Division Two

So it was finally confirmed this afternoon that Warwickshire were going to be playing in Division Two of the County Championship, a mere three years after winning the competition. Although not a surprise by any means, given their recent form, the relegation is still a bitter pill to swallow.

There is now little doubt that Mark Greatbatch will leave his position as director of coaching, the only thing that remains to be seen is the timing of this change. Greatbatch again stated his desire to remain in the job and said he would be disappointed to not be coaching the club next year.

It is unclear whether he still genuinely feels he has a job to do at the club and whether he can contribute, or whether this is an example of the continuing "football-isation" of cricket - With an under performing head coach unwilling to do the honourable thing and resign, and risk missing out on a lucrative "golden handshake" package when fired. Greatbatch still has a year to run on his contract and it does not make financial sense for him to quit. However in staying on, he has arguably ruined his chances of employment elsewhere. If he had walked a month ago after Scarborough he could have claimed a player revolt, lack of board support, any old cock-and-bull story and retained some kind of credibility. However in sticking around and proving beyond any doubt that he was incapable of reversing the slide he started, he has shown himself to be completely incompetent as a coach and very unlikely to gain other employment, in England at least.

Let us hope that there is better news to follow in the coming months as there is no doubt that a section of the membership, your correspondent included, will be monitoring the announcement regarding the coaching and playing staff with interest, with a view to whether they renew their membership or not.