I’d like to welcome back a familiar face to TFT. News broke a few days ago that Waitrose will not renew their sponsorship of the England cricket teams. Who better to react to developments than my old co-editor Maxie Allen? He’s been following events from afar with interest … Here are a few thoughts about the recent news that Waitrose have dumped the ECB. The supermarket chain decided, at the earliest possible opportunity, not to renew their sponsorship of the England teams...
The Lost Key To The Crown Jewels – How Cricket On Free-To-Air Television Vanished
We make no apology for returning time and again to the issue of cricket on free-to-air television. This has become an increasingly crucial battleground for those who campaign to democratise cricket and broaden public access to the game. The issue arouses fierce emotions in every sport. The announcement that Sky Sports have snatched The Open golf away from the BBC was met with widespread dismay. Exactly who welcomed the deal, except BSkyB shareholders? Piece by piece the nation’s sporting...
The princess and the KP
It took Paul Downton a month to fatally and irrevocably destroy his authority by making an absurd decision which defied all logic, and which he was entirely unable to explain in public. Andrew Strauss has managed it in just two days. Very few people were calling for the immediate restoration of Kevin Pietersen to the England side. The desire was only for natural justice: for Pietersen to be treated in an identical manner to any other player – or if not, to have the reasons properly and...
A letter to Colin Graves and Tom Harrison
Dear Colin Graves and Tom Harrison, Despite what you might think, we wish you all the best in your new jobs. As supporters, we want English cricket to flourish, the England teams to be successful, and the English crickosphere to be a happy and harmonious place for everyone – players, supporters, media and management. Colin, as sole nominee for the next ECB chair, and Tom, as newly appointed ECB chief executive – you are the two people best placed to achieve these aims. There is a...
No cricket on terrestrial television until 2020 (at least)
Yesterday we talked about the impending coronation of Colin Graves as ECB chairman. In breaking the story, the Telegraph’s Nick Hoult reported that the county chairmen – who want to ditch Giles Clarke in favour of Graves – are also set to discuss a partial restoration of live cricket on terrestrial television. But now that can’t happen until 2020 at the earliest. Sky Sports today announced they are exercising an option in their ECB contract to extend their broadcast...
The Kevin Pietersen Sacking: The Silence Is Deafening
Ten days have now passed since the confidentiality agreement expired and still the ECB haven’t explained the Kevin Pietersen sacking. What are they waiting for? Huge significance was attached to the lifting of Pietersen’s gagging clause. What would he say? And now he’s said it, what does it mean? But amid all the heat and noise around his book (see our review by Tregaskis), it’s been slightly overlooked that the ECB themselves are now also free to speak. They can tell us...
