AVOIDING the seven deadly sins is apparently advisable – but it is hard for me not to cast envious glances at the season Yorkshire’s cricketers have enjoyed.
Just 12 months ago it was hard to wipe the smug smile off my face as Lancashire won the county championship for the first time in a while (okay it was 70-odd years), while the White Rose wilted with relegation from the top flight.
But while I have always enjoyed the trans-Pennine sniping, it is never as much fun if the two counties are not competing at the same level and sadly we look set for a second consecutive summer of no Roses clashes in the County Championship.
The penultimate set of championship games started yesterday with the Tykes looking well-placed to ensure promotion and still in with a good chance of finishing the season top of the Division II table.
Lancashire went into the same set of games knowing that anything less than a win against Middlesex at Lord’s would pretty much consign them to a season in the second tier.
It shows the difference a year can make.
Yorkshire brought in ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie and the place seemed to start to buzz, while Lancashire could have been forgiven making no changes as champions but instead have tinkered – remember the title was won without an overseas player – and the team ethic that brought success seems to have evaporated.
Even more reason for Lancastrians to suffer a tinge of the green-eyed monster is that Yorkshire reached the T20 final and, while they did not collect the trophy, their campaign now has a lucrative extension as they travel to South Africa next month to play in the Champions League.
They line-up against Sri Lankan Premier League winners Uva Next on October 9 in Johannesburg and then face Trinidad and Tobago the following day at Centurion – how much exotic can you get than taking on not one but two Caribbean islands at the same time?
Well plenty more exotic actually, because if Andrew Gale’s side get through that group stage they will face Australia’s Sydney Sixers (Australia), South Africa’s Highveld Lions and India outfits Mumbai Indians – replete with Headingley old boy star Sachin Tendulkar – and Chennai Super Kings the following week.
So while I wish Yorkshire all the very best and I hope they reach the final at the New Wanderers Stadium, you have to understand I do so through teeth gritted in an outrageous fit of jealousy.
