will be up and down the country. This time covering the county team.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

And thanks to our friends at Newberry Cricket, we have our competition where you can win their fantastic mystery piece of cricketing equipment. Although later, later, we'll be revealing what that mystery piece of cricketing equipment is. And don't forget you can get in touch with us. Just email sundayservice.pod at yahoo.com or tweet at Sundayservice22.

SPEAKER_04 2:51

Lots to get through, so let's get cracking with the Sunday service.

SPEAKER_05 2:55

Hi, Matt Fisher, Surrey and England. You're listening to the Sunday service with Church and Vickers.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

It's been an extremely busy week in the parish. The weather was glorious at the start of the week, and we made full use of the conditions to start preparing the wicket for our opening game of the season. The mower came out of the parish shed. I say mower, but after a pie and pint fundraiser in the Badgers Googly, the parish pub, we'd raised enough money to buy a Fly Mow mower for this summer. The Fly Mow came out of the shed on Monday, but it took us until Tuesday to find an extension lead long enough to get out to the middle so we could use our new electric mower. Thankfully, Mr. Jackson is not only our opening batter, but he also has a very long one, and that enabled us to mow the square and the outfield. We are trying to get a bit more pace into the wicket this summer because Derek, our opening bowler, has assured us he is, and I quote, feeling 21 again. He's actually 56, but we've taken him at his word, although I fear the 21 is the number of our locally brewed ale's that Derek can sink during one sitting at the Badger's Googly rather than the age he feels. Anyway, the Flymo did a marvellous job and we were hoping the sun would beat down on our freshly cut wicket, but unfortunately Wednesday saw the temperature drop, and I fear the only way we'll be getting extra pace into our wicket now is when it's covered in ice. But let us all rejoice because British summertime starts today. It is one of life's phenomenons that I have never quite understood that by putting clocks forward by an hour, come five o'clock this evening, it will still be light, and we will hopefully be in our fully erected parish net practising hard. The start of BST, as the younger generation call it, means it will not be long until we're all sitting outside of an evening reminiscing about the game of cricket we've either watched or partaken in. There is nothing better than cricketing chat with a packet of porky scratchings and your favourite drink as the sun fades but the evenings remain warm. And it also meant one less hour in bed for me this morning, but I was up early, flicking through the good book and reading the scorecards from the 1984 West Indies tour to England. And all of that before coffee and toast. Now, it's been an interesting week in the cricketing world. Much attention was focused on Lords on Monday as the revelations from the review into England's Ashes Tour were revealed. Ah yes, the Book of Revelation. Well the revelation was there actually wasn't one. It seems after much discussion and soul searching, the powers that be decided not to change a thing, but learn lessons and move forward, which is marvellous. It reminded me somewhat of when I made the disastrous decision to introduce an order of service every Sunday, but beam it up from an overhead projector. My thinking was it would bring the parish together and call for less use of books and paper. Plus we'd be moving into the modern world. Mrs. Watts lent us her OHP that she'd had in the attic from her teaching days, and after dusting it off and after much practice, I was able to plug in my laptop computer and beam the perfectly crafted order of service onto an erected large white sheet kindly donated by Mrs. Close. Think of it like a church sight screen. All went well in practice, but on the actual day, the OHP blew a bulb halfway through the service, and we had to hum our way through the final two hymns. Understandably, the parish were not impressed, but I stuck to my guns and kept using the OHP for the next four services, and the same thing happened every time. We had a review in the village hall, and it was decided by the parish council not to change anything but learn lessons and move forward. Now we always have a spare bulb up our sleeve just in case. I feel the first couple of months of the domestic season will be very interesting to see if anything changes. And I am not talking about our overhead projector. I, for one, shall be keeping an eagle eye on proceedings, and it is rather lovely to think this time next week we will be three days into the season, and fingers crossed the weather will be playing fair. So today I would like you all to look forward to longer evenings with sun shining and the sound of leather on willow resonating across the land. Either that or snow falling and everyone huddled up in the pavilion trying to keep warm. Whatever happens, we are nearly there. The review has been done and players across the land are getting ready for Friday, which will be good. So, until next Sunday, have a good cricketing week everybody. Remember, learn your lessons and keep moving forward, and most importantly, bat well everyone. Bat very, very well.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

So last week Churchy read out an extract from a cricketing book, and we asked you the question, whose cricket book is this? So here is the snippet.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

To say I was stewing on the dismissal would be an understatement. I knew I was out, but I had to wait on the ground until the video umpire confirmed the inevitable. While I was waiting, I told Umpire Alinda how pissed off I was.

SPEAKER_04 9:26

What a book, what an extract brings back some fond memories. That was, of course, from Ricky Punting's autobiography, Punting at the Close of Play. Churchy, do you remember do you remember that extract?

SPEAKER_02 9:37

I certainly do. And can I just say Ricky Punting's autobiography and anybody that's ever read it is massive. It is a massive book. I think it goes to about a thousand pages anyway, anyway, and it's fascinating. But I do remember that. Gary Pratt, who was sort of the substitute fielder that England took around, who was an absolute gun in the field. R. Punting have been moaning about England bowlers nipping off the loo brakes and whatever else, and G Pratt coming on to replace Steve Harmon, like for like replacement, obviously. Not dang with Damian Martin, I think it was. And Pratt came around and ran Punt around. He wasn't happy, nothing. And as you heard in that extract, it was when he saw Duncan Fletcher smiling on the on the balcony, and Punter famously stopped and had a few words with Mr. Fletcher. So yes, I do remember that extremely well.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

Well, we actually almost had a similar incident as well in 2023. Do you remember Steve Smith subfield? I can't remember his name annoyingly, but slow closed. I just fumbled the ball on top of the stunts, but it would have been a similar similar moment. Well, Judge, we're going to play your extract for this week's cricketing book. And the question is, whose cricket book is this?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Then I ran out Derek Randall on his home ground in front of his home crowd. I can see it now, me running head down to safety, while Derek gives up the ghost and Rodney Marsh demolishes the stumps. If the ground had opened and swallowed me at that moment, it would have been a mercy. I have never felt so completely wretched on a cricket field. My own failure would have haunted me, but to actually run somebody out. And Randall at that, I couldn't have imagined anything worse.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

So whose cricket book is that? If you think you know, email sundayservice.pod at yahoo.com or tweet at Sundayservice22.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

This is Cameron Steele, and you are listening to the Sunday service with church and vicars.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

And now it's time for our cricketing guest. With the county season starting on Friday, this gentleman is preparing himself for the highways and byways of England to cover a county season. Nick Friend has worked for the cricketers since shortly before the 2019 World Cup, when he joined from CNN Sport. He was the Christopher Martin Jenkins Young Journalist of the Year in 2020, and he leads the cricketers' coverage of the women's game and writes regular features on county cricket. He has also been the assistant coach of cricket Argentina in Buenos Aires. And he has also been Pinky the Panther in the mascot race on T20 Finals Day. Well, Nick joined us earlier in the week, and I started by asking him if he was ready for the start of another domestic season.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

I really love this fortnight. It's been a long winter, isn't it? Like I didn't go to Australia, so I've been here all winter. And um my parents went to Australia, so you get on texting me at like 4am here saying what the last time they were having. I was thrilled for the moment. But um no, no, I I'm it's funny, I'm I always look forward to it. I always I'm sure you guys people say I'm in church, you probably in particular, given the the number of seasons you've done. Um I feel like the domestic summers get slightly harder to preview every year because county cricket diverges further from everything else every year. Um, and then we get the curveball that was uh earlier this week with the um you know England the England team's sudden sort of reset and refresh with refreshing of their relationship to the counties and trying to work out what that means or whether that's lip service, which is I suspect probably closer to the truth. I don't think they're a wholesale, I don't think there's much of a shop with no one on many places available in that England team anyway. So I'm always wary of you know, someone will take a nine for in the first week of the season. And it was probably a time 20 years ago, granted when when I was 11, that that you'd probably could probably go that well, that guy's got a great chance of playing for England this summer. The reality is like we can't we kind of know who's got a chance of playing for England, partly because we know, you know, explicitly and to to the credit of this regime, you could not you couldn't fault them for a lack of clarity. You know, we know exactly what they're after. Um but um and we also know they took 40 of players to Australia between the CT and the Lions this winter. So it was kind of wary, you know, like you go into the season, you don't want to start tipping everyone for international honours because you kind of know that's whether or not it should be the case, is is the case. And um but no, no, I always look forward to it. I I love I I do know I love hitting the end of September and feeling absolutely shattered and feeling like I've written everything I know how to write about. And and um I always try and get to all 18 or see all 18 men's counties and all eight tier one teams. Um I did that I did I think I did that by the end of May last year, not by not not deliberately. Um but um um yeah, so I I love it. It's it's I suppose it's after a long winter, it's the you know, the bit the bit of the job that I love doing, and um, you know, I I yeah, I I really enjoyed covering it, and there's so many funny angles and within county cricket that um you can explore, and some that you know are coming and a lot that you don't know that are coming. And um so yeah, it's what is it, March 26th. So give it six months, and I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 15:04

We're not scared for you again.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

But um, but yeah, you know, new haircut for the occasion, proper you know, proper um start of season vibes, very much Thursday school in it, kind of type thing.

SPEAKER_04 15:17

So what does the summer look like for you? Because as you say, you're covering all 18 counties, think you're leading the women's coverage as well. Is that just the case of every day you're driving around to a different ground and and also in the winter, because you don't have that travel, is it you've got to hit a certain quota of articles to be pushed out every day?

SPEAKER_03 15:38

No, I'm very lucky. I mean, firstly, I've not driven the car in about three years because um I share well mainly because I share my car with my brothers and they need it more. Um but um but no, I'm very fortunate because of what we do at the cricketer in general. Um and so so for a start, we're all you know, we're all I think we've got seven reporters at the first round of games or first or second round of the games. We we all cover the well, we all do it together basically. You can't you certainly can't cover the domestic scene on your own. And um it's quite nice that everyone's got sort of different, I sort of suppose different special different specialties, different counties that they've grown up knowing, knowing really well, you know, George, George Bells, Warwick or Worcestershire man, I think through well, actually he's a Somerset man, I think. Um Hugh Turbill has always been a Sussex man, lives in Surrey. James Coyne um goes to Wanted Road for me. Um and um I say for me because I'm probably fairly fairly close, but he's doing he's at Notting Media Day tomorrow, um, does a lot of those those two counties. And um, and I suppose, yeah. So we've all got uh Oscar Rest lives in Surrey. Um I'm missing someone here. Nick Helson is brilliant at scooping up, scooping up as editor, sort of letting us kind of take um, I suppose pick preferences and storylines we all follow. And um so I think we're really lucky as well that, and this is why you know, without um vividly plugging what we do, um, we're very proud of what we offer as a domestic, I mean we'll cover all the industries, but particularly domestic stuff, because um we yeah, men's and women's all 18 counties, it's the enormous part that we do, and it's the bit of the summer we're actually particularly while others are sort of moving away from covering it so much for for different reasons and different priorities. We it's it's a great bit to centre on, and um so um and also and the other second part of that is winter wise that we're winter all year, all year out, there's no quota. One of the lovely things actually about being behind a paywall is that the response the job is to produce stuff that people want to read, um not just turn turn out stuff. So um, you know, we're we're very we're we're we're quality first and and um and I love that. And um yeah, so that's um extremely lucky, and I think for three pounds, 399 a month um on for which what is a coffee, isn't it, in London? I always think is the amount of county coverage doing the number of county fans and members out there is brilliant value, and um I'm not saying that because I write some bit, but um because it's is a proper team effort and a proper churn for six months, and then the th I remember last year, like people say you guys are definitely having this meaning hectic year in the World Cup over the the 19th World Cup, Churchill you never stop. Like I love it when people I love it when people say what to do in the winter.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

Winter was I I think winter was three days at the end of September last year, and then the Women's World Cup started, and then the Women's World Cup finished, and the men were already in New Zealand, I think, and then the Ashes, the men's ashes started, and the men's ashes finished and the 19s World Cup started, and um, and actually it's been quite kind of quite weirdly quite a quiet winter because the women haven't been away, well have been away, but they've not played other than other than that 50 year World Cup in the autumn. So I I love honestly, I love the winter because as we're about as all three of us are about to find out, as soon as the summer starts, you follow the cricket, don't you? And whereas actually the winter, I do so much stuff that's been on my list for ages, and that we're not, you know, like I do a lot of long-form stuff anyway, but a lot of um things that have been on my list and my radar for a while, and things that you can get my teeth into. And it's funny that you've got to try and work out where people are in the world when you try and speak, when you want to try and speak to them and stuff. But um, I love I love winter for that reason. It's a um say if you're not touring, as I wasn't this winter, it's a great chance to um get to things that you've had to push down the list as some sort of you can never you never know what the summer now is, you know, what what the narrative is gonna be in any Canadian day in the summer, whereas there are certain days of winter that you can have a decent stab at circling going, I reckon that's gonna be a fairly quiet day in English cricket. You never know when someone's gonna talk to accounts.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Well, there aren't many of those, are there, really, these days. Um, you you mentioned there uh the women's game. What what what what was your impression of that first year of professional cricket for for the women's game? Because obviously we've got a T20 World Cup coming up as well this summer, but what what were your your first impressions of season one?

SPEAKER_03 20:22

I thought it was really interesting, and I thought it benefited massively from, and this is not so that John Lewis wouldn't have done, but the the timing that meant that Charlotte Edwards came in. I'll go on field first. The fact that Charlotte Edwards came in when she did, from the role that she did with the background that she has meant that pushing, and I know for a fact that England players were going to be pushed towards their counties anyway for the start of the season because the real concerted effort led by Beth Barrett Wilde at the top of DCB's sort of professional domestic stuff. Um, that this had to that that Darwin for Darwin to work as it has done and as it needs to continue doing, it needed sort of a proper kickstart, and that meant the best players in the country. And of course, we have a bit like what we've got with the men now. If you have a bad Asher series, it's a great way of improving domestic game for feelings, isn't it? Because everyone's got to play.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

So everyone played, but it helped that Lottie came in, Charlotte came in, and and Lottie's perspective on this from her from her southern vibes success, from her own background domestic cricket, when when the game was when the women's game was very different, was you go, you go and play, you dominate, and then you'll play. And if you don't dominate, I'll pick someone like Emma Lan, who is dominating, and that's what happened. We saw someone like Maya Boucher, who is a Charlotte Edwards protege, um would have been it, would have been looked at initially when we all wrote our you know Charlotte Edwards intray pieces as one of the big winners of that change of regime. Lottie came in, people's called Morons, we've already seen Maya since. So um in the England show that is. So um it was there was some brilliant days of cricket. I was at the 346, 346, oh because it was a beckon between Surrey and The Blaze, which I was looking at this scorecard a couple of days ago, there were 12, no, there were 14 international critics playing that game, 11 English, three Scots. I think I'm right in saying if I've got that right. So 10 English and Mary Green, New Zealander, and three Scots. Um, so the the quality was off the scale, though, particularly for those first months. Um, then as happens, England players go off. But I think what we saw and what was reassuring, what's particularly important there this year, given how full the international calendar is, that this summer is the domestic, the quality domestic cricket was able to stand on its own feet without needing to be propped up by New England squads. Um, because I don't I think I don't think the counties will see much of their England players at all this this summer. And even the overseas players that we see from basically the blast onwards are broadly going to be players who haven't made their World Cup squads, which obviously goes over the top of the the summer. Off the field, um thought we I thought we saw I think we saw what we thought we'd see, which is that different counties probably got it different levels of right. Um, I think Surrey starting at Beckham, I think, would probably accept in hindsight, shouldn't have happened. I know why it happened and the various transitions and stuff, but that first day was quite a it was a great game against Somerset, but um it was it looked worse because the other three games were being played at Testgrounds, I think. I think it was Trent Bridge, Chesler Street, and Edgebass, and I think top of my head. Um but um but it but I mean that's not sorry. I mean, sorry, sorry, the way that Sorry did their whole programme was was I was as you'd have thought sorry would do it. Um I think different levels of you know the news around the Kia sponsorship for the next four years of sorry women specifically is is really cool, particularly coming 10 years on from the KSL start and Kia's own background in in women's cricket, um, which I think predates even the first batch of central contracts. Um I still think it's weird the Blaze are called the Blaze. Um I don't think they're gonna be called that next year, but I still think it's weird. I think it's like I think it sounds like an ice hockey team. Um I thought Darum were really cool, Darham had the most work to do, um, kind of starting properly from scratch. I think you know, we saw, I think Warwick, you know, Warwick should a lot for their infrastructure, probably spent more on that than maybe, which then sort of held back their budget slightly for the playing side of it. Um there's a lot, there's those teething, as I think we expected there to be teething. Um, but I was there, yeah. As I say, like I thought the quality of cricket was cool, and not just cool because it was like really good, but I think you saw improvements in individual players across the whole season. Someone like Alice Monoghan, who'd been a bit part player at Southern Vipers, turned up at Surrey and was like from side on at Beckham as well, which was such a cool view. You rarely have in a in a press box. She felt like notably quicker than most bowlers, is also a very good fielder, scored a lot of useful runs, and it just kind of and she got more opportunities as someone on Surrey lost all their players. And um, like Esmean McGregor at Essex, who like pretty happy to put my hands up and say I didn't know a great deal about before the start of last summer, was the secondly wicked take in the blast behind Millie Taylor who was left-arm wrist spin, which is an enormous tick in my book straight away. So as a as a yippee child left-arm wrist spin of myself once upon a time. Um, so yeah, I'd it was a really cool summer, and as I say, I'd split it in half slightly and say the one thing I'd the one caveat is that as good as it was for starting with England players, finishing without the England players because the England players were whisked off on an intra-squad camp in Abu Dhabi, I think was stupid. And having been so good for having everyone involved, um, it then meant, if I remember correctly, Hampshire and Lanx played the final, missing four or four, four or five players. Sorry, lost out in the semi-final, missing two or three players. Yeah, um yeah, but I said teething bits, and I I suspect the game will learn from that. That said, there is an Ingrid A series dropped underneath the D2A World Cup in the middle of June, which which will probably dilute the the best of players, but it will also give us, I think, a decent idea of where the standard is of everyone of the of the core, because that is as we see the men's game, the core of your domestic game has to be your domestic cricketers. So um, I don't know if I've answered that.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

Yeah, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Yeah, brilliant answer.

SPEAKER_04 26:16

So, what would you expect and what would you hope to see in the women's game this season domestically? Because obviously they're going to be missing so many players during that World Cup, anyway. Is the case that we're gonna unearth a lot of hidden gems this season?

SPEAKER_03 26:32

Uh you would I I think you just I think you'd hope so. Like it just it will the World Cup, so the World Cup will take away 15 players for a large part of the summer. Um, even you know, even last summer was the India series, it was the West Indies Series, those series were taken very seriously because it was Lossie's first cricket. It wasn't like they were jumping in and out of their county. So I think we're kind of used to that. The challenge of the women's game, uh the women's domestic game, I think, right now, so we go back to when Darwin was first brought in in 20, it was first announced in 24. The plan was eight teams until 2029. Part of the reason for doing that was to give the game the chance to sort of give the give the game the chance to develop a number of professionals at the right rate to look after the depth of players who were good enough for tier one, I suppose, at that time. The challenge is you brought a ninth team in overnight. Um gone back on that straight away. That ninth team granted has had a year playing together as centrally as professionally contracted players, albeit at a lower level in tier two against broadly players juggling jobs and stuff and studying on the side. So um it'll be interesting to see how they go. The I think the challenge, and I'm really interested to see where this goes, there aren't any more, there aren't any, it's not like the men's game where you can, because of the development of it, where where there's a load of players like waiting in the wings ready to be signed by no tier one ready players, but Saka, if you look at what Saka men have done over the last few years, the whole point is that there's a load of 24, 25-year-olds who are basically ready to come in, take the new ball, and both viewer in a first team game. Whether the the the depth of player exists for squads that are going to be really tested this summer by those international call-ups, um will be interesting. Um that said, that is also what tier two is for. And um, my one what I really hope, what what I think would be really cool, and I'm trying to think, I can't remember if we had many, many or any of these last year. It'd be really cool to see someone be signed from a tier, like a a player signed by a tier one team from a tier two team, chuck straight up their tier one team, a permanent deal, and goes and sets it like because that tier two doesn't need it, but it would be good to just be cool to see because it it once it straight away validates that that part of the pathway.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Yeah. Uh with the men's domestic game, I'm gonna put you right on the spot now, my friend. Who do you think's coming up from Division II? And I'm not gonna ask you who you think will get relegated because that's harsh. Uh, but who do you think will win the championship this year?

SPEAKER_03 29:07

We'll get promoted, I think. As long as they're over what happened last September. Um I don't quite know how they got relegated.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

No, yeah. Well, I I don't yes, I don't think they probably quite know how they got relegated.

SPEAKER_03 29:21

Langshire, a lot of people's tips, but I think part like partly because they should have gone up, could people think they should have gone up last year and kind of botched the first half of their season? Um, I think Middlesex is first choice team, first choice 11 is very good, and they've got some really interesting young players um who are gonna play. And actually, like Caleb Faulkner was gone and did brilliant in the World Cup. I actually don't think he'll I don't think he's necessarily the 19-year-old, and that's they're under 19 player who's gonna play the most ripples. I think Seb Morgan is one to look out for. Um, I think he will probably start the season, which is quite unusual for an 18-year-old Seamer. Um, and I think I do know Kent came dead last last year and had a shocking season. Um, I think they have recruited very sensibly, particularly their overseas pair. I spoke to Adam Holyoke last week, and Adam Holyoke was wonderfully unsubtle and blunt about it. And he said, We've we've got two Slavkin overseas players, two overseas bowlers, Glinton Sturman, Keith Dudgeon. We're worried about the depth of our seam attack. Um, so we want to play three-day games until the end of June, until the end of May, essentially, back the seamers, try not to bowl the seamers into the ground on flat ones, and then Sturman leaves, scenario Mutisami arrives, his left arm spinner for South Africa, then they want to play on Turners with Mutisami and Parkinson, you know, best of their plans and all that, but there is at least you know, it's not a plan that you know that that you're that you know, people who want it. It's a I like it because it's pretty unashamedly, this is how we're gonna try and win. Yeah, rather than we're gonna try and play forward West Ford cricket because that's what England demands, etc. And all that and English demands. Um Darwin show the other ones, obviously missed out by five points last year at Lip Side Marbury Abbas, so they're not gonna be far away, I don't think. Um so I'm going Durham plus one.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

Durham plus one, and come on then, who's winning who's winning the championship?

SPEAKER_03 31:11

I think Surrey will win the championship because I think I think Surrey came very close to winning it last year without playing very well and welcome quite a muddled team. Even the announcement today that they're having chart that Sunny rolled your half, the second half of the season, they'd won the title last year if they'd if they'd done that really. Like the I mean not yeah, not as simple as that, but how many times did we say church like sat in the sat here sat at the oval that that they missed having a specialist spin out? I think the other that I think that can be overplayed actually the bit that is most interesting, most interesting with Surrey last year, is we talked so much about the depth they're batting. They had a lot of depth, but it did always it'd always feel like everyone was batting one spot too high. Yeah, probably from folks at four downwards, or even at five downwards, sometimes. I think this year, particularly with the way these first two months are going to play out and basically the the the the audition that it is um Pope, Smith, Sibley, Burns, Lawrence, that's the top five, folks back six, and then you get and then you get into your five all rounders, yeah, and then suddenly you are stacked from from seven to eleven, but you've also got probably that bank of runs at the top, which perhaps they've missed that missed at times last season. Um and they've got um, and then they've got Sean Abbott in for the start as well, which is count every county wants a Sean Abbott, which is essentially a number seven who bowls Seamers, or a Seamer who bats seven rather, but Fasari will probably bat eight. Um and um and crucially it isn't currently playing for his country. So um it feels I don't I it's probably not a coincidence that this happened with Alex Stewart back in at the helm that it all feels slightly more joined up. I mean that not that said they've not recruited anyone domestically, so it's not like I mean there is a bit of there's an element, I suppose, of fortune involved in the fact that the batter's likely to be available for the start of the season. But um, but yeah, you know, I thought they'd and to be fair, I think everyone at Saris kind of missed this, they'd have been slightly odd champions last year.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Yeah, well, I know I I I think they would have put their hands up and said we we got away with one there because they they weren't they weren't at their best all season. I think what was impressive was they hung in there, really.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Yeah, and I think ironically the bit that they'll regret is that you know, offered the chance to beat Knott's at home to win the title, you'd have bit in it a bit, you know, they'd have bat themselves every day. No, though I know they battenselves would beat anyone anywhere, but um I thought it was important that Knotts won last season because actually, without going all that SPL on this, if you have the same winner every year, and particularly in the year when they've not, you know, like if Hearts, if Celtic won the Scottish Premier League this year, it has that same kind of vibe. I think you've got the same team winning every year, even when they are pretty flawed, yeah. Um, and particularly when you've got knots for fun champions, it was a team of guys basically who at one point or another has been have been tipped to play for England, some have, and I but a lot of them, you know, Dylan Pennington, Lyndon James, Jack Haynes, um you know, all Liam Patterson Wright, all massive parts of it, all guys who've sort of been there or thereabouts, played a lot of the Lions, etc., been in England squads. Um, it was cool to see them get over the line. Um, and I obviously everyone loves Peter Moore's and the Camade, and um, you know, and yeah, and and it was just the best game of the quick of the season, wasn't it? So it was fitting that whoever won that game was going to be fairly worthy, worthy winner.

SPEAKER_04 34:31

Nick, you mentioned that chat with Adam Holley earlier this week or last week. Um, and as you said, you've you've been to every county under the sun. Have you bumped into any good faith healers on on your travels as well? And and yeah, what do you think of that denominational geopathic? Yeah, that's sorry, sorry. Come on, Hitch, sorry, my bad.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Look, when when Kent go up as champions, yeah, and every seam has got 40 wickets each, there'll be there'll be there'll be surveyors, there'll be geopathic surveyors flying around the traps. Oh, like you know, uh I'm that what I would say about the Kent situation is that they um it was an answer within a broader piece actually I wrote about their their injury troubles because Kent's injury troubles year on year are genuinely extraordinary. Um they went through 13 seamers last year, three loans, three overseas. Um, they had loan players in by the end of April last season. Um and it happens every year. Like um it was obviously Adam Holyoke's first year in last year. He told me a great anecdote that day. He said um, he said I think it was September 9th, I think was the date of the game. They're playing Lanx at home. And he said he sat at his desk, or sat at his sat in the chamber with his laptop, and he's writing a report for the um for the club about Kent's injury, injury cries, injury issues, and the and what they need to do to resolve these. And he said, I was writing this thing saying that it's a bowling issue. He said it's Kent Rabbatting. So he looked up, and Adam um and Ben Ben Compton has um has cracked one out to to the sweeper on the boundary, and he said, He's you've seen a bit out there, you've seen them take the run. Um, him him and me, tell John Miye take the run. He said, He's put his head down to continue typing. He goes, Out of nowhere, I just hear this noise, it sounds like a car crash. I said I looked up and Compton and Miye have run into each other head first. Miye's ruled out the game with concussion, yeah. And then he said, He said, I put my head back down, deleted a few words, and went, it is also a batting issue.

SPEAKER_02 36:44

It was look look look, come on. It was a great story. And let's see what let's see what occurs. Um, very quickly, my friend. Um we always when whenever we speak to anybody, listen, there may be some some of the younger generation listening to this who think, oh, I wouldn't mind being a cricket writer. What what um what advice would you would you give anybody who who fancies fancies a career writing about cricket?

SPEAKER_03 37:15

I think the first bit is I always say to people, don't never say no to anything, is my first. Um I I did some really weird things probably as a before I was covering cricket. I covered the world floorball championships in Prague once.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Um World Floorboard.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

It's floorball. You'll have played it.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

It's oh sorry, I don't know what you said.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

The world floorball, floorball plastic stick hockey, and it's in Scandinavia and the Czech Republic. No, sorry, not floorball. Um I always say never say no to anything because you like you never know what you're gonna land on, type thing. But um the uh the other thing now, and you know, this is where I'm very lucky, but I'm also very conscious of um like I'm a 31-year-old predominantly cricket writer, but I think you can't limit yourself to writing, would be the thing that I'd say. If you if you think you're gonna be that there just aren't many sports writing jobs around full stop, you need to be able to be. I mean, as you know, Hector's doing here, you know, producing your podcast, that's the you've got to be multi-skilled, you've got to be um, you've got to multi-willing if that if that's a word. Um, and yeah, yes, you know, you've got to um if I had my time again, if I did a sports journalism masters when I was how old was I, 21? Uh and I loved it, I absolutely loved it. If I had my time again, I'd go back and listen more carefully to the bits about multimedia journalism. Um, because I always quite upset when I went in that I wanted to be a writer, because that's all I'd I'd I'd done work experience as a as a kid, and then I'd done a I'd done student journalism at university, and um, but it was all with was all that it was about writing. I never I don't think I ever thought that broadcast was I was also terrified of being on camera, which I kind of slam. Um, so that was never really a path that I was gonna explore initially. Um, but I think you need to um there are so many ways in. Uh and I mean I you know, I always see it, I always say this about T20 Finals Day at Edge Baston, Edge Baston Press Box is huge and it's always full on finals day, but there are about six people writing about it. Yeah, everyone else is doing you know digital content, social media stuff, um, got a camera in their hands, you know, etc. etc. There's so many ways in. Um, and it's not it it crucially, like you know, if the way you get in is is very rarely the way you end up. Um, but getting in is a big part of it. It's much easier to write, you know, once you get in somewhere, let's say as as a as a social media exact, can you say, well, you know, no one's gonna say no to someone offering to do more work. So um, but I think that's the big thing that you know. I'm so I think I I I'm well aware that um I mean don't you wrong, I'm you know, I've tried I I'm always trying to upscale in those in those areas. I've I've got my got myself a camera for to go like full colo Andrew Miller.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

Oh that is well, that is something to look forward to. Now listen, my friend, uh we're we're gonna we're we're we're gonna run out of time in a sec. So um this has been an absolute joy. Thank you so much. You are one of the best. It's always, always a joy to see you. Um I will see you, Hector will see you at a cricket ground very, very soon. But thank you for your time today. Uh, and enjoy your trip to Durham for their press conference as well.

SPEAKER_03 40:29

No, my pleasure. Um, sorry for rambling, which I feel like saying the end of every every podcast.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

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SPEAKER_04 41:24

So there are our friends at Newbury Cricket with. Wait for it, wait for the announcement for the major bat. I don't know why I said wait for it, you've just heard it. There it was. They have uh what about just Jimmy Gea Bunch? Jersey, what are your immediate feelings?

SPEAKER_02 41:40

It looks a beautiful piece of wheel. It really does. There's a retro tones to it as well, it's a call to be an old man I like. Um but yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful critic ball. We've been talking about the mystery frogs and saying you want to that is the mystery froze. It's one of those balls. You want to be entering this competition.

SPEAKER_04 42:17

We've got a lot of people in the house.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Well, absolutely. So last week's question. What is it again? Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful thing. Last week's question, everybody. Well, the start of the last week was of course all about the 1992 world. But my question was which member of the England team played in the final and is now one of the best umpodes in World Cricket. And the answer wasn't working in for you. Well, I can only say again. Is it beautiful? Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. This week's question. Now the championship starts on Friday. There are only three counties that have never won the county championship. Not Hampton Shield won. My question this week is who is number three? Who is the other county that has never won the county championship? If you think you know the answer, email Sundayservice dot yeah, who.com or tweet at Sunday Service 22. Our friends at Newbury have released an official Sunday. Service discount code, you can now use the discount code SundayService15 and get 15% off goods at www.newbury.co.uk, excluding bespoke batter. So why not treat yourself to some premium gear and quality willow?

SPEAKER_04 44:20

Right, that is stumps for this episode of the Sunday service with Church and Vickers. We will be back together next Sunday, the 5th of March, when it will be Easter Sunday and just as importantly, the third day of the first round of the county championship. So get that date in your download diary. Don't forget, send us your answers to the quiz and to whose cricket book is this, and you can still get anything you want to off your chest cricket-wise by emailing sundayservice.pod at yahoo.com or tweeting at Sundayservice22.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

So thank you for listening. If you've liked what you've heard, please rate and review us because it really helps others find the podcast. Because, as I always say, we want us all to join together be one big, happy cricketing family. Thank you to Nick Friend for joining us today, and of course, thank you to our friends at Newbury Cricket for all their support and that magnificent competition prize. It is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful piece of willow.

SPEAKER_04 45:19

Until next Sunday from the Key Roval, this has been a Hector Vickers and Mark Church production. Have a magnificent cricketing week, everybody. Enjoy the first round of the county championship and remember, learn from your mistakes and move forward. Wise words, wise words, good boys.