No 76, Jan 1 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
John Major should run cricket's indep regulator | Gloucs buy WG's letters | Lyth action cleared | Too much “domestic white-ball franchise cricket” | Crowdfunding cricket journalism | Deals & contracts
WisdenWorld - our community cricket partner, helping to fund the grassroots game
Happy New Year and all that.
The season is getting closer. Until then, let’s just think of summer.
It’s cold outside… in every sense.
☕️ When I started this newsletter I made two promises, it will be free forever and your data will never be misused. If you like this newsletter (and you can afford it) please consider buying me a coffee via Ko-Fi or subscribe via Patreon. All coffee buyers are name-checked in the next edition.
Players, Signings and Contracts
Signings: Naveen-ul-Haq (Leicestershire - Blast), Bracewell (Worcestershire - Blast)
Contracts: Thompson (Yorkshire - 2yrs), Baker (Somerset - 2yrs), Allison (Essex - 2yrs), Pepper (Essex - 2yrs), Snater (Essex - 2yrs), Slater (Nottinghamshire - 3yrs), Compton (Kent - 1yr)
Adam Lyth cleared to bowl in county competitions after suspension lifted (Cricketer)
Pain of relegation persuaded Darren Gough to continue at Yorkshire CCC (Yorkshire Post)
Woakes shuns IPL for County Championship start (Warwickshire CCC)
News, Views and Interviews
This is great news. Now let’s get John Major to lead an independent regulator for cricket.
While I never voted for him, his type of governance seems so much more calm, competent and community-focused compared to what we have at No 10 these days. He is a real cricket fan, who famously went straight to The Oval after losing his leadership of the country. And, most importantly of all, his long-term vision paved the way for Team GB’s success at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Football needs a regulator because its leadership and club owners cannot be trusted to look after the sport as a whole. Money and profile have attracted high rollers. This has pushed the game forwards in terms of quality, revenue and profile but is it actually ‘better’ in any meaningful sense?
Of course, it depends on your definition.
In the end, the street protests against the European Super League achieved something unusual and really quite remarkable. It not only stopped the move in the short-term but subsequent measures such as the ‘Golden Share’ and extended fan representation were put in place to ensure it can not be easily revisited.
Cue the decision of the American owners at Manchester United and Liverpool to sell up. Despite everything they said, their involvement was financial-first and, with the ESL blocked, they are looking to ‘exit their investment’ at the top of the market.
With this in mind, I call bullshit on nearly every purely altruistic word spoken by those in power on the development of modern cricket. It is all about money and power and, if lip service is given to the more meaningful elements of the game, then I presume the real play is all about the bottom line. There is precious little done because it is ‘the right thing to do’.
While we do not have political leaders of the calibre of Major anymore, the same is true among our sports organisations. In cricket, we have moved from blazers to suits but they are all cut from the same cloth and no-one is truly batting for the fans.
Football’s independent regulator was recommended by a fan-led report (another thing cricket should instigate) on the back of the ESL debacle. Johnson’s populist government looked to introduce the body but Truss’s disasterous ultra-free-market administration would have shelved it if it had lasted longer than 44 days. That should tell you something in itself. Remember one Premier League CEO had called it “Maoist”. But it is back under Rishi Sunak.
His mate and my MP, Oliver Dowden, is back in government now. I wrote to him a couple of years ago and he put the issue of an independent cricket regulator on the desk of then Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries. (Those last four words only serve to reinforce my earlier point about the calibre of political leadership in this country).
I made my point and got a reply but I doubt an independent cricket regulator will ever happen. Intervening in football is a vote-winner, hence Johnson acted quickly, but not enough people care about cricket. Ironically, I’d argue its demise is strongly, but not wholly, linked with key decisions made by the ECB since they took over in 1997. And some by the government before that.
Like UEFA, cricket’s governing body are the prime regulator AND commercialiser of the sport, which is how they can create you-know-what and rig the season’s fixtures to create the best conditions for its success. The remnants of the ESL organisation recently took UEFA to court for abusing these powers. They lost. While UEFA were the good guys in this story, their dual role will come under greater threat as new competitions try to cross borders in the years to come. Of course, there is a global governing body for football but they are the last place sport looks for moral guidance.
A regulator for UK football is needed to manage governance, abuses of power and financial abundance. With cricket, it would concentrate on governance, stemming decline and the lack of money. But, above all that, it is our best method of moving the two key blocks to UK cricket’s progress - a lack of trust and agreed priorities.
The two Richards (Thompson and Gould) may prove to be different. But under Teflon Tom Harrison the ECB were an untrustworthy organisation (examples: response to Yorkshire racism scandal, method of the getting you-know-what through, bonuses, redundancies, Pakistan tour, other accusations of coercion). Only regular dates at the DCMS Select Committee, a government body, could ever call them to account. Harrison paid £60,000 to PR consultants to prepare for those and was not just incompetent but unforgivably evasive. Yet it seemed no-one could do anything to get him out. Eventually, the pressure told thanks to a constant stream of revealing stories from the likes of George Dobell and Ali Martin but he still banked a year’s salary as a bonus as he left and tried to get through a 10-year extension on the Sky TV deal to secure his legacy. The five-year contract he did achieve has shamefully locked in Thompson to Harrison’s agenda.
Secondly, there are priorities. Do we bin you-know-what, 50-over or red-ball cricket? Is county cricket merely about the international game? Are we bothering about issues of race, gender and class because we care or just for lip service? Do we want long-term reach or short-term revenue? Do we buckle under and accept the game belongs to India now? Are we prioritising people like my 15-year-old son (who spent £5 this season on one ticket to one game in you-know-what) over fiftysomething me (who probably spent £600-700 on membership/games/food/travel, subscribe to Sky and BT for the cricket coverage, tweets constantly and is 76 editions into this newsletter)?
There are always tensions about the path to sporting prosperity but, in English cricket, far too much energy is being spent arguing and not enough doing.
It is because the leadership of English cricket has been so poor and confidence sunk so low that we need an independent regulator to look after the game.
Because, as the last two decades have shown, it can’t be trusted to look after itself.
Yorkshire in county cricket first with 'build own membership' plan (Telegraph & Argus)
I like this from Yorkshire. The concept of membership needs to change, especially as the cost of living crisis will hit hard later this year.
Pricing in sports is very tricky as it is emotionally driven. Generally, fans consider on-pitch success as the only thing for which they should pay more. Yet they are reluctant to invest to get there or even shell out for a better fan experience to enjoy the journey. For major events, ticket prices are categorised by the importance of the event and experience (e.g. seat position, hospitality). Yet outside, the touts will use timed pricing. The cost will go down dramatically towards kick-off if they are likely to be left with tickets worth nothing in a few hours’ time.
Traditionally, membership has been an all-or-nothing bundle. Like Sky giving you hundreds of channels you never watched, a county gave you access to lots of cricket you knew you would never see.
Picking and choosing smaller packages has to be better for the customer. Even though the modelling might show counties are conceding some short-term revenue, surely it is more important to get new people through the gates and an £60 or £80 investment is much easier to sell than a £200 one. Most of the 'added value’ counties try to create is rubbish. Vouchers with too many provisos or conditions, access to events I will never attend. The only thing I did value was entry to other counties’ games but the benefit went long ago.
Still, I celebrated the start of 2023 by renewing my Essex membership for another year. I need to get to 11 or 12 Championship/50-over days to cover the £180 I spent and, as much as I’d like to go every day, life gets in the way of me spending any more than that at Chelmsford.
But if I did not buy a membership then it might end up going to only eight or 10 and the sense of ‘belonging’ is important to me.
As you grow older, it becomes harder to believe in anything. But, for my sins, I still believe in county cricket.
GCCC Heritage Trust Acquires Archive of Letters Written by WG Grace (Gloucestershire CCC)
These letters sound fascinating and a lasting legacy from former Gloucestershire chair Rex Body. As we all know, Grace was a highly-talented but rather greedy, rascal lacking in moral fibre. This piece says he cut ties with his county club to join the newly-created London County Cricket Club.
Hmm, so… a very well-known England player turns his back on the county that gave him so much and joins a new city-based franchise.
As they say, history does not repeat but it echoes.
Derbyshire to host Second XI open trials (Derbyshire CCC)
Is it unusual to have trials such as this? Or it is just more public than usual?
Anyway, it proved popular.
Over 3k children signed up for T20 Schools Offer (Glamorgan CCC)
ECB chairman Richard Thompson: There is too much domestic white-ball cricket (Times) ($)
“There is probably too much domestic white-ball franchise cricket — ultimately a broadcaster can keep putting money on the table but the national governing body at some point is going to say no. I think we’re now at that stage where governing bodies have got to say when we actually have too much and that is probably now.”
The headline talks about “white-ball domestic cricket” but the quote says “domestic white-ball franchise cricket”.
These are different definitions.
The only “domestic white-ball franchise cricket” we play is in the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named.
So does this mean Thompson is pushing back on the expansion of you-know-what and the power of Sky?
The two key recommendations of the Strauss Report regarding county cricket were binned by the new ECB regime and, instead, they talked of squeezing you-know-what from four weeks into three.
These quotes are not quite so strong but standing up to Sky is vital for the future of the sport. The coverage is great and the money has been absolutely critical but the exclusivity and power they have been allowed have not always served the sport.
Premier League football has grown rich and powerful, in part, due to their relationship with Sky. But they have also done deals with BT Sport, Setanta and Amazon over the years, as well as keeping a free-to-air element on the BBC thanks to a regular auction.
In the past six months, Apple TV have agreed a long-term deal with Major League Soccer and NFL are about to put some of their games on YouTube. These are big sports moving to new platforms with huge companies. Then there are more risky ventures such as Matchroom boxing’s move to DAZN.
In a media environment desperate for good content, there are options.
And, speaking of franchise cricket, the Big Bash has problems.
Here’s how to bring the excitement back to the Big Bash League on TV (Sydney Morning Herald)
On-field action battles valiantly to eclipse off-field problems (The Cricketer) ($)
This a good round-up of where we are. The mood music would be very different without England’s joyful, successful aggressive approach under Brendon McCullum.
However, there is trouble ahead.
“Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report and the Katherine Newton KC-led investigation into historic racism at Essex, it promises to be another damaging year. History may consider 2022 as relatively tranquil.”
Here are a couple of projects that county cricket fans might be interested in. The Somerset project is framed in a very intriguing way.
A club’s ‘heart and soul’ should feed into its ‘brand’. However, the latter is about selling and the former should never be sold.
Balancing these two factors cuts to the heart of the problem within modern sport. Or indeed modern life.
Ronnie Irani in frame to fill Warwickshire director of cricket role (The Cricketer)
He’s a Marmite character but the Irani-ten doeschate-McGrath axis turned around Essex almost immediately in 2016 after almost a decade in Division Two.
Hunt for man who ‘defecated’ in cricketer Azeem Rafiq’s garden (Metro)
Two things.
Firstly, delays take the sting out of a situation so people get broke or bored and they look to move on. This allows those with the greatest resources and resolve to manipulate a better position. We see it everywhere - from Brexit to the report on Britain’s covid response to Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial - delay is a deliberate tactic.
Secondly, does the crap left in Rafiq’s garden still count as banter?
A Short History of Leicestershire County Cricket Club (How They Play)
Surrey and XBoX team up for 2023 season (Surrey CCC)
Cricket West Indies appoints Roland Butcher as new selector (Caribbean Life)
Butcher was a very welcome presence on the county commentaries last season. Knowledgeable, laid-back and unassuming. Plus a great accent.
Finally, here’s something I have been toying with.
As you know, this newsletter will be free forever. However, I always saw it as a springboard to create more cricket content. With The Cricket Paper still on hiatus and no offers from elsewhere (hint, hint), I am thinking of making it happen myself. But I need your help.
Here’s what is on my mind:
Becoming a crowdfunded cricket journalist, one-day per week April to September
Creating content that is free for all - features, interviews, podcasts. The tone would be long-form and in-depth
All subscribers sit on my editorial board and would be regularly named-checked in content
Meetings held once a month via Zoom, all subscribers can attend, contribute ideas and vote on the best
Basically, I am creating the content but the agenda is set by the subscribers.
This one-day’s pay would be funded by subscriptions on Patreon. I am concerned this is a ‘step too far’. People are very generous with their tips for the newsletter via Ko-Fi but, as a freelance/consultant, I sell my time. Still, I’d rather get a small amount to commit a day a week to county cricket than a much bigger amount consulting with sports organisations.
It is all about whether I leap or not. So I am gauging interest.
Please give me your opinions here, for or against, and vote in the poll below. If you are ‘for’ then give me an indication of what you’d pay per month to be involved in this project.
Classifieds
Join the Cricket Supporters Association, it’s free
County Cricket Matters - Buy the magazine direct or on Kindle
Guerilla Cricket - irreverent, online commentary and jingles all the way
Listen to the 98 Not Out podcast - top interviews and cricket chat
Also, there’s my book, Last-Wicket Stand.
Buy through Amazon or through me for an autographed copy ✍️
🏴☠️ Indy bookshop | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇦🇺 Australia
This newsletter started in January 2021 because, frankly, no-one else was publishing one and the county game lacked promotion. It will always be free and we will never misuse your data.
🤝 Sponsor - I have one partner, WisdenWorld. All the revenue is going to community cricket schemes run by my chosen charity, (TBC).
☕️ Coffee tips - The newsletter is a labour of love but it takes a long time to write. If you like the content, please feel free to tip me a coffee. Or commission me to create cricket content. I’d love to turn it into a full-time job.
My monthly coffees: Gary Prail, William Dobson, George Dobell, Long Leg, Kevin Roome, John Lucey, Sophie Whyte, Cow Corner Slog, Graeme Hayter, Chris Moody, Martin Searle
Coffees since last edition: Steve Wootton, Kev Hegarty, Roger Hughes, Mike Kemp, Bob Christie, Colin Hall, Matthew Evans, Robin Parkes, Chris Rowsell, Malcolm Sparrow