Jul 14

Jul 14 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Scarbados and Southport shine | Lancs Action Group rally members | Why do 'outsiders' love the Champ | What change will YOU make to save the game?

This week, I attended the first face-to-face meeting of Essex members in over three years. So much has changed at Chelmsford in that time. Yes, Sir Alastair Cook is still scoring centuries and Simon Harmer is still getting turn like no one else. But, off-the-pitch, the talk was about governance, the fall-out of those damaging racism claims and the effect of the-tournament-that-shall-not-be-named.

One key issue that has bubbled below the surface throughout this period is the development of the ground. While the main scoreboard is modern and state-of-the-art floodlights were installed at the cost of £1.4m, Chelmsford is not a cricketing cathedral. It is more like a vibrant, cramped, back-street church that fulfils parishoners’ needs but also serves to limit them. The ground itself is tatty and falling behind other counties. Right now, the away team are changing in a marquee and walking to another building for a shower after the end of play.

The club have a couple of years’ grace from ECB regulations and are developing a five-year plan. But all options will be considered, including a move away from Chelmsford.

So, with that in mind, here’s my question.

If you want county cricket to survive and you accept it needs to change, in what ways would YOU change it? And, most importantly, which much-loved aspects are you prepared to give up?

Let me nail my colours to the mast. I’ll back a move away from the only home ground I have ever known if it takes my county forward. The city centre location is a huge benefit to the club’s profile and accessibilty but it will also be desired by developers. That could fund a modern, bespoke venue out of town. Multi-use, multi-sport and housing multiple businesses, that has to be the future for a cash-straped sport like cricket. You just hope the new structure has a soul. Or, at least, allows fans to put their own souls into it.

I covered Hampshire in the final few years at Northlands Road and stood on a windswept heath overlooking a motorway as execs foretold of a bright future in a mega-stadium at West End. Whatever you think of the complex on that site 30 years later, it has taken its hosts from a middling, shire county to an international destination of choice.

Unfortunately, these days the venue is more important than its host. Many clubs are events companies who just happen to play sport. That is why you go to AgeasBowl.com, TrentBridge.com and Edgbaston.com for news of those county teams, not urls containing their names.

The lure of history is strong among sports fans, especially county cricket devotees. But Essex were an impoverished roaming club until, by a stroke of good fortune, Trevor Bailey was seated with the Warwickshire Supporters Association at a dinner to celebrate Worcestershire’s title win in late 1965. By the end of the night, the all-rounder-and-captain-cum-secretary had secured a £15,000 interest-free loan (almost £250,000 today) and, with the money, the county bought the lease at Chelmsford.

But let’s not sugar-coat it. In 1966, Essex were still playing at Leyton, Westcliff, Colchester, Clacton, Ilford, Brentwood, Southend and Romford, making a loss at all but the last two. Buckets were being passed around among the crowd to keep the club afloat and the coach was unpaid.

In a week in which Yorkshire played at Scarborough and Lancashire returned to Southport, I lament the loss of the outgrounds of my era - Colchester, Southend and Ilford.

Yet I’ll give up all those and Chelmsford too if my county can survive and thrive.

If we do not make our own future then we must accept that others will make it for us.

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News, Views and Interviews

This week, the sun put its hat on for the outground games at Southport, Scarbados and Merchant Taylor’s School, as the pictures below illustrate. Predictably, all were extremes. The northern two were high-scoring, with each first innings amassing an aggregate of 1,000 runs. Keaton Jennings got a third of Lancashire’s total by himself. His individual score was more than any team got at Merchant Taylor’s where all four innings saw less than 900 runs scored. Outground cricket is becoming rare but it is still special. Social media exuded the old-style buzz of the circus coming to town while Cricinfo and even The Times sent their writers to the seaside venues. Marvellous.

Cricket: Paul Edwards on his 30 years in the sun, writing about the sport he loves (Liverpool Echo)

There is no greater pride than coming together to host outground cricket (Cricketer)

First Class cricket returning to Southport (In Your Area)

Records tumble as Keaton Jennings racks up 318 on glorious day at Southport (Cricinfo)

Speaking of which, read the below…

Colin Ingram enjoying red-ball second-coming and refutes county criticism (Cricketer)

Mickey Arthur calls for ring-fenced Blast knockouts amid clash with England series (Cricinfo)

Why do so many ‘outsiders’ praise the county game yet so many ‘insiders’ seek to destroy it.

With the arrival of Bazball the County Championship must also seize opportunity to reset (Telegraph) ($)

Yes, yes, yes, Scyld Berry.

For the Championship to have any future, it must possess intrinsic value as a competition. If it only serves the England team it will die as a spectator sport. Practice exercises are not entertainment for paying customers.

Berry writes: "For the championship to attract a wider and younger audience, a fundamental change will be required in the mindset of county captains, coaches and committees; and in the points system. The number of points awarded for a draw, eight, is half the number for a victory, 16. How can that be right - how can there be such a big reward for playing attritional cricket - when the England Test captain, and the public at large, do not want to see draws?"

T20 Blast Finals Day: All you need to know (Cricketer)

County cricket: Yorkshire and Somerset reach Finals Day in style (Guardian)

T20 Blast Finals Day combined XI: Who joins Rilee Rossouw and Richard Gleeson? (Cricketer)

Will Beer: From economical bowling figures for Sussex... to financial planning (Sussex World)

Signings: Virdi (Somerset - loan), Pettman (Derbyshire - loan), Yadav (Middlesex - remainder of season)

Here’s one story…

MCC members revolt over plans to scrap Eton v Harrow and Oxford v Cambridge matches at Lord's (Telegraph) ($)

…and here’s another…

The cricket club making a difference during the cost of living crisis (Bristol Live)

I think I’ve made my point.

Then, there’s all this...

SPORTS AGENDA: The White Rose of Yorkshire still has too many thorns in wake of Azeem Rafiq racism scandal

"I started to feel I didn't belong in England": County cricketer reveals experiences of racism (The Cricketer)

Yorkshire CCC seeking new chief executive 'for most challenging time in club's history' (Yorkshire Post)

County cricket has so much work to do in the areas of race and class. I’d argue that properly addressing these issues may expedite the process of answering those fundamental questions on the purpose, structure and appeal of the game. The narrowing of the game’s audience in the last 30 years has meant fewer people truly care. And the ones that do are old and society does not listen to them. The revolt that caused the demise of the European Super League was immediate, widespread and very, very vocal. Barring the Cricket Supporters Association, see link below, and the Lancashire Action Group, see letter above, few organisations are actively standing up to the game’s governing body as they take blocks away from the bottom of county cricket’s teetering Jenga Tower.

Cricket finally goes the way of football – franchises rule the roost now (Times) ($)

A considered but worrying suggestion from Mike Atherton. If franchises dominate and the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named is awash with private money, mostly venture capital, it will be anathema to everything that makes cricket special. Expect the birth of the Birmingham Knight Riders and Southern Sunrisers as IPL groups look to expand. As Atherton says, this will make players very rich. But in truth, I really don’t care that much about Jos Buttler, Johnny Bairstow and Stuart Broad et al anyway. I only really see them on the telly. They are just characters in a sporting soap opera. It is Eastenders with sixes. In contrast, I have seen Luke Fletcher, Darren Stevens and Tim Murtagh puff their way through many an over then plod down to Third Man to recover. They are real and so are the counties for whom they play. These exist 24/7, 365 and then you can multiply that figure by 150, the number of years they have been in existence. Springing into life for a month each year with a sparkling social media campaign will never compare.

Toby Roland-Jones: Never say never to an England recall – I’m bowling as well as I have done in a long time (Wisden)

Tom Haines: Sussex captain suffers broken hand against Leicestershire (BBC Sport)

Former Lancashire ace Luke Sutton witnessed first-hand the changing role of a wicketkeeper (Lancashire Evening Post)

And finally…

Howzat for love and devotion! Diamond wedding couple spend anniversary serving tea to cricket spectators in Chesterfield (Derbyshire Times)