What we forget when we forget county cricket

English cricket is at odds with itself. The County Championship, the game’s oldest competition, was once the staple of English sport, but since the Second World War its popularity has dramatically declined. Today, it is one summer pastime among many, followed closely only by a small, if obstinately loyal, group of supporters. The velocity and thunder of modernity have found in football a much more accommodating host – shorter matches, a kinetic pace and apparently…