No 82, Apr 5 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🔵 Happy new season 🔴 Previews, podcasts, new rules 🟠 Overseas signings galore 🟢 CDC hearing into Yorks racism 🟤 Surrey care for carers 🟣 ECB covering up costs? 🟡 So many 'Bazball' headlines
WisdenWorld - our community cricket partner, helping to fund the grassroots game
So, the fleas can finally return to the circus.
The county cricket season starts this week and so, over the past fortnight, I have meticulously re-arranged my life so I could take in the first ball of the season at Lord's.
I manoeuvred a 9am business meeting at Baker Street, worked well into evenings so I could carve out a day away, was extra tidy around the house and put in more than my usual share of family time to earn sufficient Brownie points.
Then I looked at the forecast.
OK, I should have expected rain but it had been sunny all week so please forgive my hopeless optimism.
Despite the predictions, I'll still be there for 11am. If you can't be hopelessly optimistic on the first day of the cricket season then when can you?
In fact, when can you be hopelessly optimistic about anything at all apart from days such as Thursday?
For all its faults and associated fury, sport still moves us emotionally and motivates us personally like little else. I know of people who would not think of going abroad on holiday but will travel 'over land and sea' to follow their football team. Others have played an extra two years of cricket with dodgy knees in a hope of half-a-dozen competitive games in the same side as their son.
Since the last newsletter, I spoke at the Essex Cricket Society about Last-Wicket Stand and other such nonsense. In my preamble, I mentioned my father's old team as part of an early indoctrination into the game. At the end, I was surprised by one of his former team-mates, who has since emailed me with cricket stories about my Dad from half a century ago that I had never heard before.
I have always felt like cricket teams back then were, depending on your view, "traditional", "old-fashioned" or "sexist". Certainly, my mother was a full and happy part of my Dad's cricketing experience, albeit watching passively from the sidelines or making the teas.
My father passed away in 2005, just days after that incredible Ashes series concluded at the Oval. In the last few years my previously indestructible mother has faded and, since close of play in September, we have reluctantly moved her into a care home.
In an all too familiar modern tragedy, her memory is failing. So I'll admit I shed a tear reading an email about jolly cricketing days she will probably never recall. But, this weekend on my usual visit, I'll read it to her in the same hopelessly optimistic way I'll turn up to Lord's on Thursday morning. Because cricket provides a connection like no other.
Happy new season everyone. Here's to making some lasting memories.
☕️ 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.
🏏 Also, would you consider chipping in for me to become a one-day-a-week county cricket reporter this summer? It would allow me to write features/reports and produce podcasts. If I can get enough pledges then I’ll do it. My aim is to become the first crowd-funded county cricket journalist.
Let me know what you’d contribute here.
Player/Coaches - Signings, contracts etc
Signings: Azad (Leicestershire - short-term), Bancroft (Somerset - overseas - first four Champ games), Bracewell (Essex - overseas, 1st 10 Champ games), Shakeel (Yorkshire - overseas - early games, replacing Wagner), Latham (Surrey - overseas - June/July), Kuhnemann (Durham - overseas), Shah Afridi (Nottinghamshire - Blast), Tremain (Northamptonshire - overseas- first 3 games), Hope (Yorkshire - Overseas - first 3 games)
Contracts: Haines, Ibrahim (Sussex - 3 yrs), Tattersall (Yorkshire - 2 yrs), Mousley (Warwickshire - 2 yrs), Norwell (Warwickshire - 2yrs), Fuller (Hampshire - 1 yr)
Will Sutherland ruled out of Essex stint through injury just days before new season. (Cricketer)
Here are some basics and listicles…
All the county ins and outs (BBC Sports)
Full List Of Overseas Players In The Championship, One Day Cup & T20 Blast (Wisden)
County Championship 2023: Young players to watch | The Cricketer
Overseas availabilities (Cricket Draft)
Previews of this week’s games
Click on each team for a different preview
Hampshire vs Nottinghamshire
Lancashire vs Surrey
Somerset vs Warwickshire
Middlesex vs Essex
Kent vs Northamptonshire
Sussex vs Durham
Glamorgan vs Gloucestershire
Derbyshire vs Worcestershire
Yorkshire vs Leicestershire
County Cricket preview stories, podcasts
This is from Cricket Draft, who have ramped up their coverage of County Cricket to support their Fantasy League. Lot of previews. Join this newsletter’s League here. (Unique Token: 971025a17ab8)
Deep Extra Cover - lots of previews here too
ECB Reporter Networks previews - Div One | Div Two
County Championship 2023 team-by-team guide: Key players, best signings and prediction (iNews)
Below are all your preview podcasts. The TMS one was excellent - Kevin Howells, Mark Church, Alec Stewart and Mickey Arthur - four voices whose opinions you can respect.
Also, a big shout to the Hants Fans and Glamorgan fans podcasts. They are new to me and I love promoting fan-made content. Which makes the loss of the Middlesex Till We Die forum particularly disappointing.
Talksport’s county cricket podcast is very good too and thankfully less abrasive than their football and boxing coverage. So this is excellent news…
The Cricketer and talkSPORT get second season for national county cricket radio show (Cricketer)
Tim Murtagh pokes fun at retirement talk as Middlesex prepare for Division One return (Cricinfo)
Surrey coach: 'Rest England stars but let others play county cricket' (City AM)
Hampshire’s Keith Barker: ‘Football is brutal – it helped me coming into cricket’ (Guardian)
Aussie Sam's going to be super for Northants says head coach Sadler (Northampton Chronicle and Echo)
How 'little' Leicestershire are proving their worth (BBC Sport)
Farbrace's Sussex challenge: 'No reason why we shouldn't be pushing to get promoted'. (Cricinfo)
Click here for the other Leading Edge previews
…and here’s the previews stories with ‘Bazball’ in the headline
Beware of mimicking Bazball, county players – shaky foundations soon collapse (Times)
Can England’s Bazball blueprint filter down into domestic cricket? (Guardian)
Dennis Amiss: Warwickshire legend would love to see 'Bazball' in County Championship (BBC Sport)
English cricket: from Bazball to racism (Kmflett's Blog)
Men's Cricket Captains and coaches brace for ‘Bazball’ impact on county cricket (Morning Star)
Durham at forefront of county cricket's 'Bazball' revolution (Northern Echo)
Shock and Orr – Sussex opener wants to bring Baz-ball to Hove (Brighton and Hove News)
Alastair Cook: Bazball in county cricket? You risk being bowled out for 150 (Times)
News, Views and Interviews
Teaching state school kids to love cricket is hard. I know. I’ve tried. (Guardian)
Alan Hill confirmed as Club President (Derbyshire CCC)
Essex introduce new brand and badge (Essex CCC)
Ignoring the Strauss review was a mistake that will be felt this county season (Telegraph) ($)
From skies to stumps: the former airline engineer chasing his cricketing dreams. (National News)
Afghan refugee cricket team in Essex hope to turn pro (Chelmsford & Mid-Essex Times)
There’s still no uptake of this format outside the UK. But T20s are sprawling all over the world with major events starting in the US, South Africa and the UAE in the past year.
Speaking of which…
“It’s never the crime, it’s the cover-up”
Thankfully, this weed has been pruned a little this year. However, the domestic schedule is still horribly congested and, arguably, has only survived this long because all the new franchise events were in the southern hemisphere. It is richly ironic that the one competition truly pushing the game into a new market is the one that might finally undermine the oldest domestic competition.
Cricket’s time in US may have come at last – but at what cost to English game? (Times) ($)
And here’s a crucial service franchise cricket can not provide.
Surrey joins forces with carers trust (Surrey CCC)
Again, Surrey are leading the way in thinking beyond the sport. We hear so much from players and ex-players in executive roles on the future of the game, especially franchise cricket. Too much in my opinion. Players are only one of the critical stakeholders in the game and, in my experience, not that many have a perspective beyond the tunnel vision often required to excel on the pitch.
Sport is more than players. Graham Gooch was my hero growing up but my support of Essex did not stop when he retired. As a fan, I look at who we are as a club. That means the type of cricket we play, the spirit in which we play it, the values we express, the support, the ground, the atmosphere, the way we promote the game, our business dealings, our value to our community, our standing among other counties etc. In short, how we respect the game of cricket. Clubs are aware of this, you can see it running through their communications and marketing, e.g. this video on the Essex rebrand. But do players respect this and really care? Or does their special talent give them a pass?
Yes, cricket’s origins were not chivalrous and ethical, with many of the morals embued en route. But I hate any sport that just wants to race to the bottom. If winning and money are everything then 17 counties should not bother playing this week and the likes of Somerset should have been disbanded decades ago as they have never won the Championship. However, they are arguably the biggest sports club in the south-west, an attractive business for sponsors and backed by a strong fan base. Like Surrey, they also know their role as a force for social good.
For me, the UK has become a more angry, mean place in the last decade precisely because we have not protected and nurtured our morals. Instead, we have sold our reputation in exchange for power and money.
So I tip my hat to Surrey for putting some of their resources into supporting carers. It is an issue close to my heart right now, see intro. Most of those players and ex-players who are merely chasing franchise dollars will be forgotten long before they reach an age when their own memories start to fail.
That is because, in solely looking after themselves, they will have done nothing truly meaningful.
Using your abilities to earn as much as you can is everyone’s prerogative. We are all doing that and, as long as you do right by others, then good luck to you.
But you must do much more than that in order to be truly memorable.
Here are some more innovative schemes from counties trying to give a little back. Kudos to them.
Glamorgan invest ticket revenue back into local club (Glamorgan CCC)
Pay what you can on Good Friday with Kent Cricket (Kent CCC)
2023 Player Sponsorship Auction (Worcestershire CCC)
From Ed Bayliss’ blog RedBall Data
Derbyshire achieves debt-free target with 2022 surplus (Derbyshire CCC)
After making a profit nine years in the last 10, Derbyshire are debt-free well ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Northamptonshire have bounced back and Leicestershire have huge stadium plans. Of course, most counties receive 40 and 60 per cent of revenue from ECB payments for creating players (it can't be a handout if you are providing an essential service). While membership has dwindled worryingly in the last couple of decades, the Blast sales were climbing before you-know-what and the smaller counties do seem to be better businesses than they were thanks, in part, to diversification.
Yorkshire months away from administration after racism scandal (Telegraph) ($)
Meanwhile, Yorkshire’s reputational issues have hit the bottom line. Some of the points in this piece were disputed at the recent AGM. But the fact remains, sponsors run from situations that may leave a stain on their reputation.
So this might have to happen Yorkshire Cricket Club seeks MidEast investors for refinancing (Reuters)
Meanwhile… deep breath
Yorkshire CCC Racism Scandal
Yorkshire seek solace in cricket but Rafiq racism scandal casts long shadow. (Cricinfo)
Darren Gough unhappy at delay over Yorkshire sanctions (Times) ($)
CDC verdicts give cricket community an opportunity to move forward together (Cricketer)
It is tempting to see no winners but ECB’s judgment is a victory for Rafiq (Guardian)
CDC racism hearings - verdicts announced (Cricinfo)
Azeem Rafiq's personal crusade has cost him everything (Telegraph)
Road to reconciliation after Yorkshire racism saga will be long and difficult | Yorkshire (Guardian)
ECB needs senior shake-up after staking reputation on Michael Vaughan charge (Telegraph)
Yorkshire racism hearing reached one clear verdict: from now on there is no excuse (Guardian)
Azeem Rafiq suffers barrage of racist abuse following Yorkshire case verdict (Telegraph) ($)
You know that pause you take when someone who's new to cricket asks “who’s winning?”
That is how I feel right now over the Yorkshire racism scandal. Except the question is “who won?”
This very dichotomy is a poor lens through which to view this saga but, after last week's CDC hearing concluded, it is what we got.
There’s no consensus in the stories above. It ranges from the Telegraph’s baffling nonsense about Azeem Rafiq losing everything to the Guardian’s take that he won a resounding victory. As ever, it has many more layers than that.
Certainly, Michael Vaughan came out with his reputation enhanced. For me, it had nothing to do with the case against him being "not proven" after his defence created sufficient doubt over the phrasing of sentences said 14 years earlier. It was more about the statement he put out after the verdict that showed understanding, nuance and empathy. Let's make it clear, I have no time for Vaughan's public persona and he is one of the commentators I actively avoid but he showed up and responded progressively to the final verdict. It would be nice to think this will permeate a public persona and has put off so many cricket fans in the past few years.
All this works to validate some of the findings, if not the proceedings that led to them. Everyone else, who did not turn up, had a charge against them upheld. You cannot say Vaughan's verdict was fair and the others were the product of a biased ‘kangaroo court’. This is why Rafiq can feel vindicated, albeit from a different country having decided to move because of the abuse.
His lasting legacy will be a lifting of the bar among dressing rooms all over the country. As Mark Ramprakash writes, there is no doubt anymore - it's not banter.
The biggest losers in this are the ECB. This entire sorry tale is another huge failure of governance in a decade-long catalogue of woe. It is notable how many of articles in the wake of this saga talked of the need for independent regulation. It has been threatened before and I have written about it in the past.
It is so horribly typical of the leadership in UK sport that the investigation into racial discrimination at Yorkshire was ignored, delayed and then botched. Meanwhile, at the same time, they were hiring a phalanx of marketing staff to monetise the game and (yes I'll go there again) building needless, new events on foundations of sand. Possibly hiding the true cost to do so. And, of course, when these crucial issues inevitably reappear after being swept under the carpet, the leaders are long gone and safely installed in new jobs.
Imperfect though the process may be, if our governments go down the wrong path we can vote them out every four years and, should they listen, the new incumbents can change course or even revert. But it feels like there is no real accountability for governing body of a sport as authorities are reluctant to get involved and there is preciously little you can do to make them really listen.
The ECB was brought in to grow the English game but they have squandered their advantages and been beaten at their own game. Or at least, the short-form game they invented.
It has been argued we should abolish the ECB. That was before the more trustworthy hands of Richards Thompson and Gould took hold of the tiller but, personally, I still think we need to grasp this nettle as part of the process of understanding what we REALLY want from the game and how that can correspond to a shifting landscape that is now entirely out of our control. But I'd take an independent regulator to ensure those in power are not allowed to act as they have in the past decade.
This, my friends, is REAL forward-looking change because I am sick of the ECB getting it so badly wrong with little comeback or correction.
We are increasingly being told English cricket must change-or-die. I agree with that but the problem is that I do not trust the ECB to carry out this change. Look at what has happened on their watch. For years, they have shown they are not on my side and the current animosity from fans is a product of their attitude to us in the past.
It is possible to want change and not agree with the ECB.
Oh, and should you subscribe to the ‘one bad apple’ theory of racism…
Explained: Cricket Scotland's turbulent tale takes another twist (Herald Scotland)
Luthra resigns as Cricket Scotland chair amid ongoing fallout from racism report (Cricinfo)
And finally…
As ever, Paul Edwards takes time to smell the roses as the new season starts.
Springtime and the tears of a clown (Cricketer)
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, Ben Hieatt-Smith, Russell Holden, Adrian Partridge
Patreon: Simon Burnton, Bob Christie, Richard Maslin, Duncan Lewis, Chris Lowe, Steve
Coffees since the last edition: Ian Harris, Nick, Steve A, David Hopps, Mo Khushi, Bill Dove, Roger Wiseman