Sep 30

Sep 30 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Fantastic finale to the Champ season | Success at Surrey, Notts & Middx | Warks send Yorks down | Strauss Review reaction - and it's not good | Hildreth and Hogan farewells

So that is that. Season over. Job done. Pack away the whites.

Congratulations to Surrey, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex for their success, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire for staying up. Sorry, I can’t bring myself to commiserate much with Yorkshire on their relegation. It is a horribly thorny issue and it is important not to condemn without trial and tar everyone at Headingley with the same brush but, for whatever reason, they have yet to satisfactorily answer very serious questions over racism and are seemingly miles away from punishment.

As I said in April, they should have played this season in Division Two if they were found guilty after a fair hearing. Yes, I know the scope of disciplinary powers prevented this but they pleaded poverty to keep international games and their whole season has been clouded by the issue. Ironically, had they been demoted they could have spent this term fighting back and might have won a return to the top flight. Now they may suffer the next two seasons in the basement (see below) and that is before any punishment is meted out.

One o f the key jobs of the winter is to conclude that saga and set in stone a process of meaningful change over the key areas of diversity - race, gender and socio-economic class.

Then there is the Strauss Review, which is discussed in detail below. As ever, it all comes down to agreeing what we really want from the game. Watching the YouTube figures climb during the tense finales involving Yorkshire and Warwickshire this week, I could not help thinking we should re-enforce the resilience of what we have not suck the life out of it then claim “look, we told you, we need fewer teams and more meaningless cricket”.

It was that very sense of meaning that left me deeply disappointed by the news that, following my interview, I would not be a ‘preferred candidate’ to become a member of the Essex board. I can still stand for election and, who knows, my niche twitter following and this newsletter might give me enough support to be elected. But a noisy social media account should not be confused with competence. Essex have some serious issues to address themselves and they need cohesion.

So what did I do to muzzle the black dog of depression? I stole the penultimate day of the campaign at Northampton watching my team. Three hours up the M1, £15 at the gate, endless coffee, a decent sausage roll and a good chat. As I walked in, a Northants boundary bounced up the off the rope and into the stands, eventually rolling down into my path. I tossed it back to Sir Alastair who shouted “thank you”.

Such little things cheer up aging fan-boys.

It was a sunny, late September day of simple pleasures and I came back refreshed.

Please, please, please don’t destroy the County Championship.

The conclusion of the County Championship

County cricket talking points: Surrey clinch title with match to spare (Guardian)

Day 68 – new Champions! (Cricket51Days)

Surrey end summer (King Cricket)

Surrey wrap up their 21st County Championship title with a game to spare after thrashing Yorkshire by 10 wickets... as coach Gareth Batty warns plans to cut the number of games could diminish the competition (Mail)

Durham docked 10 County Championship points following failed bat-gauge test (Cricketer)

Nottinghamshire bonus points secure promotion back to Division One

How Warwickshire went from being County Championship winners to relegation contenders in a single year (Wisden)

County cricket 2022 awards: the Spin’s final word on the season (Guardian)

Yorkshire win Second XI Championship

Head coach Sadler delighted as Northants secure top flight safety (Northampton Chronicle)

The Campaign to Save County Cricket

High-performance review proposals will threaten viability of 18-county game (Cricketer) ($)

"It increasingly feels as if the counties are being kept weak to ensure they are compliant. How can they attain any level of financial independence when their season is so artificially limited? How can th attract optimum membership levels when they host so few home games? How can they attract new audiences when their shop window – the T20 Blast – is limited to so few games at such sub-optimal times? And how can they benefit from the players they produce when the ECB executive seem so reluctant to allow them to appear for their clubs?"

All very good questions.

County Views: Surrey, Leicester, Sussex, Essex, Kent

Andrew Strauss warned 'hell will freeze over' before counties vote for cut to championship cricket (Telegraph) ($)

Schedule truce won’t last with county game polarised by Hundred (Times) ($)

Rebellion in the shires as counties consider response to Strauss Review (Cricinfo)

Strauss faces backlash from counties over plans to cut cricket schedule (Guardian)

Strauss review falls at first fence (Yorkshire Post)

Strauss off key as he seeks to strike the right chord for English cricket (Guardian)

This is the best piece of the lot. It’s by Jonathan Liew. He argues High-Performance and What It Takes To Win starts off as a great idea but turns into a joyless cult.

Peter Keen was the architect of Team GB’s success at London 2012. He has shown he has ‘what it takes’ to turn plucky losers into medallists. Here’s his quote from the Times earlier this year.

“Recently I have been asked to sum up how I feel about what has been achieved during the National Lottery-funded era of British global sporting success. The conclusion I have come to is I would happily trade it all — the medals, the records, the Super Saturdays, the gongs — for a thriving, safe and inclusive national competitive sport system.”

And cricket is a long way away from thriving and inclusive.

Gareth Batty warns against 'celebrity cricket' in county restructuring (Cricinfo)

Act to protect the County Championship - Yorkshire CCC members in call to club (Yorkshire Post)

Andrew Strauss review won't save red-ball cricket – but my plan will (Telegraph) ($)

As a piece of work, much of the Strauss Review makes sense and 15 of its 17 recommendations will be waved through. But if the other two are executed in anywhere near the form in which they have been articulated then expect another winter of cricketing discontent. In his chat with Kevin Howells at lunch on the last day of the Championship season, George Dobell suggested that the Strauss Review is an “agenda-driven’ exercise designed to justify decisions already made by the ECB and set-up by Teflon Tom Harrison’s regime under the notion that it would be meekly accepted. Yet it has been presented at a time of change, disharmony and disruption. Hence the reaction. Harrison, of course, is not carrying the can. After banking his obscene, immoral bonus, he has just got a consultancy gig helping Cricket South Africa with its broadcast rights. The tournament-that-shall-not-be-named was bundled through with little scrutiny, visibility and, given its importance, fanfare. As a result, the Strauss Review has had to be more open and accountable. But the initial con has hamstrung the chances of this current refo rm being put into practice without splitting the game still further. Honestly, I could not have chosen a better nickname for the ex-CEO. He’s left all his mess behind for others to clear up. Nothing has stuck to him.

Incidentally, Ed Warner’s blog suggests new ECB chair Richard Thomspon might use this opportunity to take back control for the counties. It would be nice to think that and, as I have said before, Thompson needs time and space.

However at a recent speech celebrating Surrey’s title win he was jeered after suggesting the county game “needs to learn to love” you-know-what.

It reminded me a crucial lesson I learnt working in sports organisations. The execs will have complete, wholehearted belief in whatever supports the growth of their organisation.

And that conviction will stay as strong even when they switch roles or organisations and have to change their mind.

Players - moves, contracts and news

Moves/Contracts: Rew (Somerset - 3 yr), Robinson (Kent to Durham), Majod (Surrey - new contract)

Departures: Scott (Gloucestershire - leaving)

It was nice to get a wicket with my last ball at Sophia Gardens - Hogan (Glamorgan CCC)

Australian cult hero retires at 41 (Zero Wicket)

James Hildreth interview: 'I struggle with the idea of playing for multiple teams' (Telegraph) ($)

Virtually no-one suggests cricketers are being greedy in the global pursuit of white-ball money. Not least the array of ex-cricketers occupying the media bench. We all get it - short career, need to make money while you can and all the usual blah.

I don’t want to appear the happy-clappy hippy of the county cricket scene. For a start I don’t have enough hair left to hold a flower. But James Hildreth is loved in Somerset for his one-clubbery. Thirty years ago, we only saw our heroes play for the teams we supported - our county and our country. If they put in a winter shift wearing someone else’s colours then it was out of our view.

Players who have moved to three or more counties without having been released at some stage are still relatively rare. But there has always been the pull towards big counties if you are being overlooked for England honours. Hildreth is perhaps the best modern-day county player not to be capped. I’ll bet someone, sometime advised him to move. But he did not.

That is why Somerset named a stand after him.

And that is also why, despite being a better batter and with a more illustrious career, there is no Kevin Pietersen Stand anywhere.

Zak Crawley: England and Kent opener ends 'worst summer' with positive mindset (BBC Sport)

Kent retire No 3 in honour of Darren Stevens (Kent CCC)

Darren Stevens: 'I'm performing at the highest level I've ever played at, so why stop?' (Cricinfo)

News, Views and Interviews

Somerset CCC supporters' column: Crowds are either purists or drinkers (Somerset County Gazette)

Whose game is it anyway? (Big Issue North)

I am halfway through Duncan Stone's book. It is an engaging read on a topic close to my heart. The silence in key quarters is no surprise. The public school dominance both in society and cricket is so debilitating to our progress.

Let's just look at the last 10 years of the UK government, the inequality it has allowed to grow and the decisions it has made. The Etonians’ stellar confidence far outstrips their competence. No matter how clever you think you are proroguing Parliament is still illegal and, in this time of hardship, the market will react if you destabilise the economy in order to give the rich tax cuts.

As a former US treasury head said this week "The UK seems like an emerging market acting like a submerging market".

Under their watch, cricket and this country has lots its values, standing and morals.

It is time for a change of leadership. Many of us are sick of the same people from the same backgrounds making the same mistakes which somehow always seem to benefit the same people.

Donna Fraser appointed director of equality, diversity and inclusion for professional cricketers' association (Sky Sports)

Yorkshire CCC finally agree to pay off unfairly dismissed head coach Andrew Gale (Yorkshire Post)

Yorkshire County Cricket Club accused of making up prostitute claims in race row (Times) ($)

Ian Salisbury placed on gardening leave following dispute with Sussex player (Cricinfo)

More trouble at Sussex. They have lost a lot of established stars in recent years but showcased a lot of emerging talent too. That is linked, of course. But it has left them bobbing along the bottom of the Championship table for the past few years.

This article says talks of Matt Prior's criticism of Rob Andrew. The CEO has been in sharp focus in recent years but, as an aside, the plans for Hove look nice.

Plans for elite cricket ground in Lancashire, rivalling Old Trafford (Lancashire Telegraph)

Tim Hancock is to leave his position as Head of Talent Pathway (Gloucestershire CCC)