Well, here is the final County rankings list for 2021 – 2022. This allocation of ranking points is not perfect and was never claimed to be, but it does give a flavour to how individuals have been successful both representing the County (wearing County shirts) and County competitions. I did say, right at the start, this will have a slight tendency to indicate quantity over quality as the more you play, the more you have the potential to gain ranking points – no guarantee, of course, as you have to win games!

One question I was posed just after Christmas was “Why should the other members of a team of 3, 2 or 1, benefit from the skip’s brilliance?”. I think there are two answers to that, one is on the key word ‘team’. No matter how well the skip plays, they are playing into a head created by previous players, both the team and the opposition. If either had played better or worse then the skip may not have had the opportunity to shine at all. I suppose the counter argument to a skip gaining more points is what happens if the team are playing well and either the skip just has to cover or accumulate, the skip would be benefitting from the team without having to do much brilliant bowling. Worse, the team could be playing really well and the skip has an indifferent game which actually penalises their good play.

The basis for awarding ranking points is as follows:

You will note that the points are slightly lowered as more players participate. The logic there is there is more emphasis on the players ability, the fewer there are that take part. Also lower in the O55 pairs against a open pairs because the talent pool is more restricted.

The three round robin games have the same number of ranking points with the deeper we went in the competition, the more fractional ranking points were awarded. The higher number for win/draw against England Ladies was to acknowledge that the opposition should be better quality.    

Same principle used here as in the County Comps. Only a slight increase in win points as you will be playing the qualifiers from other Counties........and we have all seen how blindingly brilliant some of them are!

I am totally open to amending or tweaking how the points are awarded (and the ratio) and would welcome any observations from players as to how this can be improved. As the great outdoors is now beckoning and I don’t reappear until the end of September, please email me on ahspcr@ntlworld.com your ideas and suggestions.

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY RANKINGS – 2021/2022 Season

The Hertfordshire County Rankings (HCR) are a merit-based method of recognising individual player's current form and are being introduced from the 2021-22 season. Ranking points are awarded according to the number of wins (and draws) achieved in all official County games, County competitions and the English Nationals. The Barnet League, the Beds & Herts League and other tournaments (Greenwood Triples, Short Mat Players Tour etc. are not included). The ranking points are graduated depending on prestige of match (the Nationals have a higher integer) as is individual contributions (winning in a pairs is a slightly higher integer than winning in a fours). The HCRs will reset at the start of the season i.e. no carry over.

This is a trial season for the HCR to see if it is feasible and will be adjusted at season end if serious anomalies become obvious. Whilst the HCR are not meant to necessarily show ability as players will be unavailable for various reasons throughout the season, they will indicate players who are regularly successful within the County per season. In some examples, it will be a case of quantity over quality. Updates will be published regularly.

There was one incongruity that has not been included in the table below and feedback would be most welcome. As you know, most of the 2019/20 National Finals were delayed with only the Over 55 Pairs and Mixed Fours being played within the 2019/20 season. The other, some would say main, competitions, the Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours were delayed and actually played at the beginning of September 2021. This would be within the 2021/22 season and there is an argument that ranking points achieved at these Nationals should be included in the figures below as they were earned ‘in season’ and other sports would include them. This would mean however, that for the 2021/22 HCRs would include results from two Nationals.

HCRs earned up Final Ranking Points 2021-2022 Season