Seeing the queue snaking along the river bank to the entrance gate at Chelmsford was a heartening experience.

They were lining up to witness the opening day of the Rothesay County Championship season and the small headquarters where Essex are generally so hard to beat became healthily busy with around 2,500 spectators enjoying the delightful spring weather.

Moans that the campaign starts too early were shelved for the time being. The deluges of last year – when some club grounds were so badly flooded that rollers could not reach squares without becoming bogged down – were forgotten.

Essex deserved much credit for their enterprising approach, offering discounted admission to Surrey members who wanted to buy a four-day ticket. But for badly timed engineering works on the second and third days of the match, which made the railway journey from London twice as long although still only just over the hour – the attendances over the weekend would have been greater too.

“No one watches four-day cricket” is a familiar slogan but it’s inaccurate. Playing much of the Championship at the extremities of the season makes weather interruptions more likely and understandably deters prospective spectators, although September is often one of the better months. But a competition which began in 1864 and was formalised in 1890 still has a pull and loyalty which few can match, not just among those of 55 or more.

Counties who go out of their way to attract spectators get their reward, as Essex did. That doesn’t seem to have registered, though, with Scarborough Cricket Club given they plan to charge £33 a day for both their Championship matches – against Surrey and Sussex in July – and One Day Cup matches. Money can be saved by taking out social membership of the club, which is a good deal if you have the time, but it seems a surefire way of scaring off the casual spectator or someone who wants to attend for a day with the family.

And there was evidence in abundance that families will turn up on the opening two days of Surrey’s Championship match against Hampshire at the Kia Oval last weekend. The outfield was packed at the lunch and tea intervals, older spectators enjoying the chance of stretch their legs, youngsters zooming round in their impromptu games where the rules are made up as they go along to accommodate those wishing to join or exit the contest. On day one 5,639 went through the gates and it wasn’t far short of 5,000 the next day.

The weather has always had much to do with attendances. When T20 cricket made its debut in England in 2003, it was blessed by a series of sunny evenings, an even greater benefit than now because few grounds had permanent floodlights. Conditions were similar 12 months later and instant cricket, the format which now dominates the game, was here to stay.

First-class and even Test cricket has never felt under greater threat since its inception. Yet more than 60,000 watched it at the Kia Oval last year, figures which have not been matched since the 1950s, which suggests there’s plenty of life in it yet.

By Richard Spiller