Afternoon all. I trust you had a pleasant weekend. Mine was spent cutting the lawn and making several trips to the tip. So yeah, not the best couple of days but at least the sun was shining.
Anyway, let’s get down to business. The first item on the agenda is Jimmy Anderson, who made some thought-provoking comments in this article on cricinfo. He seems a big miffed that he wasn’t considered as a candidate to replace Alastair Cook as test captain. In fact, the article suggests that nobody at the ECB even talked to him about the possibility.
I find this a bit odd. Although I’ve never considered Jimmy to be a natural leader – and Jimmy himself says he’s unsure whether he would’ve accepted the job – I would’ve thought that Andrew Strauss’s world famous ‘process’ might have included speaking to England’s record wicket taker.
Even if Anderson wasn’t in the running, surely the ECB should have picked his brains? Jimmy has a lot of experience and he’s the undisputed leader of the attack. Perhaps the process wasn’t as thorough as we were led to believe?
Another interesting point that Jimmy raised is whether fast bowlers make good captains …
“Most of the fast bowling captains I’ve known have been pretty successful and I don’t know why it is that more fast bowlers aren’t given the opportunity to do it. I’m all for bowlers being captains.”
Personally I have mixed feelings about bowlers being captains. I don’t think one can make generalisations, as it very much depends on the person, but I’ve always liked the idea of captains standing at slip so they’re close to the action and can talk to the keeper. From slip a captain can assess the pitch and see exactly how the ball is behaving.
Although Jimmy is a great fielder and a handy slipper (especially when the spinners are on), the vast majority of fast bowlers aren’t particularly adept close to the wicket. I concede this is a somewhat old fashioned view, and that pacemen are more athletic than they used to be, but I still think batsmen are generally better fielders and make better captains too.
There’s also obviously a concern that fast bowlers are too wrapped up in their own performance, and have to give too much physically, to make objective and clear headed tactical decisions. Indeed, the thought of Stuart Broad being in charge of DRS referrals was one of the reasons why it would’ve been a risk to make him test captain.
Having said all that, I quite like the idea of spin bowlers being captains. Perhaps I just can’t shake the image of Ray Illingworth stroking his chin as he concocts some tactical masterstroke. At least spinners don’t have to make the same physical sacrifices that pacemen do.
The next issue on the agenda is the start of county cricket season. Who do you think will win the championship this year? Personally I can’t see past Yorkshire. They have so much strength in depth and should benefit from having Gary Ballance available all summer. It will be interesting to see how he responds to the captaincy.
Middlesex will obviously be strong again too. They have a number of prolific county performers like Nick Gubbins and Toby Roland Jones. Will Eoin Morgan actually get a game on the rare occasions he’s available?
Down in division two I sincerely hope that Durham have a productive year. There is still a lot of ill feeling towards the ECB up at the Riverside – Sylvia and Peter Savage’s petition accumulated almost 2,000 signatures – and I’d like nothing more than to see the county turn things around quickly.
Durham’s quest won’t be easy without the likes of Scott Borthwick though, although Chris Rushworth and the fit again Mark Wood should rip through most division two batting line-ups. Can Durham win promotion despite their 48 point deduction? It’s a tall order, and they’ll need some excellent weather, but stranger things have happened.
Finally I should mention that the IPL starts this week. Are you excited? Are you absolutely wetting yourself in frenzied anticipation? Well personally I couldn’t give a monkeys. It should be slightly more interesting with the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Tymal Mills, Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes likely to feature (if selected) but it’s difficult to get excited about a tournament that’s so unashamedly commercial.
I have followed the IPL from time to time, and it’s occasionally enjoyable, but with England set to introduce their own artificial city-based T20 tournament in a couple of year’s time, it’s impossible not to feel extremely concerned about the future of international cricket – especially test cricket.
Having three of these big T20 tournaments per year means there will effectively be a huge T20 tournament on (that’s assuming the English one doesn’t fall on its arse) for approximately 16 weeks by 2019. That’s almost a third of the calendar year! Is this really a good thing for cricket?
The authorities must try to remember that’s it’s almost impossible for people to feel deliriously enthusiastic all the bloody time. Having these three peaks of T20 excitement every year will make it really difficult for cricket fans around the world, not to mention the players, to get enthused about other forms of the game.
If the IPL, Big Bash, and Harrison’s Harebrained Have A Hit are really the future of cricket, then count me out. Soon there won’t be room for anything else.
James Morgan
I see Yorkshire struggling this year they start the season with significant injuries in the bowling (Brooks, Sidebottom, Willey, Fisher) and then lose about half a side to the Champions Trophy squad which may include overseas signing Handscomb. I think its a good move to get Ballance in as Captain but his runs are more important as his returns last summer were modest even away from International Cricket.
Hopefully Lees can show people why everyone was so excited about him when he first burst onto the scene in 2014. He averaged nearly bang on 40 for the CC last year but really Yorkshire will need more form him if they are going to challenge.
Jack Leaning is basically the only other specialist bat he was the young player of the year in 2015 but that seems as long time ago and had to be left out of the title run in during the 2016 season.
I just look at other sides who have strengthened with Kolpaks and will have significantly less England based disruption and think it might be a good year for Yorkshire if they can avoid relegation and give some of the younger players some experience
The Bairstow issue is going to rankle those at Headingley as well, he has played one ODI and two warmup games in 2017 but has been rested for the first CC match. Broad played more in the BBL and yet he is free to play the MCCU games not to mention those going to the IPL. England should really consider if they need him in the CT squad if he isn’t going to play with that appearing unlikely given he isn’t even batting first reserve now behind Billings who is also a second Keeping option
James
“Finally I should mention that the IPL starts this week. Are you excited? Are you absolutely wetting yourself in frenzied anticipation? Well personally I couldn’t give a monkeys. It should be slightly more interesting with the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Tymal Mills, Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes likely to feature (if selected) but it’s difficult to get excited about a tournament that’s so unashamedly commercial.”
I couldn’t care less. The thing that grates more than anything else with the IPL is the commentary – well thought through, independent cricket commentary is a true art form. Done well, T20 commentary can be as good and interesting in a different way to Test commentary. The IPL plug-a-minute everything-is-literally-the-best-ever style, where criticism is basically outlawed, is such total anathema that it would ruin all but the best cricket.
However, I think this undermines your other point:
“The authorities must try to remember that’s it’s almost impossible for people to feel deliriously enthusiastic all the bloody time. Having these three peaks of T20 excitement every year will make it really difficult for cricket fans around the world, not to mention the players, to get enthused about other forms of the game.”
The answer is that different fans will care about different tournaments, and if we had our own IPL/BBL then English fans would care even less about overseas tournaments.
The real danger is the effect that 16 weeks of T20 would have on international availability, and which would take precedence where there is a clash either in terms of player demand or conflicting scheduling. The precedents in India and Australia are not encouraging.
Hi Rich. My experience on social media has convinced me that cricket fans are basically cricket fans. There might be some people who love T20 and dislike first class cricket and ODI cricket but I think these people are in a minority. Generally the people who follow T20 and test matches on Twitter, and interact with the TFT feed, are the same whatever form of the game is being played at a particular time. That’s one of the reasons why I think Harrison’s T20 vision of targeting a completely different audience is flawed. I just don’t see it.
Of course I totally agree with your final point. It’s a massive worry. When exactly are players like Stokes going to get a rest?
The point about conflicts is well made by both of you, but the effects are far worse in West indies than they are in either India or Australia.
You may well be right, but the subset of people you describe are inevitably hardcore cricket followers and possibly not representative – those people may well follow cricket all year round regardless of who is playing. In cricket as in so many other areas, social media is not necessarily a representative sample.
As a parallel, there are plenty of football fans who follow the Premier League and possibly a team in a lower league, two domestic cup competitions, two European cup competitions, international football and possibly some games from continental leagues. Every other summer they get an extra 6 weeks of Euros/World Cup, and are still bored enough by the end of July to start watching meaningless pre-season friendlies and obsessing over transfer sagas.
For those people there is no such thing as too much football – no doubt it is the same for plenty of people who follow cricket. But there are plenty of other football fans who are much more selective in what they watch/follow.
I also think there is a potential dividing line between those who follow mainly international cricket, and those who go the next level down to follow counties etc.
It’s not an ideal comparison because football is football. It’s always played over 90 mins. Cricket is different. I also don’t think club loyalties are as strong in cricket (generally speaking). There’s certainly less tribalism!
I agree that social media isn’t always representative but it backs up my own experience. Most of my friends enjoy cricket (some are cricket nuts and some just casual watchers) but they all, without exception, like and watch all forms of cricket. I’ve never met anyone who says ‘I love T20 and don’t like any other form of the game’. Although I do very occasionally meet someone who says ‘I love test cricket but have no time for T20’.
My instinct tells me that most cricket fans might prefer one form of the game but they still enjoy ALL cricket. For example, I much prefer test cricket but I’m still quite happy watching an ODI or T20 whether it’s on TV or if I’m invited to go in a group to watch a game live.
Oh, I absolutely agree as between different forms of the game.
But my point was that, if there are too many T20 franchise tournaments to watch (ie the 16 weeks of IPL, BB and “new English” T20), then English fans will likely scale back whatever interest they might have in IPL/BBL.
Just as, I imagine, it will be hard for the “new English” T20 to attract significant viewing figures from India or Australia. In fact, I really hope that they don’t even try!
Hi James: some interesting stuff in there. I think it might have been helpful to consult James Anderson on the future test captain, assuming he will get picked (Anderson, not Root), or at least one of the fast bowlers (they were united in their view of Kevin Pietersen).
I wish Durham well (my wife is from the area, and I’ve stayed in Lumley Castle, but never seen a ghost, or a witless Shane Watson – other than when reviewing LBW decisions, of course!). Very badly treated (Durham, not Shane Watson).
As regards the IPL, I enjoy it, in the same way that I enjoy the razzmatazz of WWE. Some of the fielding is brilliant, and it’s quite fun (though it would be vastly improved without Ravi Shastri or Danny Morrison).
Is the IPL still going? I haven’t seen a game since their inaugural season to be honest and fell better for it! I just prefer watching cricket rather than these contrived ‘slogfests’.
The big worry with the ECB bringing their own bat and ball is that the best players from four day and test cricket might be missing in action. And cricket fans may like these ‘slogfests’ but generally do not consider it cricket but a form of entertainment; they are also usually too busy watching either cricket or the cheerleader dancers to be worried about social media too!
I quite like T20 in general, but the IPL is a joke. It started out as this cricketing version of master’s football, all these old “famous names” who were completely past it, competing against Indian journeymen who wouldn’t get into a county 2nd XI. Then it turned out that half the teams were match fixing, and the other half just didn’t get caught. At least that explained all the full tosses and dropped lollipops.
I can’t understand how anyone can take it seriously. Its a just a massive betting ring. Surely the probability that any given game is actually a genuine contest is next to zero? Is it like how fans of WWE just enjoy the spectacle, without necessarily worrying about which bits are scripted and which aren’t?
I have always thought the organisers of the IPL have missed a trick. If they got the cheerleaders to swap with the cricketers a whole new audience could be attracted. The sight of the likes of Ben Stokes and Chris Gayle in short skirts and pom poms can only be matched elsewhere at the Friday night social meetings of the Conservative Party conference. And it might teach Gayle the meaning of harassment! It would be nearer to cricket than the standard IPL.
On the issue of the CC I can only see 3 possible champions; Yorkshire, Middlesex and Warwickshire. A fit Yorkshire certainly have the best strength in depth – but will need it with calls and injuries. They also have 2 main seamers in Sidebottom and Bresnan who are not getting any younger. Middlesex have the batting but I feel their bowling is overrated, especially Roland Jones. Warwickshire have one big weakness, their opening bats. It amazes me that they have been prepared to go into 2017 relying on Portersfield, Westwood (and possibly Umeed). If this lot step up in 2017 Warwickshire could win with far and away the best middle order (counting only players likely to be largely available) and Jeetan Patel – but it is a big if. The deciding factor could be international calls where Warwickshire are best placed with only Woakes a likely absentee.
And finally, Jimmy and fast bowlers as captains. I have little to add to James’ points except to profoundly disagree with the suggestion that pacemen either are, or have been in the past, less athletic than batsmen. The very nature of the paceman’s role dictates that they have to be amongst the fittest and most athletic of cricketers. I think the article may be confusing a lack of athleticism with a need to recover after a burst of bowling. I have this (disturbing) picture in my mind of the likes of Colin Cowdrey, Inzaman, or – closer to home – ‘Bunter’ Key being lauded as examples of batting athleticism.
Hi Andy. I’m going to stick to my guns on this one. I think England are very lucky to have Anderson and Stokes who are both good bowlers and superb fielders. If you look at the Australian side, I wouldn’t say Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc or Lyon are amongst their best fielders. Ditto Steyn, Philander, Morkel / Riaz, Amir, Irfan / Shami, Yadav, Ishant. Normally it’s the batsmen fielding at second slip, in the covers or at point. I’m not saying bowlers can’t be the best fielder in the side (and it’s dangerous to make generalisations) but I do think there’s some truth to the stereotype of the fast bowler employing his size 11 boot to stop the ball on the boundary.
Perhaps we’re just disagreeing on the definition of ‘athletes’. I don’t deny for a second that modern bowlers are extremely fit. I’m just talking about their ability to pull of sensational catches and run outs. It’s fairly rare for a tall fast bowler to be able to pounce like a cat / sprint like a gazelle / swoop on a ball and produce an amazing run out. They might be very fit but their very height counts against them. Amazing fielders like Jonty Rhodes usually have a low centre of gravity.
You are right James, we are using 2 different measures. I agree with you about the disadvantage of height. The main exception I know to the size problem is Ricky Clarke, who is a genius at slip due to the reach of a giant and hands like shovels.
Captains often need the art of diplomacy and fast bowlers don’t always come across as natural diplomats.
Would have the advantage being different though, long ago John Snow, poet and rebel might have made an interesting captain. Jimmy too now; fielding at mid-on/off would help keep an eye on the batsmen in the slip cordon etc.
Boult and Southee are 2 excellent fielders for NZ too James, Southee suffers at times from not being able to take slip/gully catches off his own bowling, while Boult is a superb outfielder
No frenzied anticipation but, as a retired person, I’m happy to sit and watch any leather and willow contests rather than 101 american shows with people running round waving guns, bozoes inviting other bozoes home to sample their naff cooking or almost all the other stuff Sky thinks we should watch.
Looking forward to glimpses of Gayle, Kohli, ABDV, Steyn, Narine, Roy, Mills. Will instantly forget once a match is over.
Anderson doesn’t strike me as a very jolly chap.
I think Somerset must go close again. Their signing of Steve Davies is an inspired one.
It looks an interesting championship it’s a shame we won’t see more on Sky…instead it’ll be the farce that is the IPL..
I enjoy T20, the big bash fills some cold winter mornings and we have some good games, but I’ve never got the IPL, I just can’t believe what I’m seeing.
I’m fairly sure fast bowlers do not make good captains- Bob Willis anyone? However I would be surprised if he was not consulted.
Bob Willis’s record is a bit better than many perhaps realise. His W/L record of 1.4 is better than, say, Alastair Cook’s by some margin. He won home series against India, Pakistan and NZ – England lost their next home series against those three teams when Willis had gone. Losing the Ashes 2-1 away looks better now than it did then. Brearley had lost 3-0 in the preceeding series with very similar players on both sides (if anything, Brearley had the stronger team because Willis was hit by the first SA rebel tour).
I never saw him play as I was born just before he retired, but I would have loved to see Keith Miller captain in modern tests. The apoplexy amongst the suits would have been a joy to see as he did everything against the book. And the confusion amongst the current over coached players as he set his field by telling them to ‘scatter’…….
Every time I flick it on, I swear Pietersen is playing for a different team: ”Rising Supergiants Pune Challengers XI” or some bollocks. No I’ll be watching and listening to proper cricket, the Championship. Middlesex and Yorkshire are obvious favourites, as well as Notts in division two, but I expect big things from Essex, Sussex and Kent and hope Durham do well. Wonder if this Warwickshire finally manage to put it together?
You raise a really good point. Its hard to get enthusiastic about a particular team in T20 when the players are so obviously on the make (which I don’t blame them for). When those on the T20 global circuit represent so many different teams in different tournaments in the same year, how can they built a true affiliation or loyalty? Would Man Utd fans have loved Cantona so much if he’d also represented Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, River Plate and LA Galaxy in the same seasons?
How could anyone feel particularly strongly about a team that only plays for 5 weeks a year? Can you imagine having a girlfriend who you only saw for 5 weeks a year? How long would that relationship last before you got bored of waiting?
That’s 47 weeks when you don’t have a team to support – a 10 year old is going to have forgotten what cricket is by the time the season rolls around again.
Most sports leagues have seasons of AT LEAST 6 months. Baseball goes March to November. Basketball November to June. Ice Hockey October to May, NFL August to February, Rugby Union September to May, Soccer August to May. Rugby League February to October.
and we’re suggesting a new cricket league going July to August is going to compete for people’s attention? Seriously?
On another note, why do coloured cricket uniforms always look so much like a magic eye picture or an early 90s football kits http://sportsmaza.com/cricket/natwest-t20-blast/clubs-kits-official-logo/
Does the Glamorgan one remind anyone of this?
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjL1cTurorTAhWIbxQKHX7ODFcQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ultimatebuzz.net%2Fforum%2Farchive%2Findex.php%2Ft-227521.html&psig=AFQjCNGQ7nqh460JhhDnfREHc1yf_a4H9w&ust=1491380314825924
Cricket uniforms have to be the most ugly and uninspiring in all of sport. Eye-watering designers, awful colour combinations, more sponsors than a billboard. Compare and contrast to baseball, where the home team wears white and the away team wears grey. Neat, clean lines, no sponsorship to be seen, just the city or team name on the front and the player name and number on the back.
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjsvJiwr4rTAhXDzRQKHQP6C-QQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbosoxinjection.com%2F2016%2F05%2F01%2Ftop-5-moments-red-sox-yankees-rivalry%2F&psig=AFQjCNFXSAH5Cay-kjOmyg_OjAZCMxihmQ&ust=1491380472670534
Dignified, classic, appropriate for hot weather.
Those are fairly restrained compared to those found in the Big Bash, one of which is a shocking pink number, another a sort of greeny blue ‘listerine mouthwash’ colour. The IPL ones are equally garish and jam packed with sponsorship emblems.
I’m a fan of championship cricket and even among those shirt designs, the traditional whites, when I wish to buy a team shirt I skip that and opt for a traditional white polo instead, with merely the team and manufacturer logo. There is no sponsor and Durham are now sponsored by Fosters so their current shirt looks particularly tacky with that logo emblazoned on the front – rubbish beer also!
I think the Big Bash is actually quite crap in a lot of ways. The schedule is dumb, the uniforms are horrible, the team names are mediocre, the commentary is childish, there are too many mercenaries, but it just goes to show that if you get a few major things right: FTA tv, latch onto existing rivalries, it covers over a lot of the cracks.
The key to the Big Bash is that the teams, although city based as with the ECB proposal, are really proxies for the states, as each state in Oz has one main city. So the Big Bash, despite it’s weaknesses and mercenaries, builds on the existing structure. The ECB proposal tries to create a parallel structure which is a much bigger challenge and one which Harrison either fails to understand or chooses to ignore (as is usual with marketing gurus).
Indeed, if you try to understand the question of how people in Australia identify themselves, the answers you come up with would look very similar to the 8 teams. Each state has a capital city, and to many people the state/city is synonymous. In the bigger cities, rivalries exist between areas of the city, roughly based around rugby league/aussie rules fanbases. These are the identities that the BBL tapped into.
In the UK it is more complicated. In some areas of the country, there are regions, principalities or counties that have strong specific identities (Wales, Yorkshire, Cornwall), in some regions the city is the key identifying factor (Liverpool, London) and for many it is interchangeable (Nottingham and Nottinghamshire etc)
Its by no means easy to come up with a logical set of teams. If you only want a small number of teams (<10), then regions are the way to go, although some regions and counties are basically identical eg Yorkshire and Humber, and others are extremely bland and unidentifiable, and most people don't feel particularly strongly about "east midlands vs west midlands" like they might about Birmingham vs Leicester. You could go with more memorable designations like Northumberland, Anglia, Mercia and Wessex, but that is even more old-fashioned than counties.
If you want to use city names, you need to be aware that the geographical spread of that name is much more tightly confined than it is in Australia. Liverpool and Manchester may only be 20 miles apart, but residents of one city are never going to support the other city at anything. City names work fine if you want a league with 30-40 or more teams. Anything less, and you are unnecessarily constraining your fan base.
Although they're often derided as "old-fashioned", counties are actually a reasonably sensible way of dividing up the country in an inclusive, non-divisive way. In many, many areas of the country, the majority of people still DO see themselves as from a county, rather than a particular city or town.
The only good thing about the Bash is it isn’t the IPL!
Surrey could well win this year. It’s early days yet but they have just beaten Warwickshire by an innings in the 1st game. They have a great squad largely unnafected by England call ups. A superb 4 four day game watched by 7000 last weekend. Yes you heard right! (So proper cricket is dead is it ECB? Plenty of families there too.) York’s will be seriously depleted by test calls to be a major contender, but Somerset and Middx are well in the running I think.
Not Jimmy for captain please. Too moody and a bit of a misery sometimes. Doubt whether he’ll last beyond the Ashes this winter, if he makes that.
As for the IPL- well I find it unwatchable anyway, like most t20. Used to be a bit of fun, now it’s trying to take over the world. We always think that more is better, in fact it dilutes the product and over eggs the pudding. How much disposable income does the ECB (awful organisation) think people have?Can’t fill grounds outside the capital with the Blast now, one competition will fail. Quickly forgotten like a McDonald’s.
Great blog this! Unlike most others, people are actually civil to each other. Well done.