Cricket: Aigburth to host two county matches in September

Nov 15 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

CRICKET fans on Merseyside can look forward to watching two Lancashire matches at Liverpool CC’s Aigburth ground in 2008.

New skipper Stuart Law will lead his men out against Somerset Sabres in a Pro40 encounter on Sunday, September 14 and the four-day game against Kent will get under way just 72 hours later.

Lancashire’s 2008 fixtures also include four pre-season games in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, while the last match at Old Trafford will be the Pro40 clash against Middlesex on August 17. The reason for this unusually early end to cricket at Lancashire’s HQ is that a state-of-the-art drainage system is to be installed on the ground and also a new outfield better able to cope with high volumes of rainfall.

Explaining the project and its late summer timing, Lancashire groundsman Peter Marron said that the new drainage arrangements would be similar to those at Lord’s where play in this summer’s Test Match against India was able to resume just a couple of hours after a colossal cloudburst.

“The system we will be adopting is what many Premiership football clubs have and, although cricket will never be played during wet weather, this new drainage system guarantees play will get under way much more quickly following rain, hopefully within an hour, allowing more cricket to be played at Old Trafford,” he said.

“This work needs to be carried out during August and September to give the new grass time to grow while the weather is relatively warm.”

Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes added that the work on the ground could be regarded as the first phase of Old Trafford’s major redevelopment into a “world-class international cricket ground”.

“This is a huge investment for the club but it sends out the message that we are deadly serious about our vision for cricket at Old Trafford,” he added.

And as if to prove that the ECB’s fixture boffins are not lacking a sense of black humour, Lancashire’s first four-day game in 2008 will take place at the Oval where Mark Chilton’s side just failed to secure the Championship on the last day of the 2007 season, losing to Surrey by 24 runs.

LANCASHIRE’S LV County Championship Division One fixtures: April 16-19 Surrey (The Oval), April 23-26 Somerset (Old Trafford), May 7-10 Durham (Old Trafford), May 14-17 Nottinghamshire (Trent Bridge), May 30-June 2 Yorkshire (Headingley Carnegie), June 6-9 Nottinghamshire (Old Trafford), June 29-July 2 Sussex (Hove), July 11-14 Hampshire (Rose Bowl), July 22-25 Hampshire (Old Trafford), August 6-9 Sussex (Old Trafford), August 12-15 Yorkshire (Old Trafford), August 20-23 Kent (Canterbury), August 27-30 Surrey (Blackpool), September 3-6 Durham (Chester-le-Street), September 17-20 Kent (Liverpool), September 24-27 Somerset (Taunton).