And we’re off! The 2025 County Championship season begins

Hotter than the Algarve, they reckon. And it did look pretty blissful with good crowds, with queues at several venues –, runs and wickets. You could close your eyes and believe everything was right with the world.
The first wicket to fall was Zain ul-Hassan, the first 50 went to Paul Walter (out of 56 on the board!), the first fivefer for Kasey Aldridge, the first hundred Colin Ackermann. A blissful two days as talk of tariffs and the IPL was banished and almost 200 of England’s finest male cricketers did battle in one of the most storied sporting competitions of all, the County Championship….