Ex-ECB chairman calls for county cricket overhaul

[Twisted]

When our players are low on confidence or out of form they should be playing for their counties to build it back up - it's such a no brainer. It'd also be helpful if the Test captain actually had some experience of captaining with his county first.

What the ECB can do is stop shuttling the players here, there and everywhere. One winter tour instead of faffing around with tons of pointless 20-20s or ODIs. What the fuck are we off to the West Indies for? Let the players get settled, have a rest and prepare for the summer.

agreed. common sense like, for that reason it will never happen.

 

[chelt_mackem]

i wonder how you would feel about it if you were from/in somerset or warwickshire.

glamorgan can fuck off, as can all those silly one day teams like unicorns and scotland. all teh university games could be scrapped. other than that keep it how it is, have england play one test series less per year and rotate the squad a bit more leading to less burn out from endlessly travelling and have england players play in teh county game more frequently.

and ideally play an extra test in each series [especially you south africa] play half the amount of odis so people may vaguely care about them and stick t20 in teh bin, cuz its utter shite.

Problem is, the amount of limited overs crap goes way beyond what the ECB have any control over. 2 limited overs world cups (or is it 3?) already and only now have they decided to have a world cup for proper cricket. But because we seem to feel duty bound to play in all these pointless white ball tournaments, we end up on wasting valuable rest time on needless tours to the WIndies where we don't even play a test match. We then end up shoe-horning our domestic season and home international series around it all, our top players playing matches for 18 months straight and our domestic teams struggling because of all the matches being so close together. It's a wonder more players don't end up in Jonathan Trott's situation with the sheer intensity of it all.

What was wrong with the old format of having 1 team touring here for the summer, a couple of ODIs to warm up and 1 long test series stretched over the whole summer, then a similar format when we go on tour in the winter? Taking a couple of steps back would have a massive benefit to all professional cricket.

 

[Randy Ostrich]

What was wrong with the old format of having 1 team touring here for the summer, a couple of ODIs to warm up and 1 long test series stretched over the whole summer, then a similar format when we go on tour in the winter? Taking a couple of steps back would have a massive benefit to all professional cricket.

Nothing. But administrators see it as their duty to make money rather than look after the game.

 

[chelt_mackem]

Nothing. But administrators see it as their duty to make money rather than look after the game.

This is the crux of the matter for me, surely looking after the game means it will make money, and a hell of a lot more money than it will make if there are tons of matches but half the top players missing with depression.

 

[Aidan11]

Problem is there seems to be an obsession to do away with county cricket because "no one watches it".

The reason it is poorly attended is because it is played during hours when most people are at work so not everyone can devote a huge amount of time to attending. What they fail to take into account is that quite a lot of people follow the game at work or at home via computer websites. There is plenty of interest in the FC domestic game.

 

[Randy Ostrich]

Problem is there seems to be an obsession to do away with county cricket because "no one watches it".

The reason it is poorly attended is because it is played during hours when most people are at work so not everyone can devote a huge amount of time to attending. What they fail to take into account is that quite a lot of people follow the game at work or at home via computer websites. There is plenty of interest in the FC domestic game.

Marty always says the BBC commentaries have been a huge success every time he comes on here

 

[Twisted]

we could still participate in all the limited stuff but just play a totally different side...

 

[The Omega Man]

Problem is there seems to be an obsession to do away with county cricket because "no one watches it".

The reason it is poorly attended is because it is played during hours when most people are at work so not everyone can devote a huge amount of time to attending. What they fail to take into account is that quite a lot of people follow the game at work or at home via computer websites. There is plenty of interest in the FC domestic game.

f***ing crazy isnt it. I've given up telling people this as no one seems to listen. All CC games should start at say 1pm/2pm ish and go on until 9pm/10pm certainly in the height of summer and the light nights. It means that people could get to at least a session with say a £5 admission fee for each session.

The problem now though is that the vast majority of people who watch county matches are old and retired people who get very set in their ways. The cricket clubs would have to work their socks off to attract a whole new audience for the county game.

 

[wayne entwhistle no9]

County cricket is a charity which relies on a £4o million annual handout from the ECB to survive, only England national side can make money.
Iam sorry but a lot of rubbish being written on here about it.
Personally i prefer to spend a day watching Durham than England and enjoy county cricket, but if you take the foreign players out, by that i mean players who are not products of the English schools/club system, but learned there cricket in another country and have an EU/British passport then the standard would be poor.
Play county championship cricket at the weekends and there is less people there than a normal work day. They tried the 1pm starts for championship cricket about 15 years ago it did not work and most counties would not entertain it.

 

[Twisted]

County cricket is a charity which relies on a £4o million annual handout from the ECB to survive, only England national side can make money.
Iam sorry but a lot of rubbish being written on here about it.
Personally i prefer to spend a day watching Durham than England and enjoy county cricket, but if you take the foreign players out, by that i mean players who are not products of the English schools/club system, but learned there cricket in another country and have an EU/British passport then the standard would be poor.
Play county championship cricket at the weekends and there is less people there than a normal work day. They tried the 1pm starts for championship cricket about 15 years ago it did not work and most counties would not entertain it.

remind me how different durham's side would be with all english players?

 

[wayne entwhistle no9]

Well since 2007 (when they started winning trophies) there would be no Otis Gibson. Dale Benkenstein, Michael Divenuto, Gareth Breese, Mitchell Claydon, Callum Thorpe, Michael Richardson,Keaton Jennings, and they all played as non overseas players, not many English accents there.

 

[Struts]

Problem is there seems to be an obsession to do away with county cricket because "no one watches it".

The reason it is poorly attended is because it is played during hours when most people are at work so not everyone can devote a huge amount of time to attending. What they fail to take into account is that quite a lot of people follow the game at work or at home via computer websites. There is plenty of interest in the FC domestic game.

This! It should help things that the majority of Championship games from this upcoming season will be starting on a Sunday. Still not good enough though, the bulk of Championship games should be played Friday to Monday over the 6 week holidays.

 

[Twisted]

Well since 2007 (when they started winning trophies) there would be no Otis Gibson. Dale Benkenstein, Michael Divenuto, Gareth Breese, Mitchell Claydon, Callum Thorpe, Michael Richardson,Keaton Jennings, and they all played as non overseas players, not many English accents there.

yup. and next season it will be stoneman, jennings, borthwick, richardson, stokes, collingwood, mustard, arshad, wood, rushworth, onions at full strentgh - quite alot of english players there.. possibly all qualified to play for england? though jennings/richardson may sooner represent south africa i'd think, given the chance.[DOUBLEPOST=1390154000][/DOUBLEPOST]

This! It should help things that the majority of Championship games from this upcoming season will be starting on a Sunday. Still not good enough though, the bulk of Championship games should be played Friday to Monday over the 6 week holidays.

it would really help if sky broadcasted more than a few games per season. considering they have a hundred channels and they show some total shite.

not that i would add to the viewing figures but i'd certainly be looking for a stream

 

[wayne entwhistle no9]

yup. and next season it will be stoneman, jennings, borthwick, richardson, stokes, collingwood, mustard, arshad, wood, rushworth, onions at full strentgh - quite alot of english players there.. possibly all qualified to play for england? though jennings/richardson may sooner represent south africa i'd think, given the chance.[DOUBLEPOST=1390154000][/DOUBLEPOST]

it would really help if sky broadcasted more than a few games per season. considering they have a hundred channels and they show some total shite.

not that i would add to the viewing figures but i'd certainly be looking for a stream

But the argument is about county cricket not Durham, quite simply there is not a big enough pool of quality cricketers produced domestically to produce 18 counties playing quality first class cricket.
Durham have one of the biggest area of talent to produce players from, and have shown they are one of the big success stories in English sport over the past 10 years. But most counties do not have that pool of talent to select from, as geographically they are so close to other counties.
Also remember it was the other 17 counties who for years would not entertain Durham gaining first class status as it would reduce their slice of the pie. Durham only problem to their future is if they cannot survive money wise. They have already sailed close to the abyss in the last 18 months.

 

[Twisted]

But the argument is about county cricket not Durham, quite simply there is not a big enough pool of quality cricketers produced domestically to produce 18 counties playing quality first class cricket.
Durham have one of the biggest area of talent to produce players from, and have shown they are one of the big success stories in English sport over the past 10 years. But most counties do not have that pool of talent to select from, as geographically they are so close to other counties.
Also remember it was the other 17 counties who for years would not entertain Durham gaining first class status as it would reduce their slice of the pie. Durham only problem to their future is if they cannot survive money wise. They have already sailed close to the abyss in the last 18 months.

so if there were 12 counties [or whatever they would be called] there would be less players getting regular cricket. don't see how this would help in anyway.

 

[wayne entwhistle no9]

so if there were 12 counties [or whatever they would be called] there would be less players getting regular cricket. don't see how this would help in anyway.

No if you did that then you would take out all the players about a third who are not good enough and nowhere near ever going to play for England. Most county players would not be anywhere near a state pro contract in Australia and would be considered good weekend grade cricketers. The money that would be saved by not paying salaries for players who are not going to ever represent England could be spent in much more worthwhile ways such as youth cricket. County cricket is not there for players to get paid to play second team cricket for year when it is clear they are not good enough.

 

[Twisted]

No if you did that then you would take out all the players about a third who are not good enough and nowhere near ever going to play for England. Most county players would not be anywhere near a state pro contract in Australia and would be considered good weekend grade cricketers. The money that would be saved by not paying salaries for players who are not going to ever represent England could be spent in much more worthwhile ways such as youth cricket. County cricket is not there for players to get paid to play second team cricket for year when it is clear they are not good enough.

if durham/yorkshire were one team stoneman, borthwick & rushworth would have been scrapped off years ago, stokes may have not got back in the side after he started to struggle. wood would probably never have played proper cricket yet and that is just the durham side, i'm sure yorkshire would have the same story. so far two of them have played for england [and not looked out of depth at all], one has got the attention of the development side and stoneman and rushworth must be in peoples thoughts for that level.

people were still moaning about the county circuit and wanting reform even when england were #1 test side but i don't recall it getting any credit for being such a breeding ground for young talent.

 

[wayne entwhistle no9]

if durham/yorkshire were one team stoneman, borthwick & rushworth would have been scrapped off years ago, stokes may have not got back in the side after he started to struggle. wood would probably never have played proper cricket yet and that is just the durham side, i'm sure yorkshire would have the same story. so far two of them have played for england [and not looked out of depth at all], one has got the attention of the development side and stoneman and rushworth must be in peoples thoughts for that level.

people were still moaning about the county circuit and wanting reform even when england were #1 test side but i don't recall it getting any credit for being such a breeding ground for young talent.

Durham wont team up with anybody, Yorkshire stand up as one of the best counties in the country with a huge pool of players. The counties that would team up would be the like of Leicestershire with Northants, Worcestershire with Warickshire, Hampshire with Sussex, Essex with Kent, etc
Oh and by the way Rushworth got peddled by Durham when he was 19 and he worked his way back into first class cricket by hard work in local club cricket. Stoneman Borthwick and tokes all represented England at u17 and u19 level and would be considered elite teenage cricketer who who be snapped up by the remaining 12 counties.

 

[Twisted]

Durham wont team up with anybody, Yorkshire stand up as one of the best counties in the country with a huge pool of players. The counties that would team up would be the like of Leicestershire with Northants, Worcestershire with Warickshire, Hampshire with Sussex, Essex with Kent, etc
Oh and by the way Rushworth got peddled by Durham when he was 19 and he worked his way back into first class cricket by hard work in local club cricket. Stoneman Borthwick and tokes all represented England at u17 and u19 level and would be considered elite teenage cricketer who who be snapped up by the remaining 12 counties.

i'm well away of rushworths career, hence my point, he would not have worked his way back if there were less places to play. i don't agree with rocky and borthwick either, you can't tell me the less players play in this country the more chances they would get, it is utter madness.

and i'm not quite sure why people are assuming if there were less places available suddenly nobody would sign overseas players? how is that working out for the premiership with its 25 man squad rule?

if there were 12 counties here then just as many overseas players would come in, probably more as there would be more funds available. and there would be a ton less spectators than now. i live in kent but have no real connection to kccc, i go and see when durham are there and occasionally go just for the craic. no way would i travel half way to london or into sussex to watch them, and i doubt many would either - especially if it was some new bastardised amalgamation county team.

 

[wayne entwhistle no9]

By your argument we should have more counties to make sure every half decent cricketer gets a chance. Why could Rushworth not have worked his way back it is not a closed shop. Your argument about Borthwick and Stoneman does not stand up they where outstanding teenage cricketers who would be earmarked as potential England players. They would be given every chance to prove themselves in a much more competetive system.
Comparing county cricket to premier league football is a nonsense, the football clubs make their own money and if there was no international football it would not effect their finance, county cricket is a charity which relies on England national team to make money for a massive handout every year.
AS i said in my first post it probably will not happen unless some counties actually go bust.