No 68, Sept 22 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🟢 Finally, Strauss Review lands at counties' door 🟣 Why it should be voted down 🔴 Children's access > media rights 🟡 'Why do counties exist?' 🟤 New membership options 🔵 Championship final rounds
This is the time that worries me the most.
The Andrew Strauss High-Performance Review has reached the counties. Here it is.
The whole process is hamstrung by what it omits (see below) and the fact it will be executed by a body whose effectiveness, trustworthiness and overall goals have come under heavy criticism in recent years. New ECB chair Richard Thompson is taking an axe to staffing levels and has been diplomatic yet barbed in his analysis of the organisation he has taken over. What does that tell you?
As I argue below, the last time the counties went with an ECB proposal we got the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named. Look how that has turned out. And if there is doubt over the future of the £1.3m annual payment, reported at the time as a sweetener in perpetuity, then it should reveal everything about how the organisation did business back then.
That is why this quiet time worries me so greatly. It is when the discussions take place, the pressure is exerted, the horse-trading occurs and the deals will be struck. Most counties have consulted their members so now it is down to the CEOs and chairs to follow through or follow their own path.
I would suggest they tread very carefully. Members have been increasingly disenfranchised over the past few decades and I get the feeling some areas of the game would like to get rid of them entirely as they do not really matter, financially, strategically and emotionally. They might well get their wish.
Sadly, I missed the last Essex game of the season so my campaign is over. In the next few months, I'll get contacted about renewing my membership. In the midst of the greatest cost of living crisis in a century, I will have the opportunity to decide to continue my connection with the county game or, to a significant extent, sever it.
Like many others, I have already done this with football - too much nonsense, too much money from me, too much money to them but, most of all, too little soul. Now, I am a largely disinterested observer, wondering about the money I am wasting on unwatched Sky games.
Whatever is hammered out in the boardrooms over the next few weeks, the ultimate decision is an individual one for members. Many of us are thinking very carefully.
Because, if the game does not want us then why should we stay?
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Players’ news, moves and contracts
Signings: Sale (Northamptonshire - 2yr), Dickson (Somerset)
Loans: Benjamin (Durham - loan), McKerr (Kent - loan)
Released: Carey, Smith, J Cooke, Weighell, Cullen (All Glamorgan - released)
Matthew Waite: All-rounder joins Worcestershire early from Yorkshire (BBC Sport)
Cameron Jeffers relishing trial opportunity at Worcestershire (Royal Gazette)
Darren Stevens: Kent all-rounder considering next move after One-Day Cup final victory (BBC)
Leicestershire and Glamorgan have been floated as possible destinations for a player-coach role.
An Open Letter from Max Waller (Somerset CCC)
Steve Harmison joins Durham as coaching mentor for remainder of season (Cricketer)
Campaign to Save County Cricket
Plan for six-club top division as part of overhaul of county game (Times) ($)
County Championship games could be reduced under ECB plans (BBC Sport)
OK, so this is the county part of the Strauss Report, is it?
Listening to the commentators on the Championship games earlier this week, even they did not know if this was really it. Turns out the proposals had come out in the media on Tuesday. The official document arrived on Thursday morning. There have been so many contradictory stories that, as with you-know-what, the ECB have utterly lost the PR battle over its introduction. Either it has been a very leaky process or the journalists on this beat have excelled as we have known so many of the options that have been on the table. Of course, an idea 'floated' in a think tank makes eye-catching if speculative copy and we seemed to have had a fair deal of nonsense proposed. Strauss has expressed displeasure over some of the stories coming out but, having been one, sports journalists do not make up stories out of thin air. They may add top spin but there is always a kernel of truth at the heart.
As for the proposals, the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named is not affected and has been set in stone until 2028, not because it hit a target or met clear criteria but because the ECB have decided it should continue, signed a unilateral deal with Sky to ensure that and done everything in their power to make it appear successful when huge doubts have clouded the whole idea from the start.
Therefore, the Strauss Review is invalid.
It can only ever nibble around the edge of the problem. But, for the sake of argument, let's deal with these nibbles.
Effectively, this is reducing the Championship to 10 games per county. The playoff games will allow them to say “up to 11” or whatever but that is PR puff. The vast majority will play 10 and, as the Bob Willis Trophy proved, playoffs provide a highly unsatisfactory conclusion under slate-grey September skies. Reducing the number of Championship games is the main point the members have protested over and many have indicated it will lead to them giving up their annual joining fee.
The arrangement of two divisions feeding into one Premier League may reduce the among of dead rubbers in comparison to three conferences but, for me, still provides less interest than two divisions. With one relegation place in a six-team top-flight, there is little jeopardy for the big teams (whose franchises in you-know-what will ensure they get richer) and little hope for the smaller ones.
The review positions the 50-over competition in the early season, where it has been before, but that has been an accidental positive of you-know-what parking its tanks in the middle of August. And it is a knockout, not a group competition, so it may be one game only. Reducing the Blast from 14 to 10 games, of course, reduces cricket but will be the most important financial cut of all for the counties.
A regional red-ball competition in August is a total nonsense. It is a sop to keep certain Test players in nick which will act as glorified friendlies and have little interest to anyone.
As you can see, I am struggling to find much to like. It is all about reducing the amount of cricket being played (home games in all competitions might be reduced by 33 per cent) but many non-elite pros will be without meaningful cricket in April and August.
I could go on but there is no point because, even under new chair Richard Thompson, the ECB have yet to prove they really care about the county game and are a long way from winning back trust. If they are not prepared to allow the future of the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named to be discussed then we must assume they are only interested in changing the game ‘their’ way. And many fans doubt their motives, especially as, according to George Dobell's piece, there has been no clarification over whether the £1.3m payment will be sustained. That would be the ultimate ‘bait and switch’ in which the counties have signed away their long-term future for short-term money. But the ECB’s trickery has been evident in recent months with the Sky deal until 2028. There was no fanfare, no discussion, no free-to-air element and, according to the last members’ meeting I attended, was presented to the counties as a fait accompli.
The con is continuing and, until it stops, we should vote against their proposals.
The last time counties went with the ECB we got you-know-what.
And nothing has done more to destroy county cricket.
My England Men’s High Performance Review (Being Outside Cricket)
Here’s a very thorough, alternative view.
Cricket faces up to its greatest dilemma: Why do counties exist? (Telegraph) ($)
Now, this is a question that should have been answered effectively before anything like you-know-what was ever introduced.
If you can't get some element of broad agreement on this then any changes you make will only cause greater division and disharmony. Because the settings of the fly-wheel are faulty, it works against you, compounding error upon error.
This is, of course, exactly what is happening.
The piece talks about player pathways and England but, as ever, largely skips over developing the Championship as a viable and valuable competition in its own right and, when discussing community, it concentrates on what counties can take in terms of talent rather than what it can give back in a social context.
As I wrote last week, the problem about the High-Performance Review is that it is all about High-Performance.
And, as one person wrote in the comments below this piece: “A better question is what is the ECB for?"
News, Views and Interviews
Kent’s Royal London Cup win was a great 50-over showcase (Guardian)
Ball-tracking technology could be used to improve county pitches (Telegraph) ($)
Folly of ‘serious’ cricket in late September exposed by 26 wickets in a day (Telegraph) ($)
Ball-tracking would be welcome as it would add an element of subjectivity to the issues of sub-standard pitches, which is always wrapped up in emotion, whataboutery and downright bias.
In the past few years, I have put much of the criticism of the Essex strip in these brackets. My biases are clear for all to see but, likewise, many otherwise sensible observers have gone down in my estimations. However, despite Simon Heffer's column, there were very few mitigating factors at Chelmsford this week. It was not an acceptable pitch for first-class cricket.
Revealed: How private schools dominate English sport (Telegraph) ($)
Angus Fraser - Lord's shouldn't just be for public schoolboys (Times) ($)
And then there’s this…
MCC accused of 'trampling over Lord's traditions' amid Eton vs Harrow rebellion (Telegraph) ($)
There is so much wrong in the game but this is what they want to rebel about.
Here’s a trio of stories from the Mail. Not sure I should be including them to be honest. I have stopped sharing the Telegraph on this topic. But at least they are a mass market paper still covering this important story. But do yourself a favour and skip the comments.
Personally, I believe the ECB investigation should be held in public.
✔️ £60k on prep for the DCMS committee on racism and then they were 'shut down' from delivering their ‘opening address’ and performed incompetently. You can’t PR your way out of failing to address racism
✔️ £1m on racism-related probes (£500k on a law team & Cricket Discipline Comm)
✔️ £2.1m bonus pot for execs
And, at the same time, 62 redundancies
Clear the decks. Mr Thompson
Cricket: children are the key to the future of the game, not broadcast rights (Conversation)
The Conversation is excellent. It is academic work written in the style of modern journalism. The value of the research is that it is supported with evidence and, generally, put forward with less bias, while unlike much of academia, it is accessible. The result is ideas and arguments you can trust much more.
Dominic Malcolm argues that getting children playing the sport is key to the future of the game more than maximizing media rights. Anyone who has heard the shrill hubbub of kids playing on the outfield during the break in a Royal London Cup tie will realise this. The suits will say media rights fund successful teams and outreach schemes, it is these that grow the game.
But like trickle-down economics, it is a theory based on storing money with those in power then trusting them to pass down significant amounts to the less powerful.
As the growing inequality in the UK and the bonus structure, growing wage bill and marketing team at the ECB demonstrate, it is a false notion used as a disguise for the concentration of resources among the few, rather than distributing them to the many.
LV= Insurance Pride of Cricket Awards 2022 shortlists announced (Cricketer)
Notts View - new county cricket members group
Football tacticians bowled over by quick-fix data risk being knocked for six (Guardian)
It is pleasing to see counties - Lancashire, Gloucestershire and Somerset - offering different options of membership. I like Lancashire's Taster (two games) and Standard (five games).
But why are they rolling in access to the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named franchise as a benefit at Old Trafford?
When it is was introduced we were told they were entirely separate.
So that was a lie then.
Finally, here’s an idea I had for marketing the Royal London Cup. Use county cricket’s history and play it all the retro shirts. Revive a different set each year. Knock them out cheap and create a benefit to buying them. This is amalgamating the Beige Brigade and the NHL Outdoor game.
Classifieds
Join the Cricket Supporters Association, it’s free
County Cricket Matters - Buy the magazine direct or on Kindle
98 Not Out - Weekly Cricket radio show and podcast
Guerilla Cricket - irreverant, online commentary and jingles all the way
Finally, yes, I am still plugging my book on county cricket and midlife.
Buy through Amazon or through me for an autographed copy
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