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« Previous EntriesStanford close to luring ECB
By Will 1 month ago, 36 Comments »
Allen Stanford and Lalit Modi. Two entirely different characters, both from opposite ends of the world - geographically and, arguably, morally - but both with a shared love of money and cricket. Why do I worry less about the Wild West cowboy, and more about Modi’s modus operandi?
Perhaps it’s because he’s American and has no historical connection to a cricket board. Maybe it’s because he appears to have no dirty agenda to the politics of the sport: he’s seemingly happy to pile money into the flayling West Indies cricket, and anyone else who wants to join in the fun is more than welcome. This sounds naive - of course, billionaires crave and adore money: it is their driving force - but his come-follow-me attitude is refreshing and progressive, which cannot be said of Modi. Modi’s business is power and politics; the IPL has already made him millions, but it is a vehicule to global dominance. We’ve seen this season how the ECB have been tied up in knots banning (and subsequently unbanning) various players who represented the Indian Cricket League - the antichrist to the sanctioned IPL - which demonstrates just how much power the BCCI wields.
Anyway, I digress. I like Mr Stanford and am quite excited by what he could do to counter Modi’s unquenchable thirst for dominance. He has met with the ECB - significantly, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, Dr Julian Hunte, was also present - to finalise plans for an England v West Indies All Stars XI later this year (and possibly running over five years). The matches themselves aren’t too significant, but it could signal the start of a business relationship which expands far beyond any of our imaginings. Stanford’s 20/20 in the Caribbean was a rollicking success - some say he should be in charge of ICC’s World Cups - so it’ll be fascinating to see what he and England come up with.
36 Comments »Do we need counties?
By Jonathan Liew 1 month ago, 22 Comments »
There are 18 counties playing first-class cricket. That’s quite a lot. There are more domestic teams in England than in any other country. Yet they’re not evenly spread around - London and its environs has an embarrassment of teams, while parts such as the south west, the far north and most of Eastern England have none at all.
Now partly, that’s due to population: cricket teams are concentrated around the biggest cities. And yet, we persist in clinging to the county apparatus, a hotchpotch of hazily-defined localities that has very little relevance to the social geography of today. Counties don’t really exist in any meaningful sense any more; in fact, for four of the 18 counties, that’s literally true. The county system is rooted in a long gone past, and it hasn’t changed, even though everything around it has. Does the idea of ‘Warwickshire’ mean anything to anyone any more? Certainly not for someone like Ian Bell, who was born in Coventry - which since 1974 has been part of the West Midlands.
If it were only a quibble about names and boundaries, we could probably let it go. But this archaic system has a more serious effect on the domestic game. With large shifts in population and wealth away from rural England and towards the towns, some counties clearly have an inherent advantage over others. A county like Lancashire, with a catchment area of Liverpool and Manchester, the surrounding towns, Cheshire and Cumbria, have far more resource to draw on than the likes of Leicestershire, which has one medium sized town and four rival cricketing counties on its borders. It may always have been this way to an extent - pre-reform Yorkshire was bloody huge - but that doesn’t necessarily make it fair.
As a result, prosperity - and thus success - is distorted by the fact that some counties will always be struggling to prosper, regardless of cricketing merit, and some will always be comfortable. Test grounds - a major source of potential revenue - are concentrated almost exclusively around big cities. Look at the list of county champions: the top four are Yorkshire, Surrey, Middlesex and Lancashire - areas with high populations and a Test ground. Then look at who has come bottom most often: Derbyshire, Somerset, Northamptonshire, Glamorgan. When Leicestershire can’t hang on to a player like Stuart Broad, who was born in the county and has played all his cricket there, it’s clear the playing field is not level. The influx of Kolpak players have counteracted population factors to an extent - but they still need to be paid, and the biggest counties will always jostle their way to the front in this respect.
It’s possible teams like Leicestershire and Derbyshire will never again reach the pinnacle of English cricket. The best they can hope for is the odd promotion or a dart at a one-day trophy here and there, but it’s equally likely they’ll wane and recede slowly into the background. That is, unless something is done about it.
If domestic cricket is ever to make proper money - and, who knows, provide a higher standard? - it needs to brand itself in more familiar terms. In short, we need fewer teams, more fairly distributed. The quickest way of doing this would be to merge counties; in short, persuading them to vote themselves out of business. That’s not going to happen. Instead, reorganisation of domestic cricket could be craftily disguised as a PR exercise.
Ironically, the IPL might be able to teach English cricket a thing or two in this respect. Moneyed franchises they may be, but the teams in the League are based in - and upon - very real localities. The players may not be sourced locally, but that will come in time. What’s important is that a bond is being forged betwen a cricket team and a town. In England, those bonds already exist in large part: Gloucestershire is by and large a Bristol team, Hampshire a Southampton-based club, Warwickshire is a Birmingham team, and so on. Towns have a far greater emotional and economic pull than counties these days, and are far more relevant in today’s society.
The idea, then, is this, although the details are less important than the diagnosis behind them. Cut the number of teams to, say, 12, and base each one around a large town. Let’s call them, for sake of argument: Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham, Nottingham, North London, South London, East London, Cardiff and Brighton. The South East has a quarter of England’s population, so it should have a quarter of the teams. The names, as I say, are largely irrelevant.
What English cricket would then have, essentially, is the Australian system in all but name. Teams would be able to draw on the emotional and financial clout of the major town, but talent-wise the spread would be far wider - and far fairer. It provides the best balance between levelling the playing field and preserving some semblance of geographical integrity. And the standard would improve.
Anyway, well done for getting through all that - any thoughts?
22 Comments »English Premier League gathers momentum
By Will 1 month ago, 10 Comments »
The news that Allen Stanford, the Wild West’s Lalit Modi, is to meet the ECB next week offers a delicious opportunity to ponder what the England board has up its sleeve. And still the ECB continue to maintain, with absolutely no conviction, that they “don’t want a knee-jerk reaction to the IPL”. That is exactly what they want, and arguably need. There’s a sense the ECB are spitting nails that another country - god forbid India! - have stolen their Twenty20 and created a monster from it. They want that monster, their beast, back.
So they’re pondering the English Premier League (EPL), a smaller sibling India’s giant tournament, to take advantage of England’s season to attract international stars. It’ll probably take place in June and July next year as no other country has any international commitments to conflict. And with Stanford potentially coming on board - it’s absolutely unclear what, if any, the Texan’s role might be - the prospect of millions of dollars come into the equation.
Stanford’s 20/20, the Caribbean tournament which he piled millions of his own money into, has been a runaway success with cricket at its core. There are even some who wish Stanford would take charge of ICC’s World Cup every four years; he does things loud, in a very American way, but rather like Mr Getty has a fondness for cricket and wants to keep the sport’s traditions at the centre. Also like Getty and Modi, he knows a good deal when he spots one.
In the IPL, team names have been singularly uninspiring. The Mumbai Indians, the Deccan Chargers, the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Boring. What do you make of England’s plans, and what teams might be created?
10 Comments »The lure of money
By Will 2 months ago, 3 Comments »
We return to England after six weeks of toil, and not much has changed. We have reversed a decline in Test cricket, but realise that sterner ones wait in the form of the touring South Africans later in the season. Also, all the talk is now returning to the IPL, and its influence on the game’s future. I can’t believe for one moment that there aren’t going to be changes to the game. Money talks too loudly, but exactly what they are and when they will come is for others to decide. For the England players, we have just had a timely reminder of what money can’t buy, playing and winning for your country.
Dean Headley on the ECB’s attitude towards the IPL:
3 Comments »“If the ECB ignore these opportunities for players, it could have catastrophic results in terms of losing a star player or several star players,” Headley told The Sunday Telegraph.
“Even if we don’t see an exodus we might have a lot of disgruntled England players and that’s not healthy. Where would that leave our game? It might only take a few brave players to start the ball rolling. We need all parties concerned to come together and reach an agreement that keeps everyone happy.”
London 2009
By Jonathan Liew 3 months ago, 10 Comments »
The inaugural Twenty20 World Cup is coming to England in 2009, which means a bumper summer of cricket for the whole country. As long, that is, if you live in London. Two of the three grounds chosen to host matches will be Lord’s (group games, super eights and the final) and The Oval (warm-ups, group games, super eights and a semi-final). Which leaves one semi and change for another lucky, lucky ground. The Rose Bowl, perhaps?
Now I live in London, and personally, this suits me down to the ground. In addition, there’s no doubting that the two grounds in question are superb venues. But London is not England. Cricket fans in the Midlands and the North have every right to feel aggrieved at this.
Apparently, if you believe Steve Elworthy, it’s all to do with travelling distances, which was a major factor in last year’s tournament. But a short trundle up the M6 isn’t really the same as 1600 kilometres from Durban to Cape Town. London to Nottingham to Manchester to London in the space of two weeks isn’t going to jet-lag anybody.
It’s not just this, either. Why, for example, is London is guaranteed Tests a summer out of seven (when it has about 15% of the population)? You have to wonder whether the predominance of Lord’s and The Oval is due primarily to the quality of their facilities, or the quality of their lobbyists.
10 Comments »The Schofield Report recommendations
By Will last year, at the end of May, No Comments; be the first!
Focusing on the Individual
1 Central Contracts To ensure the system of Central Contracts is maintained and developed by establishing challenging individually tailored training and preparation programmes which are closely monitored through the Performance Centre at Loughborough University, and reflect the ‘needs’ rather than the ‘wants’ of the players.
2 England Performance Squad Players outside the system of Central Contracts, but selected for the England Performance Squad should have an individually tailored 12 month training and preparation programme closely monitored through the Performance Centre.
3 Skills Sets Skills Sets of players up to the age of Under 19 should be established, and have individually tailored 12 month training and preparation programmes closely monitored through the Performance Centre.
4 International Exchanges Maintain and develop links with Academies and teams throughout the World in order to provide players in England squads with the opportunity to spend time overseas developing their technical and tactical skills at appropriate times during their development.
5 Fitness and Conditioning The introduction of individually tailored strength and conditioning programmes for players within England programmes at all levels.
6 Medical Support and Screening To implement the recommendations within the ECB Science and Medicine Review, enhance the medical screening of all senior players, particularly fast bowlers, and provide ‘World Class’ medical support for Centrally Contracted players.
7 Player Personal Development To provide individual personal development programmes for each player in the England Performance Squad programme including media training in order to ensure the development of ‘well-rounded’ individuals.
8 Captaincy & Leadership Development The establishment of mentoring and development programmes for players who are in, or have the potential to be in, Captaincy and leadership roles within England cricket.
9 Coaching and support staff professional development The establishment of Professional Development programmes for England coaches and support staff in order for them to remain leading edge practitioners
10 Skill development Supplement the coaching resources at the Performance Centre by the appointing a Fielding Coach responsible for raising the standards of this discipline throughout the game.
11 Succession planning Maintain a succession plan for all key positions within the England programme
Focusing on the Team
12 International programme To provide more opportunities for players to prepare, perform, repair and regenerate by reducing the amount of International cricket.
13 Establishing the National Cricket Centre as the ‘Performance Centre’ Refurbishment and rebranding the National Cricket Centre at Loughborough as the ECB Performance Centre, and establish the Centre as the focal point for all England player monitoring and development.
14 Domestic Competition Structure To reduce the amount of cricket played at First Class level to enable players to maintain and develop their cricket skills and fitness levels during the season, and provide competition formats and regulations which as far as possible mirror the international game.
15 Improving the quality of coaching A review and continual updating of the Level 4 Coaching and CPD programme to ensure the top coaches are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to develop ‘World Class’ players.
16 Improve links/communications with Counties Establish within a management structure, executive responsibility for promoting engagement and communication between England programmes and Counties, and raising the standards of First Class cricket.
Focusing on ECB
17 England Management Structure The establishment of a new management structure within the ECB with full accountability and responsibility for the selection and performance of the England cricket team.
18 Player Tracking Database The establishment of a player tracking database with the ability to monitor the development of every player in an England Squad
19 Ongoing Planning Process Establish a robust biannual review process including all stakeholders and designed to take the game to the next level
No Comments »Working with Jaffa cakes
By Will last year, mid-February, 7 Comments »
I thought this was a wind-up when I first read it. But no, it’s true. England have signed up the humble Jaffa cake to be their “official energy snack” for 2007. This is great news for the oft-abused cake, one which is seen as part of a student’s staple diet and not nearly in the same class of tea-dunkage as, say, the Rich Tea. Win or lose this summer, the Jaffa should hopefully be promoted to the gold league of biscuits. I can demolish two packets with a sufficient vat of tea to help wash it down.
The best thing to come out of this news, though, is the following line from John Perera, the ECB’s commercial director.
7 Comments »“We are very excited about working closely with Jaffa cakes in 2007″.
£15m richer
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of October, No Comments; be the first!
I forgot to mention yesterday that the ECB will next week sign a new deal with nPower, the electricity company, worth £15m. Their current deal is £7m which means a 40% increase. That’s quite staggering. Full article at Cricinfo.
It was very long ago that an England cricketer (never mind a county professional) earned very little. Yet the increase in popularity of the sport, so it is thought, is reaping rewards for all involved in the game…well, nearly everyone 
It’s an encouraging sign, so long as the money is managed properly and used for all the right reasons.
A new mechanical Shane
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of October, 5 Comments »
Just seen this story about a new, mechanical Shane Warne. I thought England were already using a spin machine (and I’m not talking about the ECB marketing people) - Merlyn, or Mervyn or Madge or whatever it’s called - so they now have two. Perhaps they’ll get them together to see if they can mate; it’s the end of cricket as we know it!
Pictures from BBC
Lord’s Taverners net some dosh
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of June, No Comments; be the first!
This must have passed me by.
I am very pleased that the National Sports Foundation has made its first award. This was to the Lords Taverners for £177,500, to support their excellent work to promote the growth of grass roots cricket through the provision of cricket equipment bags to junior cricketers. This funding, which will help ensure that we capitalise on the explosion of interest in cricket among our young people following last summer’s Ashes series, was matched by a donation from the England and Wales Cricket Trust.
I understand that the Foundation is in continuing discussions with potential sponsors as well as sporting organisations and they are hopeful that further awards will be announced shortly.
So said Richard Caborn in the commons.
No Comments »Restless natives at MCC
By Scott 3 years ago, at the start of December, No Comments; be the first!
The egg’n'bacon crowd are not a happy bunch of campers, and Donald Trelford has penned a rebel’s manifesto.
I often wondered why the MCC gave up running British cricket, and it turns out they were forced to do so by the government of the day, in the interests of openness and transparency. Surveying England’s cricket fortunes since 1968, you would have to suggest it was a bad move even before the ECB sold out the British cricket fan for the Sky shilling.
No Comments »Rameez Raja: ‘Cricket can be a healer’
By Will 3 years ago, mid-October, 9 Comments »
England’s tour of Pakistan is to continue, despite this week’s disasterous events, according to ECB and PCB officials. More at Cricinfo, including this from Rameez Raja which I tend to agree with:
9 Comments »“Cricket is followed by everyone in Pakistan and it will get their minds off this tragedy,” Rameez Raja, a former chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board told the BBC. “Cricket can be a healer.”
The influence of Maros Kolpak
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of September, 12 Comments »
Most county followers are familiar with the name Kolpak, and its derivatives (Kolpakers, Kolpakians, and less savoury ones). News came today (although it was first mentioned back in April) that the ECB are to curb the numbers of foreign players in the county game, by way of a reward/penalty scheme. My thoughts on this and more are up at Cricinfo.
Thoughts welcome.
12 Comments »Cricket in the Park - Trent Bridge and The Oval
By Will 3 years ago, mid-August, 11 Comments »
UPDATE: 31 August 2005, the clapham common venue has been changed to Regent’s Park. More info here.
The ECB have extended their Cricket in the Park events, which is brilliant news. As written about on Cricinfo:
Cricket in the Park extended
Due to overwhelming demand, the ECB’s Cricket in the Park events have been extended for the fourth and fifth Tests between England and Australia.
Such has been the demand for tickets for this summer’s Ashes that the ECB introduced these events to cater for those unlucky enough to miss out on attending the Tests, providing a big screen and a taste of Ashes atmosphere. For the first Test at Lord’s, a giant screen was erected in Regent’s Park, where 3,500 people turned up on the Friday, and 8,000 the following day.
The Saturday and Sunday’s play of the fourth Ashes Test at Trent Bridge (August 27 and 28) will be shown on a giant screen in Wollaton Park, Nottingham. The Saturday and Sunday’s play of the fifth Ashes Test at The Brit Oval (September 10 and 11) will also be shown on a screen in Clapham Common, South London.
Tom Harrison, marketing manager for the ECB, said in a statement released this afternoon: “The big screens in Wollaton Park and Clapham Common will give those fans that can’t get tickets for the matches the chance to join in and experience the unprecedented excitement of this Ashes series with thousands of others - if they’re anything like the previous events, they’ll be fantastic!”
11 Comments »Cricket in the Park (no more)
By Will 3 years ago, mid-August, 1 Comment »
UPDATE: 31 August 2005, the clapham common venue has been changed to Regent’s Park. More info here.
A brilliant idea, it’s disappointing that there will be no Cricket in the Park for the fourth and fifth Ashes Tests (Nottingham and London). Perhaps the ECB hadn’t forseen Ashes and Cricket fever sweeping Britain - might they change their minds? Email them and tell them you want more Cricket in the Park…it can’t hurt.
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