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,...
ECB’s competition takes first steps in engaging piece of contrived TV theatre as eight franchises hand out contractsRoll up. Roll up for the mystery tour. On a night of fevered transactional tension at the Sky TV studio complex English cricket rolled out its latest vision of the future. “We’re on the clock and we’re under way,” Ian Ward announced into the camera just before 7pm, firing the starter’s pistol on the inaugural men’s Hundred Draft. Related: The Spin | The Hundred sees ECB double down on ludicrous marketing-drivel Related: Stokes Supercharged and Woakes plays ball as the Hundred takes flight Continue reading...
The ECB has been burrowing itself into a Hundred-shaped hole, and instead of seeking a way out it ordered up a diggerSince it was first announced, back in the heady, innocent days when it lacked a name and the England and Wales Cricket Board was assumed to be gestating nothing more revolutionary than a new Twenty20 competition, the thing we now refer to as The Hundred has been hounded by sceptics.One criticism in particular has recurred intriguingly. Back in April 2018 an unnamed county representative at the meeting where the ECB’s plans were first announced described it to the Evening Standard as being “like something out of W1A”. This March a county executive told the Independent, on the subject of...
If England beat Sri Lanka it will help widen the gap between the top four and the restIt is not really the rain that is haunting the organisers of this World Cup; it is the results. England are about to play the 27th match at Leeds against Sri Lanka in a tournament that has 45 league matches before advancing to the semi-finals.Mathematically just about anything is still possible though Afghanistan would have to beat India on Sunday and win the rest of their games to have the slenderest chance of qualifying. Realistically it is hard to see how any team is going to displace the current top four – and the semi-finals are still over a fortnight away. Continue reading...
A 10-team First Division is a good idea but the shires will host the most low-key games during the school holidaysViewed in isolation, the proposals for English domestic cricket from 2020 onwards from the men’s domestic playing programme (MDPP) group, which was chaired by Leicestershire’s CEO, Wasim Khan, display rare common sense. The problems arise when all the packages outlined are put together.The most striking change has the First Division of the County Championship containing 10 teams in 2020 with the Second Division reduced to eight, a reversal of the current format. This is a good idea that more fairly reflects the strength of the counties. It removes the necessity for 25% of the sides in the First Division to...