Pitches seem to be the hot topic of the county circuit at present. Derbyshire and Northamptonshire seem to be having their own running feud at the moment, triggered by a second pitch in two years that allowed spin 'like the tenth day of a Test in Delhi', to quote a Northants player.

We at Hampshire have more than a little interest in this saga, having been deducted points twice recently - once for a pitch that offered excessive spin in the last game at Northlands Road in 2000 and once for a 'poor' pitch last year against Lancashire at the Rose Bowl. Northants have regularly produced dry pitches that are grassy and green in the middle with scarified, bare ends to suit their battery of spinners. Sometimes, as last week against Derbyshire, the surface starts a little too dry - allowing it to turn square from ball one. If one wanted to find a more obvious case of doctoring wickets, one would have to go a long way for one. Yet they have always got away with little more than a slap on the wrist. Granted, the most recent slap must have been stern enough to force them to change tack totally in this current game by providing a wicket that is deathly slow, containing some dampness, but one can be sure that they will return to the old formula before long. Despite 13 wickets falling on a rain-curtailed first day of our Championship game, this Northampton pitch will not be marked as poor as most wickets fell due to some 'average' batting. We will only have ourselves to blame if we lose this one. However, for Derbyshire, it is already too late as they lost last week and they have suffered at the hands of the pitch inspectors in the past. Consequently, the Derbyshire chief executive has stirred up a furore over such apparent inconsistencies over the marking of pitches and sanctions on those that don't come up to scratch. He has threatened to ban the Pitch Liaison Officer from their ground and withdraw from any future pitch panel hearings. All rather exciting stuff really - county cricket rarely sees such controversy! The main point of any argument should be that counties should, and generally are, trying to produce the best wickets that they possibly can. Surrey play on excellent surfaces at the Oval and win the Championship because they are the best team. Other teams should not be allowed to doctor a home advantage in the wicket. Nigel Gray and his fine team at the Rose Bowl were simply trying to produce the best wicket that they can to ECB specifications when we were deducted points for our match with Lancashire last year. That seemed a very harsh judgement for a square that is just six years from sowing and needs time to settle. Yet Northants have got away with blatant fixing of their tracks. The new coach, Kepler Wessels, even went on record earlier in the year stating that they would produce wickets that are best suited to their squad. Even when this has been taken to the extreme, as last week, they have been allowed to get away with it. It may sound a petty complaint, but promotion can hinge on a couple of points here or there and everyone deserves to be treated on a level. Unfortunately, unless consistent and effective sanctions are imposed, this crazy situation will continue. Enough of the rant! THE PITCHES cannot be blamed, however, for our average performances of late. Against Gloucestershire at the Rose Bowl last week, we were unable to close out an excellent position when a batting collapse against the second new ball meant that we failed to capitalise on Derek Kenway's fine century. Our mistake was exacerbated with an average bowling display that let the visitors back into the match. At Northampton, we simply took too long to adjust to the pace of the wicket in our first innings, prompting a serious battle to get a toe-hold in the match. The season certainly has not been to our liking so far as we are scraping around at the bottom of the Division 2 table. But we can be encouraged by the fact that the whole division is tightly bunched with only a couple of wins separating the whole field. Things can change very rapidly and, with half the matches still to go, promotion is certainly not a distant dream. The squad is at full strength now with the students returning from university, so we can all expect some serious competition for places over the coming two or three months. John Francis, James Tomlinson and James Bruce are all taking the opportunity to impress in this game with Alan Mullally (hamstring) and Wasim Akram (toe) missing through injury. Both are expected to be back soon though, Wasim for Sunday's National League game up here and 'Spider' for the following weekend. With a week off ahead, there's plenty of time for rest and of course to take in the first one-day international at the Rose Bowl between South Africa and Zimbabwe next Thursday (10th). If the table stays as tight as at present, it's likely to be a crucial game in the NatWest Series and well worth a day's viewing. And if anyone is concerned about how the pitch will play, don't worry. Nigel and his boys have produced some belters for one-day cricket so far this year and this one will no doubt be the same.