You really do have to ask the question, is County Championship Cricket still a major competition  in our summer season which began more than 130 years ago writes Merv Colenutt.

Following the opening three fixtures this season for each county, all played in April for the first time, there are certainly numerous talking points coming from the members and those mostly negative about the start of the 2024 season.

Somerset’s third draw of the season will be remembered more for the mammoth total of 440 for 2 from Nottinghamshire on the third and fourth days of the game at the county ground in Taunton, following an unbeaten  partnership of 392 between Will Young and wicket keeper Joe Clarke on a feather bed of a pitch that gave no encouragement to the Somerset bowlers.

Twelve days of cricket, with plenty of stoppages for rain,  the controversial Kookaburra ball for the opening eight days, followed by four days of playing county cricket with a dukes ball, all this in the month of April, which I believe is downgrading the importance of county cricket, is fast becoming a joke with the members of all of the counties expecting more in the way of results.

The Kookaburra ball was recommended by Andrew Strauss in 2022 and was designed to help England players become better equipped for future England tours abroad, yet just one result in the opening 18 fixtures along with the rain affected games, as you would expect in April, to me makes a complete lottery of that decision made by Strauss and not made in the interest of cricket lovers.

There is a lot less in the way of a seam with the Kookaburra ball and the ball gets softer far quicker than a Dukes ball, at the same time it will certainly favour the batsmen, in fact a god send for them, but not a good decision for the bowlers who in the main rely on seam movement and swing if you are a quick bowler in particular.

The managing director of cricket, Rob Key a former Kent opening batsman, said he felt the Kookaburra ball experiment was a success, not quite sure who would agree with that at present, with just one result in those opening 18 fixtures.

The third round of championship matches with the Dukes ball, did result in five positive results and although Somerset failed to take a wicket in over a day at Taunton, former Millfield cricket coach Gerry Wilson, pointed out that this was more down to the wicket and the movement came during the opening day when the wicket looked particularly green and their was seam movement and almost all the wickets that fell were taken behind the wicket.

Another concern I believe at the moment, is how players are appealing at every opportunity on the field at the umpire and surrounding him at every opportunity, in the hope that pressurising him, any decision good or bad will go in their favour, you feel now the game is becoming more like football and that is another side of the game that is becoming more negative.