No 86 , May 4 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
No 86 , May 4 - The Grumbler's County Cricket Newsletter
🟤 Steve Smith at Sussex - good or bad? 🔴 Week 5 Previews 🔵 Tournament-that-shall-not-be-named under threat 🟣 Andrew Strauss exits - good or bad? 🟠 Murtagh's 1,000 wickets 🟢 Greta Thunberg!
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It is a quote from Australian cricket journalist Gideon Haigh in the documentary Death of a Gentleman, which tells the story of how India, Australia and England snatched "claimed ownership of the sport's finances, and with it the game's future" in 2014.
The tale is dominated by the power of Indian money, its love of T20 and how it chooses to expand the game in its own interests. Lots of men in expensive suits get out of expensive cars and walk into expensive hotels saying they desperately need even more money 'for the future of the game'. There is even a pompous English leader telling the journalists they have got it all wrong and only their plan plots a path to the land of milk and honey.
This is almost a decade ago, but so little has changed.
It feels like a misquote from Greta Thunberg’s most famous speech... trust us, we are looking after all levels of the game ... blah, blah, blah... Test cricket is the highest level and must be preserved... blah, blah, blah... we'll create the best v the best and plough the money back into the grassroots/county game... blah, blah, blah.
In fairness, the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named was a different solution. Then again, chopping off your foot is 'a different solution' to an ingrowing toenail but both would do untold, unnecessary and irreversible damage.
The first smoke signals of you-know-what's demise were seen last week. I will discuss that below but, suffice to say, it has been a costly, divisive dumpster fire since its very inception.
It was telling that the day before that story broke Rob Key was proudly discussing how the event could be the second-best in the world if it received greater investment.
Err...soooo... that's even more money... to pay the players... to be second-best... and, presumably, we'd have to give up control to private equity or overseas investors to get that cash injection.
At what point, should we say enough is enough?
Every sports organisation, even the IPL, wants to emulate the obscene revenue growth and global dominance of Premier League football in the last 30 years based on ever-increasing television deals. But they have been rampantly chasing cash since the 1980s when the big clubs secured much more revenue by ruling that home teams should keep the vast majority of gates receipts. In the 90s, Premier League nearly split the game by breaking away from the Football League but, after 15 years of incredible growth, the big six still wanted more. After all, they were the main draw. So they negotiated a greater slice of the increasingly valuable overseas TV revenue and, finally, stabbed the rest in the back by trying to join a European Super League.
It is never enough and I would be happy for English cricket to leap off this gravy train, right now.
Not because I want the game in this country to stay the same, far from it. But it is playing a game it cannot win where the rules are made by the opposition and merely trying to keep up may well leave it weakened.
Given the loss of autonomy, culture and history necessary to take the gamble of merely keeping pace, why not emphasise resilience over revenue for once? Take decisions that re-root the game in the minds of modern youth, invest in player development and make cricket relevant in the UK once more.
We would still be paying the players all we can. But it also means NOT leaving schemes like SACA and ACE and roles like the one brilliantly fulfilled by Claire Bailey effectively funded by charity money.
“What!?!?!?!”, they splutter, “That will mean England loses its best players to franchise cricket.”
Alas, so be it. They are going anyway and risking our future in the hope of turning a millionaire cricketer into a multi-millionaire seems a fool’s errand to me. This way we do not have to mortgage our future in a vain Canute-like attempt to keep the waves of IPL cash crashing onto our shores.
As it stands, my interest in Jos Buttler's form at whatever IPL club he plays for is nothing compared to that of Zak Crawley's scratchiness for England or Nick Browne's inconsistency for Essex. I doubt most of the kids in that video can name a single player from England’s World Cup-winning XI. And this way, there's a plan and a future based on our own priorities. Because that is not what we had under the last ECB regime.
The revenue v resilience debate returned to sharp focus at the start of the Covid pandemic when the West, having outsourced much of its economic production to China to increase profits, suddenly found themselves horribly exposed and utterly powerless when communication lines were cut off. It has been raging for years in digital with companies building their businesses on the back of Google and Facebook only to find themselves swept away overnight when the tech giants change their algorithms to suit themselves. And, of course, short-term revenue v long-term resilience was at the heart of the growth of the sub-prime housing market that caused the global financial crash in 2008.
But businesses keep on taking the same gamble in the hope of making a pile of quick bucks before the ceiling inevitably falls in. English cricket cannot afford such a crash, so, given the alternative, I am suggesting it makes a smaller, slower buck and rebuilds strong foundations of interest and talent over time.
And, as Alec Stewart articulated this week, the franchise players are also making their own revenue v resilience decisions over their careers. Some will fail in their overseas leagues and, without the comfort zone of a county and its infrastructure, be grateful to return.
My argument could be portrayed as defeatism or at least the old conservativism of English cricket poking through.
In fact, it is a reaction to seeing Haigh's quote once again and realising nothing has changed in 10 years of chasing the money of the IPL franchises.
And nothing will unless we stop pursuing the interests of the few, not the many.
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County Championship Week 5 Previews
Click on each team for a different preview
Hampshire vs Warwickshire
Nottinghamshire vs Lancashire
Somerset vs Northamptonshire
Essex vs Surrey
Worcestershire vs Sussex
Derbyshire vs Leicestershire
Yorkshire vs Glamorgan
Cricket Draft Fantasy picks and previews
Week 4 Reviews
Five things we learnt from Round Four of the LV= Insurance County Championship 2023 (ECB)
County cricket talking points: Surrey have squad and swagger to retain title (Guardian)
Tim Murtagh takes 10 wickets as Middlesex ease past Kent (BBC Sport)
Neser's knock breaks 95-year-old county record (Cricket.com.au)
Round-Up: How Are Pakistan’s Stars Faring In The 2023 County Championship So Far? (Wisden)
Matt Milnes: Yorkshire seam bowler out for the season with back injury (BBC Sport)
Sam Whiteman out to make most of ‘awesome opportunity’ at Northants (Northampton Chronicle and Echo)
Worcestershire seamer Charlie Morris retires with knee injury (Express & Star)
Cheteshwar Pujara prepares to play with, not against, Steven Smith...for now (Cricinfo)
The Tournament-that-shall-not-be-named
Future of the men's H*ndred in jeopardy as ECB and counties consider sweeping changes (Cricketer)
H*ndred may be ditched for T20 league with counties rebranded as cities (Times)
ECB has fudged the H*ndred – time to back it or bin it (Telegraph)
ECB plans to scrap Hundred and replace it with T20 'English Premier League’ (Telegraph)
Hundred’s days now look numbered but alternatives seem sure to provoke a row (Guardian)
Strauss exits ECB with new T20 format on table and Hundred on the rack (Guardian)
Cricket's future IS on the line after revelation that The Hundred could be ditched (Mail)
The ECB would breach TV deal with Sky Sports if they axe the Hundred before 2028 (Mail)
What a waste.
A waste of money, time, energy and goodwill.
I refused to believe George Dobell's report when he first broke the news the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named was under threat. But the story grew, details emerged and yet there was nothing from the ECB.
Silence.
Zip.
Nada.
This was their big innovation. The event many would hang their careers on. If they were not pushing back on these critical stories, there was clearly something going on.
The Richards, Thompson and Gould, were against its inception while at Surrey but they have been canny with their words since taking up roles at the ECB. Critically the complexion of the board, the enablers of the previous regime, has changed.
So if no-one is playing it and it is costing so much they have to play lie hide and seek in the accounts, then what is the point?
Well, there is the women's game for a start. And, such ventures do cost in the early days but, as this independent academic paper concluded, it was “improbable that The Hundred can achieve its twin goals of being economically viable, while increasing the popularity and, ultimately survival, of other cricket formats”.
It was always sold like a start-up, the ones where you 'sell the sizzle, not the sausage'. But often those companies get acquired by major names before they have burned through the seed money and the leaders exits sharply to bank the cheque (and then, errr... I don't know, maybe go and get a job at Six Nations Rugby) leaving the hard yards of long-term development to those who believed their bluster.
As I predicted when it was announced, the television deal appears to be the sticking point now. Sky still want it and they signed up until 2028. Teflon Tom Harrison pushed for a 10-year deal as part of ‘his legacy’, see story below. The recent headlines have already undermined their considerable investment and how can they sell the next four years of the damned thing with a straight face now?
It will be fascinating to see how some of the voices who vociferously and publicly backed event start to switch tac at the prospect of a change in employment. Fortunately, the cricket going public has been keeping receipts.
Personally, I am more interested at the opportunities all this may create. Perhaps veering so close to the cliff edge might knock some heads together, including those of county members and boards
Details are still emerging but one report spoke of three options:
Axe the Hundred and Blast and have one T20 county-based competition — but with city names — with promotion and relegation, which could be called the English Premier League (which would be controversial because it excludes Glamorgan/Wales);
Keep the Blast (with promotion and relegation) but replace the Hundred with a knockout tournament that includes the national (formerly minor) counties; or
Keep an eight-team city-based competition but switch to a T20 format and reduce it in length to allow for some County Championship cricket in August.
My preference is No 1 as, effectively, it is the idea Richard Gould presented to be ECB in his interview for the CEO job they gave to Teflon Tom. Broadly speaking, I can get behind any format based on counties, even if they have city-based names. The critical part is getting this on free-to-air television, something Teflon Tom's last-gasp deal ignored.
So, from reports last week, we may be left with up to four years of a tournament that has cost around £60m in its first two, has already suffered from a dwindling television audience and cannablised part of a Blast event that was growing nicely despite a fraction of the marketing support and no free-to-air television exposure.
As I said, what a waste. What appalling, selfish governance.
One small thing we can take from this is the emphasis on the fan. It is something that Amazon and Savannah Bananas put at the heart of their decision-making
The who...?
The Savannah Bananas play at the most minor level of pro baseball in the US. But they are by far the whackiest team playing ‘America’s pastime’. Their level of marketing and fan engagement would be abhorrent to traditional cricket and the video below is pretty much the purist’s nightmare. The pitchers breakdance between innings, they have a group of elderly cheerleaders called the Savannah Nannas and their rookie players play in a green-tinged kit instead of the usual yellow because… they are not considered ripe. It is cheap, cheesey and ultra fan-friendly. It also sells out every week, a huge turnaround for owner, Jesse Cole, who bought an unpopular, unloved team and wears a yellow tuxedo at every game (and around the office every day).
Why, you ask, am I boring you with such all-American nonsense in a cricket newsletter.
It is because at every major business meeting, they leave an empty chair. That signifies the fans' seat at the table.
Cole argues it has been critical to their success as a sports organisation.
Cricket can learn from this attitude, just leave out the cheese and the cheerleaders.
News, Views and Interviews
Contracts: Van der Merwe (Somerest - 2yr), Karvelas (Sussex - 2yr)
Signings: Buckingham (Northamptonshire - overseas - 3 games), Brookes (Warwickshire to Derbyshire - 2-game loan)
Steven Mullaney: Notts Outlaws name all-rounder as new captain for 2023 T20 Blast (BBC Sport)
Is Cheteshwar Pujara India's Greatest Overseas County Batter? (Wisden)
Lancashire announce £3m operating profit for 2022 (BBC Sport)
Alec Stewart: Counties short-changed as stars chase money abroad (Times)
Open one-day Pandora’s Box (Cricinfo)
Surrey fast bowler Matt Dunn on his campaign to raise money for research on rare form of epilepsy (Mail) and 5ForFlorence (Surrey)
Hasan Ali achieves major landmark during County season (CricketPakistan)
ECB allows Pakistan players to not promote controversial products (CricketPakistan)
Picking At The Seam: The Mystery Of The Dukes Ball, Explained (Wisden Almanack)
Goodbye, Sir Andrew Strauss OBE (Being Outside Cricket)
Strauss exits ECB with new T20 format on table and Hundred on the rack (Guardian)
Nice to see our cricket leaders grit it through adversity and not quit at the first defeat.
…oh hang on.
Strauss’ accent and background has always made him a lightning rod for the class issues that still blight the game. But although he appears the latest in a long line of establishment figures to move from the pitch to the boardroom (there was another this week), his departure actually comes after failing to get through radical reforms.
My concern has always been that the ‘good bloke’ theory of appointment is far too prevalent in cricket. How is Strauss the most qualified person to decide on such fundamental, existential aspects of cricket when he has spent all his life until his appointment only playing it? Of course, that is a critical element of the job but it should be only one of many in a modern sports business. I still maintain that Rob Key's primary qualification for his role as England MD is being also a "good bloke", though he is having a positive effect right now. Likewise, Strauss is clearly intelligent and passionate and has made some good calls. But, like the rest of cricket's leadership, he felt they was no need to take the fanbase with him. He never really acknowledged my tribe existed. So, having been told no for once after a member-led revolt over the key proposal in his otherwise beneficial report, it is no surprise to see him leave. But, as ever, there will be many opportunities opening up whenever he fails.
I wonder if he has put in for this…
USA Cricket starts CEO search (USA Cricket)
'A slow burn': Can cricket succeed in the United States? (Cricket.com.au)
National anthem to be sung before Saturday's cricket fixtures to mark coronation of King Charles (Mail)
Red-ball alert: Joe Root and fellow Ashes hopes are doing next to nothing in the IPL (The Guardian)
Are Mankads happening more in club cricket? (Cricket Yorkshire)
Mankads have been enfranchised in recent months. No surprise to see more of them cropping up and dissent will only follow. Close up this hole in the laws, please.
I wonder, have the quality and ease of access to the County Championship streams developed a small fanbase in India? You would not have had this podcast without them.
Azeem Rafiq: 'I'm not perfect, but I don't regret speaking out about racism' (Jewish Chronicle)
Six former Yorkshire players to be sanctioned for using racist language (The Independent)
What sanctions will come from Yorkshire racism scandal? (Sky Sports)
Read the story on Azeem Rafiq talking at a Jewish cricket club about the hurt his anti-Semitic tweets caused. Then read the story about six Yorkshire players refusing to pay their fines over using racist language. Then read the story about a Scottish international suggesting players should ‘think twice’ before speaking out about racism.
This should make you angry.
Anyway, let’s take you home with something more uplifting.
Here’s a proper ‘and finally’…
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Great newsletter as always.
Agree with you re the Hundred replacement, though equally no need to mandate city names.
Surely they can bridge the gap to 2028 by playing T20 at the Hundred. Just play into the farce and add "+20" in red pen over the logo.
Another point: we have two bank holiday weekends in a row,what a shame there's no cricket on terrestrial TV. May Day is a perfect chance to announce to the nation that cricket has begun. T20 "finals day" round robin of Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, and England. The lack of availability of England's best will make it a great contest and give some younger players (e.g Mouseley) a platform...
Equally, why not mark the coronation with a 50 over game on the Monday? England Vs a Kings XI representing the commonwealth. Get a few royals down, Stephen Fry on Comms..
All told, so frustrating that we are stuck playing cricket in secret until the Ashes in July and The Hundred in August.