No 63, Aug 17 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🟠'Over my dead body' CEO on cutting counties 🔴The schedule is a pretzel or a Rubik's cube 🟢Hildreth retires early 🔵Thompson's in-tray 🟣Yorkshire racism 'scandal' not 'row' 🟤My Faustian bargain
“Can I have some money, Dad? I am going into London.”
“OK, where are you going?”
“My mates have got some tickets to a cricket match.”
Given my long-running attempts to get my 15-year-old son interested in the game, it was a moment of elation.
But then…
“Sooooo… where is this game?”
“Err… not sure. South of the river somewhere.”
I looked it up. As expected, it was the Wotsits v the Cheesy Puffs (or some such nonsense) at The Oval in the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named.
Had The Cricket Paper been running this season (fingers crossed for next year) I would have written about this already. I have taken my kids to numerous Blast and 50-over games at Chelmsford in their earlier years but the game has not stuck. In hope, I have got them junior memberships and yet they have never taken up offers to come with me. When my son turned down a hard-to-get ticket to a sold-out Lords for the visit of Essex at the start of the Blast in 2019, I put the issue on the backburner. My daughter has shown interest in scoring and that remains a possible way in. But, in truth, they just get bored.
So, in my column, I was going to ask myself the question - would I embrace the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named if it got my kids interested in cricket?
For me, this is a Faustian bargain.
Often I do not really know my position on key matters until I write them down. The process allows me to collect, order and, most importantly, prioritise my thoughts. I was going to do that in the pages of The Cricket Paper before it was shelved earlier this season.
But my hot-take is, no, I would not embrace it. Maybe I could just about tolerate it with a view to a greater goal but it would need to pay-off quickly. Trying to put aside my own weighty prejudices, it is because you-know-what’s success will mortally wound the structure of the game in the UK. Any ‘benefit’ would be short-term and, as teenagers, that is exactly the mindset I am pushing against.
If they loved it then joined a club to play and excelled in the way they have in other sports then where do they end up? Join a county system left even more impoverished and irrelevant through lack of support? Or pay through the nose to get to the front of the queue? Franchises do not serve this need.
As a supporter, they would be investing time in an organisation appearing and disappearing annually like some sort of cricketing Brigadoon, not the 24/7/365, bricks-and-mortar of a club. It all feels like a financial transaction or just another night out, not an emotional investment.
Supporting a team is a lesson in hope and belief in the long-term. There is history to understand, heroes to admire and values to support. Things every sporting parent wants their kids to learn.
I took the opportunity to explore his views the next day. The transcript of my ‘interview’ is at the bottom of this newsletter.
Despite all my reservations, I have to accept that the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named did something I could not - get him to watch a live game of his own volition. OK, it might have been the marketing, price, overblown BBC self-promotion and, most importantly of all, peer-group interest but he went. That is more than I could get him to do. If he wants to go again, I’d take him under sufferance but try to push him towards the Blast. Yet the schedule around you-know-what makes that pretty much impossible.
My contention remains that tempting him back could have been achieved via a county-based Blast if the will was there. But, I admit, that assumes a lot. Yet, in so much of sport, the real will comes from family. The best marketers in sport are parents and grandparents because so many of us follow certain games and certain teams purely because of them. Thus far, I have failed at cricket but my son and daughter both play football and follow my team.
That is why the divisiveness of the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named is as damaging as the system it supports.
As it was, my son’s post-match text - “Yh, it was act[ually] quite good” - gives me something to work with.
But, if it had followed an Essex game, I might have been a little bit emotional.
* See our chat at the end of the newsletter.
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Players - moves, contracts, departures and retirements
Moves and contracts: De Lange (Gloucestershire - 3yrs, domestic player), Toole (Essex - RLCup), McKiernan (Derbyshire - 1yr), Finch (Kent - RLCup), Albert (Hamsphire - 2yrs), Potts (Durham - 2yrs)
Ian Cockbain: Batter to leave Gloucestershire after 12 years (BBC Sport)
Another key player leaves Gloucestershire after Howell and Higgins. De Lange is a massive capture but there still needs to be major surgery at Bristol.
James Hildreth: Somerset batter to retire after 20 years with club (BBC Sport)
Then a couple of days after this announcement…
He’s been a smashing player and excellent county servant. The fans will get a chance to say goodbye before the game with Sussex on Friday.
But sport ain’t fair sometimes.
The Emperor announces his Retirement (Grockles)
OK so, firstly, Stevens’ career is not over yet. Barring this season, his averages would seem worthy of someone giving him another year. Leicestershire have been mentioned.
Stevens is feted by county fans for his hardy-perrenial potency with bat and ball. But, at the same time, he is a lightning rod for those who seek to denigrate county cricket. They argue that if this balding fortysomething is still hitting sixes and gleaning edges with his swing then what does it say about the standard in the Shires?
For me, this misses the point. Stevens barely bowled at the start of his career. He has developed multiple skills and evolved into a highly-effective all-rounder within the realm of county cricket.
How many players have shone brightly as youngsters, snatched some sort of early international recognition and then faded badly, even leaving the game early?
Stevens is an old dog who learnt new tricks, a perverse symbol of change and the consistency required to excel in the long term, albeit at a lower standard. If that was easy to do then more people would have done it. He is an outlier and therefore worthy of respect.
Hildreth, Patterson & Stevens. Thank you. (Full Toss)
Darren Stevens ‘looking forward to the ‘next chapter’ as his Kent innings ends (Independent)
County Cricket’s Existential Crisis
I did a podcast with the Guerilla Cricket chaps last week. There was a long agenda but the to-do list of new ECB chair Richard Thompson took up most of the time. It shows the shambles we are in now.
But just look at the stream of stories below.
There is anger and division everywhere. So much energy is being wasted fighting each other that there is little left to solve the crucial issues at hand. I say it a lot but this all reminds me of the political landscape in this country right now.
‘Choose your tribe’ and then take on their collective opinion even if it flies in the face of all good sense.
In both areas, vested interests are so cleverly packaged as the public good that few can tell the difference. And all the noise only serves to muffle our thinking.
The most straightforward (but hardest and longest to implement) solution is to abolish the ECB and, in conjunction with an independent regulator, create a different body with clear values, principles and goals against which they can be held to account.
I got the issue of an independent regulator on the desk of the Culture Secretary this year. It would be a full-time job just to lobby for this, let alone bring it to fruition.
Richard Thompson’s in-tray: key tasks for ECB chair with cricket in turmoil (Guardian)
“…anger remains, with English cricket having twisted itself into a pretzel for a tournament that was supposed to promote the entire sport. The previously thriving T20 Blast has been squeezed, the Royal London Cup devalued and the County Championship still a predominantly spring/autumn endeavour; any new converts via the Hundred find themselves walking into a bitter, unresolved argument.”
What Richard Thompson can do for English cricket (The Spectator)
Virtual Members forum to discuss future of the game (Somerset CCC)
County fans fight against plan for fewer games (LondonOnline)
The Hundred didn’t ‘produce’ Will Smeed – the traditional, county-led system did (Times) ($)
The Goose That Lays The Golden Eggs (Being Outside Cricket)
Death by T20 leagues? It's real, it's coming (Cricinfo)
Cricket culture war sparked by The Hundred threatens to overshadow summer game (Metro)
An emotive piece by Derek Pringle. Here’s another ex-pro of a similar vintage who has put his head above the parapet.
A plea to TV commentators – turn off the gush (Telegraph) ($)
How MCC failed cricket (Telegraph) ($)
Should I continue to be a member next season? (Middlesex Till I Die)
This is the key question for so many of us.
The Royal is upon us... A Good or Dangerous future? (Grockles)
Cricket is about to reach tipping point with power grab of alternative season (Guardian)
‘A big Rubik’s Cube’: Strauss believes Test and T20 cricket can sit together (Guardian)
I entirely agree. It is the new, extra, ring-fenced tournament we don't need. We were told that was different to T20 and not for existing fans.
So either this is another faux pas lumping the 20-over and the 16.4-over version in the same bracket. Or it was only the marketing BS telling us it was any different in the first place. I am going with the latter.
Here’s what you can do…
News, Views and Interviews
County cricket: Middlesex and Hampshire set pace in One-Day Cup
Matthew Potts' "amazing" start to his England career is a "testament to the county game" (Mirror)
Adam Lyth suspended from bowling in ECB competitions (Cricinfo)
Dal opens up on mental health issues last season (Derbyshire Live)
These are emotional and open words from Dal, who is having a fine season this year. In seasons gone by, he might have been less forthcoming for fear of appearing weak. It also shows the value of belonging to a union.
From Kabul to the crease: the London cricket club bowled over by Afghan refugees (The National)
Glamorgan return to Neath (Glamorgan CCC)
Like some observers (see last week’s newsletter), I am concerned that the stance of the local paper has not been sufficiently questioning of Yorkshire CCC regarding the racism ‘scandal’, not ‘row’ as their reporting suggests.
The headline in the Part 2 story, below, does not help either. I have not immersed myself in this story but, for the record, I do believe Azeem Rafiq’s conduct was wrong in key areas. However, the issue of racism in cricket is far too important to be undermined by ‘whataboutery’.
Prioritisation to the detriment of worthy others is one of the hardest thing a society can do. As a journalist, you are taught to ask questions to undermine it. Sports leaders and politicians cannot answer by saying “yes, I know that this, that or the other is important but we believe this is more important so we are putting all our energy and resources here”. That is why you should always look at the actions not the words of our leaders to understand their values and priorities (see the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named and the NHS).
So often, ‘whataboutery’ is the rock you cling to when your argument is failing so you wish to deflect and divert. It tends to leave you in stasis and serves to support the status quo because, in the absence of a clearly beneficial course of action, you do nothing.
That is NOT what cricket needs over this crucial issue.
Yorkshire likely to admit to bringing game into disrepute after racism charge (Times) ($)
Azeem Rafiq asks ECB to hold Yorkshire racism hearings in public (Cricketer)
So here’s my chat with my 15-year-old son who went to The Oval last week. He went with four school-mates. One of their Dad’s paid £20 for all four tickets. Only he had seen a ‘proper’ cricket game before.
Did you like it?
Yes, it was entertaining. It was hard-hitting, more sixes and fours. That’s why it was better than the games you have taken me too. And it was not as long. In the end, cricket gets a bit tedious. We liked the men’s game, we left halfway through the women’s game as we were getting bored. It was very hot too.
What about the event - the fireworks, graphics, razzmattazz and the food etc?
I liked that. It made it interesting as cricket games are usually quiet and calm. Football is more exciting. But, actually, part of me liked the calm side of cricket until it becomes a bit tedious.
The food was good but it was really overpriced. There was a lot of beer being drunk too. The kits were not the best though.
Was the atmosphere different to the cricket you have seen at Essex?
There was not much difference. But there were quite a few families, more than I have seen at Essex before.
Would you be interested in seeing more games in the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named?
Yes but not double-headers because it gets boring. You have to sit through too many overs.
Do you remember any of the players?
I remember one of the women’s players had turned 18 that day. I don’t remember any of the men’s players.
Would it make you more interested in coming to Essex with me?
No.
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I notice that your son didn’t remember names of any of the 44 players that took part in the Hundred Balls Up exhibition games at The Oval, can he recall which ‘teams’ won?
Franchise sports may work in other countries, but in the UK most sports fans support a team in the part of the country they were brought up in (apart from Man Utd fans obviously!) and really couldn’t give a monkeys about watching a cabal of Harlem Globetrotters plying their trade in various global T20 ‘tournaments’ when it doesn’t really matter who wins.