Two books emphasise how extraordinary it is that the ECB is alienating the people who love the game and targeting those who don’tI sometimes think cricket clubs should charge admittance by the hour, since they’re providing therapy for the dyspeptic and shelter for the eremitic. The sport ought to be considered one of the lesser key-worker services, essential to the mood and temper of households across the country. The season finally gets under way on Wednesday, when the first Test between England and West Indies starts in Southampton. County cricket is three weeks behind it. Things will run easier now, with Sky Sports on in the corner or Test Match Special playing in the background, the over-by-over up on the...
When the short form was conceived in 2002 the cricket calendar was not so crowded and the format was one club players had been enjoying for yearsA common refrain to those of us who are not hanging out the bunting at the news the Hundred will be on our screens and in our Test grounds in 2021 is that all the curmudgeons were just as negative about the advent of Twenty20 cricket in 2003.This is an easy parallel to draw and a simplistic one. Let me try to correct it. The proposal to introduce T20 cricket 18 years ago was truly radical; the ECB was introducing a new format for professional cricketers (though club players had been enjoying a similar...
Cricket fans only want good a scorecard to pore over but that seems far away, two weeks into what should be the new seasonThe talk is of misconduct, match-fixing, potential bankruptcies and tour cancellations when after two weeks of blissful sunshine at the start of the season we expected to be discussing Jimmy’s rib, Jofra’s elbow, Jos in the IPL and Joe’s inability to consolidate an innings. (I was thinking of Denly but let’s toss in Root as well for a better headline.)The cricket pages are scarcely recognisable with reports of clandestine meetings at Derby, phone calls from the Mumbai fixers and financial doom and gloom everywhere. Clearly these are important issues, worthy of pursuit, but for cricket fans such...
The £500,000 donated by Joe Root and his team is a worthy start but clubs and their players face a difficult balancing actThe last time I was in the Lord’s museum I spotted a letter of 1981 with the familiar Somerset CCC logo at the top in one of the display cabinets. It had been sent to Viv Richards and was the confirmation of his salary for the forthcoming season. At the bottom was Viv’s signature. The sum agreed was just under £9,000 for a six‑month contract. That equates to a salary of £31,000 today.At the time Richards was the best batsman in the world, just as Brian Lara – arguably – was in 1994 when Warwickshire paid him £40,000...
Bland evasions and spin left MPs in the dark about the thinking which prompted the ruling body to waste millions on a puntA few years back the former boss of Barclays, Bob Diamond, gave a masterclass in how not to appear before a Commons select committee. He turned up in an electric green tie that almost strobed on screen. He wittered on about himself. He patronised his interrogators. And he had no conception of convincing denial about whatever scandal it was that Barclays had got themselves into at the time. He was a disaster.The England and Wales Cricket Board, which appears to have a much larger bureaucracy than any piddling bank, did not make these mistakes. Led by the chairman,...