No 46, Apr 20 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🔴 Strauss Review nonsense 🟠 Key appointment doubts 🟢 All the Champ previews ⚫️ Compton's stunning start 🟣 TalkSPORT's quality coverage 🟤 Surrey's excellent fan engagement 🟡 Syd Lawrence
The Cellophane is off the season, May is close, we are in full swing now. In this edition, I wanted to concentrate on the excellent Easter crowds, some great games, one nail-biting finish and many stunning performances with bat and ball. Alas, more ECB clouds (see below) took the shine off my sunny demeanour. I have said it before but county cricket almost feels like an underground organisation. A small band of believers in an ancient force fighting a resistance movement against a powerful and destructive presence.
Yeah OK, that’s hyperbole. I have yet to see Luke and Leia in the stands at Chelmsford. I think I saw Chewbecca’s much-scruffier cousin once but, alas, there is no conscience-struck Hans Solo returning to help Young Master Skywalker blast a cricketing Death Star to smithereens.
More seriously, there is clearly a stark contrast in the beliefs and values of those who currently spend their time and money on the game and those who run it.
Given the major changes in the wind, I am starting to feel the game I love will soon be beyond the point of no return. But what can we do? Well, there is this, see above tweet. I read somewhere that Lancashire fans have done the same. I’ll look into this process in the coming weeks and report back. Also I urge you to join the Cricket Supporters Association.
Until then enjoy the cricket… while you can.
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County Previews
Click on each team name for a different preview.
Durham vs Nottinghamshire
Kent vs Hampshire
Worcestershire vs Sussex
Leicestershire vs Derbyshire
Glamorgan vs Middlesex
Warwickshire vs Essex
Surrey vs Somerset
Lancashire vs Gloucestershire
Northamptonshire vs Yorkshire
Kemar Roach's Surrey stint cut short by hamstring injury (Cricketer)
Shah injury update (Gloucestershire)
Sam Curran back bowling in Surrey 2s (Cricketer)
Signing: Karunaratne (Yorkshire), Stewart (Sussex)
Warwickshire lead Saqib Mahmood chase as England bowler returns (Guardian)
Reflections on last week’s games
Ben Compton scores twin tons in extraordinary losing cause for Kent (Cricinfo)
The Scorer: Double-hundred feast, twin feats and Ben Compton’s mammoth effort (Times) ($)
County cricket talking points: batters shine in sun-kissed Easter matches (Guardian)
Craig Overton A force of Nature - Essex Championship Day 3 (Grockles)
April the kindest month as county batters pile up the centuries (Guardian)
News, Views and Interviews
Josh Bohannon primed for England chance after Caribbean false dawn (Cricinfo)
The stories around Bohannon clearly suggest he is the next ‘cab off the rank’ for England. But then again why do we need a ‘next cab’? Or at least a new one. It almost assumes that players who were given their chance and failed can not go away and improve. Dom Sibley turned down a Lions tour to do just that over the winter and James Bracey ($) says he feels better equipped for Test duty now. Arguably, the pivotal factor behind these two players (one with an unfashionable style, another from an unfashionable county) getting selected in the first place was sheer weight of runs in the Championship. Why should that not count now?
Syd Lawrence had a very different bowling action and he intends to be a very different president of Gloucestershire.
"I don't want them all to be 70 with beige suits on. We want to see new people and that's what I'm about. I wouldn't have taken the job if I couldn't be who I am."
Practical umpiring: on not second-guessing players' reactions (The Cricket Umpire)
Matt Parkinson: County cricket's 'attitude problem' is failing young spinners (Cricinfo)
Parkinson has a point. I heard recently that there are NO full-time specialist spin coaches in county cricket, just a few experience heads contracted for days here and there. Yet we blame the schedule and the pitches.
Fun factor is the ambition for new Staffordshire signing Riki Wessels (Stoke Sentinel)
If you have ever read The Secret Footballer or The Secret Cricketer then you will know that ‘love and enjoyment’ might be reasons for starting to play a sport but, when it becomes your profession, those feelings can quickly dissipate.
See this quote from Riki Wessels, who has just signed for Staffordshire after a long pro career. “I won’t be getting any abuse from a fan who might question my shot selection. I am playing cricket for the sheer enjoyment and that’s something I’ve not had for a long time.”
A sad indictment on something we all dreamt of doing.
Steve Elworthy interview: Visionary wants Surrey to be much more than just a cricket club (Standard)
Matt Fisher: "I just feel like a weight's been lifted from my shoulders" (Cricketer)
Dutch cricket coach Ryan Campbell in intensive care after heart attack (Dutchnews.NL)
The Cricketer teams up with talkSPORT to present national county cricket radio show (Cricketer)
The entry of talkSPORT into English cricket was disruptive. Some were unhappy about TMS losing its pre-eminent position as the soundtrack of our summer. However the newcomers have not proved to be a one-season wonder and, importantly, they have supported their coverage with high-quality, shoulder programming. Far from the fears of dumbing down or becoming tabloid radio, their podcasts recap and examine the county games in depth with proper journalists like Neil Manthorp and Jon Norman along with informed pundits like Steve Harmison. They are not following the low-brow BBC podcast model of chumminess, personalities and youth-appeal. This deal with The Cricketer only strengthens that move.
Rob Key’s remarkable rise is not just a case of a job for the boys (Guardian)
Rob Key named England's new managing director of men's cricket (Cricinfo)
Rob Key's in-tray: Four biggest tasks for new England managing director (Telegraph) ($)
Err... I am afraid it feels EXACTLY like 'jobs for the boys'. The top article suggests that Key's personality got him this role so he is clearly ‘the right type’. It may talk about an "estuary" accent but Key, though not from Strauss’ background, is another public school boy elevated to a role to which they are not really qualified. 'Outside thinking' is valuable but much less when the thinker has been steeped in the established tropes of the game and only been beyond its warm bosom for a few years.
As with belly-buttons, you want an obvious “innie” or an “outie”. Not something in-between.
From the reported candidates, Marcus North was the only one with the requisite qualifications and, as as a former Australian Test plying his trade on the county scene, has far greater depth of experience.
Strauss is painted as a reformer. I have my doubts. For me, he's just in a mutually-supportive relationship with the suits. This is both the reason he gets appointed and precisely the reason why he should not be.
It is important to extract the player from the person, particular in cricket where stars so often turn into executives and administrators. As an Essex fan, I did not care for Key, the grumpy batsman. However I like Key the common-sense commentator and, certainly, affability helps in management roles in almost every industry. But this seems a very strange appointment at a time when a litany of previous mistakes has left English cricket with no room for a false move. A solid five-year rebuild from a pair of safe, unfussy, experienced, diplomatic hands seems right to me. A collaborative, consensus-finding figure who has evolved another sport yet has a feel for the grassroots of the game and its supporters. But if you are going for an “outie” as a leader then you must ensure a couple of “innies” occupy key supporting roles.
I would have loved the ECB to have communicated its criteria for this role beforehand, on the back of it, their rationale for making this appointment. However, I do not expect transparency these days, just PR, obfuscation and then self-justification. Then a review and a sharp turn in a different direction after it goes wrong.
So much in modern English cricket seems to be made up on the fly and post-rationalised. But then there is no fast fix for a sport that has been crumbling for a generation.
From my sofa, I sense there were few options and this is the best of an unqualified bunch. So we are left hoping a ‘nice guy’ with minimal management experience can somehow move the needle.
Sincerely, I hope I am wrong but good luck, Rob Key.
Oh and one personality-based appointment led to Pietersen throwing his hat in the ring… unasked… via social media.
Fortunately, former Derbyshire bowler Kevin Dean lives in the real world.
I do worry, dear reader, that I am repeating myself over the omnishambles that is the ECB. Honestly, I try to ensure that my focus is different each week, or at least slanted at an alternative angle
But then… like clockwork…just before my deadline… another grenade of ridiculous piffle is dropped.
And that Strauss’ review is the super leaky isn’t it? The Mail seems to be able to report their every thought. Maybe their reporters are fantastic, have ESP or perhaps it is in the interests of the review to fly a few kites. This allows the controversial elements an unofficial early airing to a) see how they land so some can be cut while claiming ‘it was paper talk, we were never doing that’ or b) allow the idea to percolate in the open to soften it edges.
Shock horror! They allow a possible cut in counties to go public.
Blimey O’Reilly! It slipped out that we could have a Super League of 12.
Whoops! We darn well let it be known we might cut the number of games.
Now, bless my cotton socks, it’s out there that we may introduce an overall county cricket champion, calculating the No 1 team across all formats.
OK, let me try to dissect this calmly.
IT’S TOTAL AND UTTER RUBBISH!!!!!!!
Whoops, seems like I let something get out early myself there.
The first question is why. Why do we need this? In the Premier League, all the clubs play in three competitions of varying stature. The best ones also feature in a European competition and, in the past, some have been able to switch events mid-season depending on success.
History, meaning and context is crucial here. Leagues are better than cups because the element of luck is reduced. Events with a longer history have a greater reputation.
This is why the Championship is considered the greatest prize in county cricket even though it is often secured in front of a few thousand under slate-grey September skies and the Blast, won on a balmy summer night in front of 25,000, is not.
As the Bob Willis Trophy proved, having a Championship finale just does not work because the weather will ruin the spectacle 90 per cent of the time. The early September dew skewed the Gillette Cup/NatWest Trophy back in the day.
So sporting integrity (and indeed nearly every other sport) suggests leaving well alone here and, of course, this is not broken anyway. But let’s entertain the idea.
If you win the Blast and the 50-over but are mid-table in the Championship then you could still be considered ‘county champions’. But what if you are hammered in both finals and come second in the red-ball table. You lost everything but you may well be champions. There is no integrity in that.
Implicit in this scheme is a return to three conferences. My preference is two divisions as, despite its early intrigue and capacity to produce excellent title finishes, too many teams have nothing to play for in the latter stages of the three tier system. Strauss’ innovation would actually alleviate this problem but only in a lame, contrived way.
However the real issue is encapsulated in this line in the piece.
“The [tournament-that-shall-not-be-named] would be unaffected as it is a separate entity featuring eight different, city-based teams.”
If you talk of too much cricket as well as a lack of money and profile for the county game then cut the loss-making (when you include the £24m, £1.3m per county, payment that, shock horror, is not included in the accounts and therefore allows the ECB to PR it as profitable) event you just introduced and rebuild resilience into the bedrock of the game.
But they won’t. The suits have cricket buttoned up.
So, because it has existed for a year, we must now cut our cloth to the size of this ghastly event.
Dusting down the sleeves of the sport or straightening its tie will not make any cricket season appear better dressed.
If the game I love has really and truly gone out of fashion then, frankly, I’m out.
Tweets of the Week
There were 4,000 in attendance at The Oval on Good Friday apparently and this tweet was just marvellous. Coincidentally, the Women’s FA Cup semi-final took place over the same weekend. Chelsea beat Arsenal at Boreham Wood FC which, we were told on the live coverage on BBC2, was “a 4,000 sell-out”.
This is no slight on women’s football or women’s sport. I have been a long-term supporter. And you must bear in mind the different demographics to which these appeal and their relative ‘market value’. I am pointing out the difference in perception - one sport seen as growing, the other declining - as well as the agendas that serve to create this impression.
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