A failure of governance

A failure of governance

Rich Clarke
CricketPaper
A failure of govnerance.jpeg

For me, The Hundred is just plain wrong.

It is an ill-considered gamble created by marketers with pound signs where their hearts should be and promoted with all the clarity and sincerity of Boris Johnson on the floor of the Commons. As far as I can see, there has never been a coherent long-term plan, no consistent explanation of how it supports the overall structure of the game and, before this week, nothing about how its success will be measured.

A chaotic communications strategy has pitched the majority of traditional county fans against it. However, the ECB have spaffed so much of their previously healthy reserves to ensure it can be hailed as a triumph that supporters fear its failure would bring down the entire county system.

Yet, ahead of the first games of The Hundred this week, CEO Tom Harrison raised a concern of his own - what would be the state of English cricket had his organisation not acted?

Sign up to my FREE weekly County Cricket newsletter

My short answer is far richer in reserves and communal spirit yet, like every other business, hoping this would be enough to keep them afloat until the pandemic has blown through. Like most sports, we would batten down the hatches and then build for the future once we can all emerge from our bunkers.

However, the very question also exposes a crucial concern for everyone with any semblance of an interest in county cricket - how to change.

Both sides in this fight (yes, that is where we are now) know the domestic game will wither still further if it does not alter its current trajectory. As cricketing competitions, the Championship and the Blast are in fine fettle but, in comparison to other sports, they have little relevancy for most of the UK population.

This decline has occurred on the ECB’s watch so, having failed to adequately engage with key stakeholders like the counties and the cricketing fanbase in finding a solution, it is arrogant beyond belief to say ‘look, we did something and just be thankful that we acted’.

As we will discuss later, they even mishandled their best innovation, turned their biggest plus into a minus, and their ‘solution’ into a problem they must now overcome.

That said, clearly they are right to try to answer the key question of cricket’s position in UK sport. Unfortunately, the solution they chose will weaken the roots of the game and put precious resources into the hands of the few not the many. Meanwhile, their methods - secrecy, lack of debate or outside scrutiny, non-disclosure agreements, ‘fait accompli’ decisions, PR disasters - undermine the very trust required to get a new tournament wider acceptance.

I have worked in big sporting organisations trying to enact major change. It is tough to push back against clever C-suite execs who are well-briefed to knock down any objections, that is if they even deign to entertain them. A type of groupthink can take over where intense internal evangelism dismisses contrary views as wrong-headed, ignorant or lacking the ‘real’ perspective, while simultaneously completely missing the real drivers, usually financial, behind the very move they are making.

To use a euphemism created by the architects of another shameless grab for power and money, the European Super League, I am a legacy fan. This is, of course, code for middle-aged. I am beyond the Millennial and Gen Z demographics that sport, via the television companies and sponsors it needs, is chasing these days. Therefore, as the argument goes, I am unable to adjust to anything new. As my crowd were told at the start of this fiasco, ‘The Hundred is not for you’.

This overlooks the power of parents and grandparents for our exposure to sport in our formative years and the devotion we carry for our teams throughout our lives. I support Essex because my Dad did and I have been trying to get my kids to follow suit.

Still, the simplistic underpinning of the Hundred seems to run like this – you are middle-aged, you do not like The Hundred therefore you do not like change so there is no point engaging with you.

Well, I am desperate for change in English domestic cricket. I just want change that supports the structure of the county game, not one that poses an existential threat to it, as that will strengthen the foundation of cricket across the country, for every demographic group in the long term. The Hundred is not the only route to a brighter future but it has been presented as such.

Now, let’s be realistic. Counties and their members can be a difficult lot. My sobriquet as The Grumbler is a playful dig in the ribs at the minority who moan about every… damn… thing. But precious few supporters of major sports in the UK have had to handle as much consistent change over the past few decades. Laws are tweaked annually, calendars shift dramatically, competitions have come and gone, even the Championship has moved from one division to two divisions to three conferences plus a final. This report says go right, then another review says let’s go left. No two seasons are ever alike.

And, of course, these supposed stick-in-the-muds embraced the very format that has revolutionised the game. Flak has been thrown at traditional fans over their resistance to The Hundred as ‘we heard the same noise over T20’ two decades ago. Only those who were not there or have a vested interest can think this. How the hell do you think it took off? Who bought the tickets, filled the stadiums and provided the proof of concept the IPL and Big Bash wanted to copy? Even though my team was not playing, I was in the 25,000-strong crowd at the first T20 at Lord’s in 2004 because it was already apparent this would be an historic event. The format had been launched a year earlier and it was greeted with a mixture of amusement and bemusement. We are British after all. But we voted with our feet within the first year because the matches were fun and it was marvellous to see our counties relevant once more. Relatively few minded how it would soon dominate the season as it was clearly bringing much-needed audience and revenue into the game.

The failure to capitalise on their own invention, like the planned, deliberate process to take cricket from free-to-air television, are era-defining failures that can be laid firmly at the ECB’s door. It has been suggested that remedying these issues, along with the fact the key individuals have tied their future to its inception, meant The Hundred had to happen despite spiralling costs, internal dissent and a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic. If that is true then it must rank as the biggest crime of all.

I don’t want to paint the ECB as dastardly evil-doers or incompetent buffoons. Their prompt and decisive action, supported by up-front money from the new television deal (note: only 16 per cent of which was from The Hundred) kept the lights on at many county grounds last season. The All-Stars scheme has provided a crucial route into the recreational game for youngsters and, of course, that Sky money has helped support the county structure for decades. Unfortunately, their actions have made this a black and white issue when there should have been shades of grey.

Legacy fans were always going to take pot-shots from the shadows when The Hundred started. That is what we do. But the anger and division has been stoked up to unprecedented levels by broad, dismissive brush strokes from those running the game. True custodians are inclusive, transparent and have constant dialogue with stakeholders. They do not operate covertly, fail to engage the opinion of their patrons and then present a take-it-or-leave-it decision. The foreign owners in the Premier League learned that the hard way after their ESL experience and, frankly, those running English cricket should know better.

Change does not equal The Hundred and The Hundred does not equal change. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.

* This article first appeared in The Cricket Paper, get it every Sunday or subscribe here

* Sign up to my FREE weekly County Cricket newsletter

Last-Wicket-Stand-Pitch.jpg

If you like cricket, please consider buying my book, Last-Wicket Stand: Searching for Redemption, Revival and a Reason to Persevere in English County Cricket

🏴‍☠️ Buy from Independent bookshop 💰 Buy from Amazon | 👨‍💻 Buy from me | 🇺🇸 Buy in USA | 🇦🇺 Buy in Australia



50 and out? Why one-day cricket may fall through the cracks

50 and out? Why one-day cricket may fall through the cracks
Cricket, data and Foxes

Cricket, data and Foxes
0