Sticky Wicket

There is no doubting that in his day, Dean Headley was a class act. From a young age, Headley was rubbing shoulders with up and coming overseas and established pros in the Birmingham League. Back then, that was the place to be noticed and put you on the road to the professional game. Headley, speaking recently in the Cricket Paper, reckons that club cricket is not producing the players it should be since the ECB Premier Leagues were introduced and that there is no no clear pathway for aspiring youngsters.

Allowing for the natural tendency to believe that everything was better back in your day, Headley seems to identify the separation of First XI from the rest of their clubs as being at the root of the problem.

The whole idea of Premier Leagues was to replicate Grade Cricket in Australia as being the route to the first class game. That was part of the MacLaurin Report which also recommended getting rid of the clutter of Second XI and Minor Counties Cricket.  While the Premier Leagues were introduced, Minor Counties and Second XI cricket remained and the whole purpose of Premier Leagues foundered.

But to say that they do not produce or develop players for the professional game, is with respect to Headley, simply not the case. Headley was richly talented and found himself playing at the sharp end of club cricket in his teens. Much like today. If you are going to have any real prospect of playing in the professional game today, you need to be good enough to be playing Premier League cricket by the age of 15 or 16.

Generally, the path to the professional game involves playing county representational cricket, first class or minor, and getting into a first class county academy. But that is only half the story and most promising youngsters are already embedded in clubs. Where that club is a premier league club, most talented youngsters appear regularly from a young age. In cases where the promising youngster’s club is not a PL club, he will be encouraged to move to a PL club to continue his development.

The path to professionalism is probably no less tortuous today than it was in Headley’s day, maybe a little more so given the various formats of the game that now exist. Discerning a clear “staircase of and to excellence” is not easy. To someone of Headley’s talent, his ascent to stardom probably looks straightforward from today’s perspective. Little wonder then that he thinks it is all much more difficult today.

But club cricket at Premier League level provides a valuable stepping stone and place of learning for aspiring youngsters not to mention a serious proving ground. It is doing a real job. Not perhaps the one it was designed for but that is through no fault of its own, but a real job nonetheless. Long may it continue.

SW

There must be somehting in the air or water at ECB HQ above or the Grey Lubyanka as it is known to some of its inmates. It is as charmless inside as it is out.

The ECB has announced that its all new 8 city comp will not be T20 after all but will be a 100 balls a side – 15 conventional overs and some sort of super over involving 10 balls at the end. Apparently this is going to have them flocking in. I cannot imagine why? It is worth remembering that the ECB invented T20 only to fail miserably in its development as a domestic competition whilst other parts of the world took it to heights that the ECB could only dream off.

If they seriously think that this new format will be any more successful, they must be living in cloud cuckoo land.

Where is all this going to end? Answer: as a complete failure allied to the emasculation of existing forms of cricket which the ECB is allowing to fall by the wayside in its blinkered pursuit of this insane project.

SW.

 

 

 

The news that Ed Smith has been appointed as an England Selector is bemusing. Having spent the last 10 years building a career as a writer, broadcaster and journalist, a return to the fold in the guise of a selector is a strange one.

Just what does he bring to the party? Well, a big intellect and 10 years’ objective and rather erudite and readable observations on the game. Not to mention a former career in cricket that included a stalled international career. I always felt he was very unlucky at Test level and just didn’t quite get the rub of the green – ironically to the enduring benefit of the man who has now appointed him, Andrew Strauss.

Both at Kent and Middlesex, where he was captain, Smith enjoyed an uneasy and distant relationship with his players, apparently because he was on a completely different intellectual plane. Will this now work in his favour as a selector?

Hard to say becasue at the end of the day, the exercise of choosing which players represent England is a fairly prosaic exercise that varies from format to format. There is much mention these days of adopting a “Moneyball approach” not only to selection of players but also to the tactics that are to be adopted when certain players are batting or bowling. Apparently, “scouts” are to be sent out to run the rule over players becasue Trev the Coach has not got the time (and probably not got the inclinaction) to wander the shires and acquaint himself with who  is hot and who is not.

If we take the England top order and ignore the mantra that “there is no one else out there” and after wading through all the Kolpaks and overseas, the reality is that there are probably no more than half a dozen current candidates waiting in the wings, some of whom have already had a go, others not. So checking them out is hardly going to be a major operation. Ultimately, form apart, selection comes down to “Do we maintain the status quo or do we take a chance”, more often, these days, a leap into the dark. It is hard to see Smith making a real difference or bringing something to the party that is not already there.

I should have thought that Smith is far more effective being out of the system and bringing his intellect and sharp powers of observation to bear on the shortcomings of teams, players coaches and selectors rather that turning his hand to an exercise which will compromise everything he currently does and stands for.

SW

The current addition of Private Eye contains an hilarious article about current (for how much longer?) ECB Chairman, Colin Graves. Not content with unashamedly seeking, no by your leave or rather no by the Board of Directors of the ECB’s leave, to create a two speed county system by throwing money at some counties and not others, Graves is now throwing his weight around with ESPN Cricinfo and a its correspondent George Dobell, having instructed legal eagles to fire off a letter before action concerning Dobell’s comments on Graves’ stewardship of the ECB.

Like any bully, he does not pick on the big boys in the playground, preferring to pick on someone smaller. Any chances of suing Dobell and Cricinfo have been thoroughly scotched by the Eye’s intervention, but not before the ECB’s cash has been wasted paying for Graves’ legal costs.

Apparently the Creator Of Costcutter objected to the picture of Graves used on Cricinfo which showed off a terrific set of gnashers. It took a while to racell who they reminded me of, but in the end it came to me – Dick Emery’s vicar!

SW

My thoughts turn today to Surrey. Soon to be the cricketing home of recently retired South African quick Morne Morkel. Yet another Kolpak cricketer, one of many. It’s that time of year when the papers contain reviews of First Class Counties’ prospects for the forthcoming season and each County will swell their ranks with two or more overseas players. Of course, Morne does not count as an overseas but de facto he is. I cannot be bothered to do the arithmetic, but if I were to total up the genuine overseas and the all Kolpaks, the number of players not from the UK playing across the 18 First Class counties would add up to a substantial proportion of the  first choice playing force. English cricket is the only place where this happens. You don’t get droves of English professionals migrating to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa for their summers.

What good does this really do for English cricket? Don’t get me wrong, I really admire Morne Morkel for the player he is and all credit to Surrey for maximising his post-international pension pot. But what good do all these Kolpaks and overseas really do? Very few such players materially boost attendances. They might give a county a slightly better chance of gaining promotion or avoiding relegation, but so what? What they do do is present a massive obstacle to the development of the home grown players and if you take the view, as I do, that the sole purpose of county cricket is to identify and nurture home grown talent for the potential benefit of international cricket, the presence of so many players from abroad is utterly perverse.

Already gone from Surrey is Zafar Ansari. The Times reports that he has written  beautifully crafted, almost elegiac piece for the 2018 Wisden explaining his departure from professional cricket. Apparently, this super bright lad (double first from Cambridge etc) struggles with the competitive ethos of sport and its emphasis on personal responsibility. So, to cut a long story short, he bailed out.

Call me an old cynic if you will, but a more prosaic explanation might well be that he was bright enough to realise that by the tender age of 25, he had ticked every box he possibly could in cricket, had gone about as far as he was ever going to go in the game and had no desire to spend the next few years slogging around the circuit in the remote hope of making it back into the England set up in the company some at least who read The Sun upside down (becasue they know no better) and regard farting and practical jokes as the height of humour and social intercourse.

As it is, he has brilliantly augmented his academic CV with a terrific sporting side and will be a “first draft pick” for many a law firm who like that sort of thing. Becasue that is what he currently studying to do. Yes he is studying law, a highly competitive, dog eat dog world with narrow horizons and an emphasis on personal responsibility. In other words, all the characteristics that were the apparent reasons for giving up cricket. Funny that!

SW

 

 

 

Overnight, New Zealand managed to do somehting which England have failed now to do for a very long time, which is to bat out the last day of a Test and hold on for a draw. In fairness, England are not alone in lacking that sort of dour resilience, but the fact remains that NZ managed something that you would not back England to do and in doing so, won this Test series.

Jonny Bairstow however thinks that England will begin the summer on an upward curve. He must be delusional in view of the uncertainties and questionmarks that surround this current England side. Neither the batting line up nor the bowling attack is remotely settled. The talismanic Stokes’ form and fitness are all over the shop and he has a lot on his plate. How long has Cook got? And Root too is failing to post big scores too often for comfort. On the bowling front, England remain far too dependent upon Broad and Anderson and seem frightened to make decisive decisions over the rest of the bowling. I could go on.

More interesting however were Bairstow’s observations on Root’s captaincy which amounted to little more than that the learning process had gone well over the winter. Might young JB think he could be doing a much better job? Watch this space?

SW

Lewis Hamilton recently observed that Formula One lacked any diversity and that nothing had really changed in his 11 years in the sport. Chapeau to him for making the point, though what good it will do remains to be seen.

So I began to wonder just how diverse cricket is. Superficially, you might ask why on earth I am posing that question? Cricket after all is played all around the world by nearly every creed and colour. Certainly, my experience of the game is that people are welcomed to clubs and teams for their willingness and ability to play the game regardless of the colour of their skin or their religion, as it should be. If some clubs are more white or more Asian, it is invariably the consequence of the catchment area and nothing more sinister.

But attend a Test match or a one day international in England and what do we find? If England are playing India or Pakistan, invariably the UK citizens of  Indian and Pakistani descent will turn out to support the visiting side as it affords an opportunity to support the country of their forebears. Until the West Indies’ star wained in the cricketing firmament, it used to be the same with the Afro Caribbean population.

But go to Lords when Australia or South Africa or New Zealand are in town and what do we find? Observe the serried ranks of MCC members, so obviously male and public school for the most part, and you struggle to spot a coloured face. Look around you in the stands and at best, all you will find is a smattering of non white faces. Observe the boxes of blue chip companies, City solicitors etc. Not too many non-white faces there…

Just how many people with ethnic backgrounds occupy senior administrative roles in the the ECB or the MCC? How many chairman or committeemen of First Class Counties or, for that matter, Minor Counties are from ethnic backgrounds? The answer is very few, if any. First Class four day cricket spectating seems to be the preserve of white OAPs, as is Minor Counties cricket.

Given the number of Asian players in the game and how plentiful they are in county and national age group sides from U11 to U19, it is surprising that only Moeen Ali is regularly playing for England. In terms of players of Afro Caribbean origin, it would appear these days that you have a better chance of playing for England if you are plucked out of, say, Barbados, come to the UK and play cricket on a public school scholarship and then join a county. Just what is being done to attract kids from the Afro Caribbean community in the UK into cricket these days? If you evaluate that question by a review of the what the last decade has produced, the answer is: Not very much. Given the prowess of Afro Caribbean youngsters in every other sporting field, it simply cannot be the case that there are none good enough.

So on closer inspection, diversity and inclusively soon dries up in cricket in this country and the old order changeth but little. Will the President of the MCC or the England Captain ever be black or Asian?

One of Giles Clarke’s more preposterous yet revealing remarks, even for him, was that Alastair Cook was ‘a very good role model and he and his family are very much the sort of people we want the England captain and his family to be’ sums it up. Cricket is still a game run by and for the benefit of the “right sort of people”. In other words, a world where diversity plays little part. Just like football. Stacks of quality black players and virtually none in senior management, coaching and administration.

Ironically, the ECB are hoping and praying that when they roll out their shiny new T20 competition, the Asian community will change the habits of a lifetime turn out in droves. Whether that happens remains to be seen but if it does not happen, the powers that be will only have themselves to blame.

SW

 

A few days on and Tampergate is now all out in the open. Sure enough, and true to form, the Boy from Matraville was at the heart of it all and now we have the unedifying image of Steve Smith blubbing away. In fairness, I think I would be blubbing at all the wonga and status that has suddenly gone west as a result of all this, what with losing the captaincy of the Australian Cricket Team, a lucrative CA contract not to mention the riches of the IPL and Lord knows how many sponsorship deals.  North of OZ $4 Million I reckon. Yep, I would be crying buckets. Oddly enough, I suspect that Warner will cope with it a lot better, though whether Candice will want him under her feet all the time is another matter! Anyway, plenty of time for nipping off to Randwick Races.

Less edifying is the fact that young Bancroft was given a sentence almost as severe as the other two but one of the most unattractive images of the whole affair was the BBC’s Dan Roan’s gauche attempts to “doorstep” the protagonists as they left their hotel for their team bus. I have no idea what he thought he would achieve with his moronic questions apart perhaps from goading someone into flooring him, which, upon mature reflection, he might have come to realise, he richly deserved. He looked such a prat.

Meanwhile, all the Has Beans and Never Wozzas continue to chip in with their penny’s worth. Given that ball tampering will continue unabated in more subtle forms until the end of time, it is all getting very tedious. Nice to see Stuart Broad adding his thoughts – personally, I regarding blatantly not walking as a far more heinous crime and if my memory serves me well, he has paid no little attention to the state of a cricket ball in the past. Besides, his thoughts might be better addressed to trying to take 20 NZ wickets in the forthcoming Test at the wonderful Hagley Oval as his career tails off.

SW

 

Well, true to form, England receieved a sound thrashing in the First Test at Auckland, the media feeding frenzy gets ever more hysterical over the Australian ball tampering and true to form, the ICC has meted out some utterly pathetic sanctions against Smith and Bancroft whilst the finger of blame for ball tampering points ever more closely to Dave Warner whose hand taping is now regarding as the method previously used until young Bancroft was roped in to do the job.

It is typical of a rather pathetic England Test XI now to come forward with their suspicions that the ball was being tampered with in the Ashes series – as though but for that, of course, they would have run out winners by a country mile. They may well be right that the ball was being tampered with but nothing excuses their lameness in the Ashes which is now being replicated in New Zealand.

Goodness knows what Cricket Australia will do in terns if sanction but personally, I would like to see Australia relegated to a second tier Test team and forced to quality for a return to the top table. Won’t happen of course becasue that would involve substantial financial disadvantages to all the powers that be.

You can tell Mike Atherton is a bright guy by the rather bewitching way in which he sidestepped his own ball tampering form to focus on whether Australia are a team out of control. Clever that……

SW

 

 

 

The latest shenanigans in the Third Test between South Africa and Australia will give the watching hacks and many others besides plenty to write about for days if not weeks ahead. The usual hyperbolic outpourings of outrage, dismay and not a little cant and hypocrisy will be trotted out in every form of media by the world and its wife. By the end of the week, I expect Theresa May will have been asked for her views. More pertinently, I do wonder what that former ball tamperer Mike Atherton will have to say on the matter. Or Sashin Tendulkhar for that matter?

Not that I hold any brief or retain any sympathy for Australia or for Steve Smith or his Gauleiter, Dave Warner. When there is trouble in and around the Australian cricket team, you can be sure that Dave Warner is not far away. And sure enough when Cameron Bancroft, a victim in this sorry state of affairs, was shamefacedly telling the Umpires that all he had in his pocket was his sun glasses bag, the camera panned to Warner standing there with the makings of an insouciant “nothing to do with me mate” grin across his face.

As Smith would later confirm by reference to his un-named “leadership team”, Warner knew exactly what was going on and you can just imagine Warner pressurising young Bancroft into doing it. It was amusing to note that when asked a direct question by the Press as to who had got him to tamper with the ball, Bancroft declined to rat on his mates – because let’s face it, in Warner World, a rat is a rat and that sort of thing does not go unpunished.

In the previous test, Warner sledged Quinton De Kock to such a degree that the latter was goaded into reminding Dave about a little story concerning his missus. Dave got all arsey and indignant and wanted to give Quinton a bashing because, according to Dave, Quinton had “crossed the line”. To which I say, if you cannot take it, you should not dish it out and if you take things to extremes, you can expect others to do so.

For someone with such a sublime talent, Warner can be such a moron. Maybe it is a case of little big man syndrome or maybe it a matter of “you can take the boy out of Matraville, but you cannot take Matraville out of the boy”.

SW