No 120, Apr 26 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🟢 Big votes coming up 🔴 What happened to Ole Mortensen? 🟣 Round 4 previews 🟤 Middlesex moving... then staying 🔵 Surrey break Championship attendance record 🟠 Essex facing double sanction
Mike Atherton’s was the most important article of the week. In an even-handed manner, he articulated the pivotal decisions the game will be making in the near future.
I have said it all before but this will be critical to my interest in cricket going forward.
It is quite remarkable how, without any deliberate intention, I have blotted out the IPL entirely since the County Championship started. Honestly, I have not got a clue what is going on. Clearly, the IPL is world cricket’s major annual event. I appreciate it and will happily catch games if they are on but, frankly, I am quite busy right now. It has passed me by and I have no desire to actively seek it out. However, if there is an Essex game on YouTube or a key moment elsewhere in a red-ball match I just have to be watching. When we are playing a Chelmsford I try to bunk off carve out time in order to be there in person.
Similarly to the IPL, the games in the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named are utterly meaningless to me. Alternative entertainment is just a channel flip away and sport without meaning is boring and pointless.
I worked within Premier League football when the money really started to pour in. It was great for a while but then it seemed that monetisation was the only goal. You either got on the bus or were left behind. So I quit my “perfect job” at the club my family had obsessed over for generations and halved my salary to move abroad because, frankly, our values did not align anymore. I have never felt a tinge of regret.
The upcoming decisions outlined by Atherton feel like tectonic plates shifting the ground beneath the feet of traditional cricket supporters.
There is validity in the argument that for decades the game has not responded to nudging and prodding to move forward so it has had to be punched squarely in the face.
And, suddenly, partly through desperation, partly through desire, counties are starting to think differently. Just look at the moves and ground developments being discussed.
At the risk of again raising the wrath of those who want this newsletter to be politics-free (honestly, just unsubscribe and never read again), I see the parallels between the state of the UK and its greatest sport.
Tales have been spun to create a situation where inequality is encouraged and then entrenched. The musical chairs played by the powerful means dancing to a tune only they know so it is no wonder those below are left as the odd ones out. But they are still told that ‘hey, if you work hard enough…”
This is not to say cricket does not need more money and rapid change. Quite the opposite. The Premier League achieved this and it is a global phenomenon. The stadiums are great, the play is great, the hype is great. But the fan must pay for everything – tickets, merchandise and various television subscriptions.
Big clubs are now putting the squeeze on teams below AND season ticket holders, their most loyal supporters, by raising prices and punishing no-shows because they know tourist or one-off fans are worth more. Most damning of all, the average ticket-buyer in the English top-flight is now 42-years-old. The young cannot afford to go. That is what happens when you step on the treadmill of paying top dollar to a huge swathe of players, not just the crème de la crème, you end up sprinting just to stand still. You will always be arguing over money because, in order to keep the revenue flowing those who attract the most will want the biggest cut. That is why, after creating stark divisions in inequality, the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named will eventually kill off the county game once they have built an environment in which it can be jettisoned. (By way of balance, here’s the alternative view from Barry Hearn who, like Atherton, commands respect in their field).
For me, rising inequality in sport is just a reflection of rising inequality in UK society. This is why, whether it is the ECB, the Premier League or the government, we should look at the distribution of any revenue as much as the amount.
It has been estimated that the pandemic saw perhaps the greatest transference of wealth in human history. Certainly, the number of UK billionaires grew by 20 per cent
There is enough money but it is not shared. The culture has made us uncaring, selfish and mean. We are being persuaded to watch on passively as our greatest institutions, the NHS and the BBC, are being dismantled. Growth is critical and the market drives innovation but it should not be allowed free reign to manage critical public assets. Take a swim in your local river if you disagree.
I have spent the week in Denmark at a sports business conference. It was an eye opener - clean, good transport, few empty shops, no potholes. Higher tax rates are accepted because they provide brilliant public services and, the biggest surprise, prices felt cheaper than in the UK. My host, a humble university lecturer who was paid to do his PhD, owned a large house in the suburbs of a major city and a beach house at one of the countri’s nicest resorts. Europe’s middle class is now significantly richer than ours. This affects our attitudes and, most importantly, our aspirations. I am currently teaching Masters students who know they are unlikely to ever own a property so why bust your ass working on a career? Just have some fun.
In Denmark, there is a vibrant culture of health and fitness inspired by the state. There is a huge network of volunteering based on the concept of social good.
In contrast, one club cricket chair told me last year that a lack of volunteers is hampering the current standard and potential growth. Incredibly, many ‘volunteers’ wanted to be paid.
This should be no surprise, the major architect of this situation famously said there is no such thing as society. Other leaders are now saying only the stupid pay tax.
Frankly, I do not know how to solve this without major cultural change but with media increasingly owned or overtly influenced by the powerful that is near impossible. You can always vote for it at the ballot box and, in a cricketing sense talk to your county in a constructive way.
And, of course, all this begs another question…
I wonder what Ole Mortensen is doing now.
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County Championship - Round 4 previews
Click on each team for a different preview
Durham vs Essex
Surrey vs Hampshire
Warwickshire vs Nottinghamshire
Worcestershire vs Somerset
Gloucestershire vs Middlesex
Leicestershire vs Northamptonshire
Yorkshire vs Derbyshire
Player news - contracts, moves
Moves: Jamal (Warwickshire - overseas - up to end of Blast group), Duke (Yorkshire to Essex - loan)
Peter Siddle signs for Durham as Scott Boland succumbs to heel injury | ESPNcricinfo
Xavier Bartlett confirmed as a Kent Spitfire for first eight T20 matches of 2024 | Kent Cricket
County cricket ins and outs 2024: Signings, transfers, squad updates | The Cricketer
Week 3 Review
County cricket: Essex and Surrey look like the teams to beat again | Cricket | The Guardian
Essex Lay Down Early Marker in Championship Race | Playfair
Fletcha Middleton's maiden Championship hundred enlivens impending stalemate
Cheteshwar Pujara digs deepest as Sussex victory hints at brighter times to come
Surrey kick start title defence as rain frustrates | The Cricketer
And on the Third Day" Farmer comments on Day 3 of Notts CC1 | Grockles
Sadler believes Northants' squad competition is paying dividends | Northampton Chronicle
Essex on tenterhooks over multiple points deductions | The Cricketer
I have said it before, Essex MUST get a points deduction for the racism outlined in the Newton Report. A fine does not cut it for me. A message needs to be sent out.
Yorkshire’s punishment was high but, fine aside, not that damaging. They had gone down on their own and had little chance of going up when the 48 points were deducted. Hitting them in tournaments already completed undermined the process entirely.
Of course, I am open to bias here but, after a poor start, Essex have handled their racism allegations much better than Yorkshire and, since then, have moved forward not gone back. Given their start to the season, any deduction could be the difference between the title race. We lost one to Worcestershire in 1989 because of a high-controversial punishment for a sub-standard pitch. Despite all the talk, we are the only county to do so.
News Views and Interviews
Well, this was all a bit of a mess with Middlesex quickly backtracking on quotes suggesting they might move.
Warwickshire make scourge of Australia second overseas signing | The Cricketer
Four new names enter Lancashire Cricket's Hall of Fame | Lancashire Cricket Club
Durham chief insists issues with the ECB are in the past - Yahoo Sport
Interesting quotes given that the ECB stressed that Yorkshire’s failure to get a Tier 1 women’s team straight away was not linked to their previous misdemeanours.
Implicit in Bostock’s words is that the grace and favour of the ECB CAN be affected by a county’s conduct. It is something that we always knew but the feeling is that, at times, those who support the governing body’s aims are more likely to be patronised.
Flintoffs are tip of the iceberg as the sons of England's 2005 heroes make their mark | Telegraph
Charity walk celebrates The Cloud County Ground overtaking Leyton | Essex CCC
Huge LED scoreboard part of Edgbaston's digital upgrade - Edgbaston
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On the latest Wisden podcast Phil Walker said that the Khushi bat width incident is unlikely to result in a points deduction for Essex as it passed through another gauge off the field, so the matter is closed?
Just posting to say thank you for another interesting & challenging newsletter. On the political points, I suspect you and I would agree on why much of this is happening/what's likely to happen next, even if we come from different parts of the political spectrum - but please keep on commenting, it's part of what makes the newsletter interesting!