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Public perceptions of the health of cricket usually revolve round the weather
and the performances of the national team. Sunshine at the start and finish
of the memorably intriguing LV County Championship cannot fully erase
memories of the expensive flood in Worcester and uneven performances by
England, but the prevailing mood of September is optimistic.
One day at the Rose Bowl this month, the giant lens of Graham Morris, the
photographer, caught a spider spinning a web between the middle and off
stumps while Kent were trying to bowl out Hampshire. There were times early
in the long, disjointed, weather-dominated 2007 season when it looked as
though spiders could spin away without fear of interruption whenever
England’s fast bowlers were operating from the other end.
Three victories over a sadly disorganised West Indies team were flattering
but, a few months later, three of England’s failures in Australia last
winter seem to have learnt the necessary lessons. James Anderson has
rediscovered his natural skill, Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett have
improved after practising their art in the hard but more forgiving school of
county cricket. With Harmison, Hoggard, Sidebottom, Tremlett, Broad and
Panesar in the mix, England can choose from a pool of bowlers whose ability
should make them competitive in all forms of cricket. Of course, they would
be much more so with Andrew Flintoff, but a prolonged rest seems to offer
the only chance of his return to Test cricket.
There is a further caveat. The improvement in the bowlers seemed to start from
the moment that Allan Donald joined Peter Moores and Andy Flower on the
coaching staff. Donald will be missed as a mentor, however quickly Ottis
Gibson, one of the heroes of the county season, settles to the same role in
Sri Lanka.
The credit from an extremely competitive and all too short Test series with
India was shared between the rebuilt England team and their more experienced
conquerors. In the one-day matches that followed, Paul Collingwood’s
leadership and livewire fielding were the basis of a belated success that
will have to be repeated in much tougher conditions, and against even
stronger opponents in Sri Lanka in the next few weeks, if it is to convince.
The Twenty20 venture foundered even before the new captain blotted his
copybook, but the more successful sides showed that, although adventurous
batting and subtle bowling are essentials, true quality and sound techniques
are rewarded, too.
Because administrators cannot resist the meretricious, there is going to be
much more Twenty20. The ECB released further changes to next season’s
itinerary in the middle of an England match ten days ago, always a sign that
the spin-doctors do not really want anyone to notice. Why? Because it has
funked doing anything about the commercially-profitable NatWest Pro40 and it
feels guilty for agreeing to another expansion of the players’ workload.
The Twenty20, its commercial status enhanced by the ECB’s agreement to send
the finalists to India in October to play against their Indian, Australian
and South African counterparts for a £2.5 million total purse that dwarfs
anything available from all other domestic cricket, will be expanded to five
home and five away games played in three regionally based groups of six
counties. In the Friends Provident Trophy, each team will play home and away
in four groups of five teams, including Ireland and Scotland. That means one
first-round game fewer for each county, but the top two teams from each
group will qualify for a new quarter-final stage, the winners of each group
playing at home. The sum of it all will be more cricket for spectators, more
profit for counties, but more demands on by far the hardest-worked
professionals in the world.
It has taken Hugh Morris, soon to be confirmed as the managing director of
England cricket, a long time to produce proposals for a revised format from
2009. He and his review group have canvassed widely. “Floating” cricket
followers frequently say they do not understand the present system and no
one should blame them for that, because there is no system. Why can they not
start all championship matches on the same day of the week, they demand; and
why do the county and international programmes not dovetail better? Because
priorities are wrong.
One of the questions being asked by a market research team seeking expert
views was whether a reduction to 12 counties would solve the chronic problem
of an unbalanced, overloaded programme, but I cannot see them taking the
tough decisions that would threaten the future of some of the 18 counties.
Nor should they. So long as all of them are forced to spend a greater amount
of their centrally-provided income on developing local youth and less on
wages – a salary cap for each county’s playing staff is essential – there is
no need for any to be forced out of business.
Such has been the toing and froing of overseas mercenaries this season that
loyalty and team spirit have become devalued. Did Inzamam-ul-Haq really
become a Yorkshireman overnight, or Murali Kartik a Londoner? One of the
Bothas, Ant by name, was a Derbyshire player one day, a Warwickshire man the
next.
Meanwhile, the invasion by those with European or Kolpak passports steadily
reduces options for the home-bred cricketers. I begin to think a transfer
system, with checks and balances, would be fairer to counties with smaller
resources. Why, for instance, should Leicestershire get nothing for
nurturing Stuart Broad now that he has sought higher pay at Nottinghamshire?
As always, there was much good to report, too, not least healthy participation
among the young and good-sized crowds both for Tests and internationals and
much of the county cricket. The wizard of Sahiwal, Mushtaq Ahmed, and
Gibson, respectively 37 and 38, were the season’s outstanding bowlers, Mark
Ramprakash once again the best batsman in the country, Kevin Pietersen
included. It no longer makes any sense to leave the peerless Ramprakash out
of the Test team.
He and Mushtaq, the leading bowler in the county championship for the fifth
year in succession, were not the only veterans to excel. Shivnarine
Chanderpaul was a hero in defeat for West Indies, Andrew Caddick the bowling
pillar of a Somerset side that could not stop winning. Durham shaded them as
team of the year, for all Yorkshire’s revival under another veteran, Darren
Gough, Lancashire’s heroic near-miss and Sussex’s hard-earned third
championship title in five years.
It figures
38 The age of the leading batsman in first-class cricket (Mark
Ramprakash) as well as the second and third-best bowlers (Ottis Gibson and
Andrew Caddick). Mushtaq Ahmed, the leading wicket-taker, is 37
25 Extra runs that Lancashire needed in their final match to win the
championship
496 The runs, for four wickets, that Surrey made in a one-day game
against Gloucestershire in April
73 First-class dismissals by Phil Mustard, of Durham,
22 more than the next-best wicketkeeper 8 Fifty partnerships in India’s
first innings against England at the Brit Oval, beating the old Test record
of six
22 Players used by India and England in three Test matches, the first
time that both sides have been unchanged throughout a series
Ramprakash being discriminated against by the selectors on the grouinds of age? Parhaps, just perhaps, the 'discrimination' is due to 52 (yes, fifty-tow) tests for 2 centuries and an average of 27. There comes a time to cut one's losses. As an Australia, I hope dearly that England recalls 'super-Ramps' for the 2009 Ashes.
dwblurb, Subiaco, Australia
Time to get Ramprakash back before next Ashes! He could have save England their embarassign 5-0 whitewash in last year Ashes, who knows even help retain it! I n spite of being a victim of England's chop and change policy for most of his career, the Aussies and SA have always considered him the best English Batsman. Being dropped 10 times would have dented even the confidence and swagger fo a Sir Viv.
Recently, and in the past, many an over 35 cricketer have served England well, Udal, Nixon, Gooch, D'oliverira...
In terms of developing youth, what better a paragon is there in England than Ramps in terms of technique for Cook, Bell etc to learn from?
England selectors do nor deprive England's cricket this rare opportunity!
Many a better test team would be playing Ramps at current age and form!
Nandi G, London ,
Let's hear it for the oldies. How about this for an over-30s, not yet retired, not-playing-for-any-England-team-at-the-moment England team:
Trescothick (31)
ET Smith (31)
Ramps (38)
Hick (42)
Crawley (40)
Butcher (35)
Nixon (36)
Gough (37)
Chapple (33)
Caddick (38)
Keedy (32)
12th man Ealham (38)
Average age pushing 36
LAURENCE KLEIN, Barnet, UK
Re Christopher Martin-Jenkins comment that it no loonger makes sense to leave Mark Ramprakash out of the England team. Not only does it not make sense but is it legal to discriminate against him on the ground of age? Surely, every first class cricketer, unless he informs the selectors to the contrary, by implication applies for a job as an England cricketer for each and every game.
David Gaunt, Beverley, East Yorkshire
I wonder where I could find the photo that you mention of the spider's web in the stumps, CMJ? It sounds wonderful.
Mr Morris is indeed a very talented photographer.
Paul James, Ottawa,
A good batsman is a good batsman regardless of which form of the game is being played (with perhaps the possible exception of Geoff Boycott - difficult to imagine him in a Twenty/20 situation). For goodness sake get Ramprakash into the England side before he draws his pension.
Carole, Gramat,
If the 20/20 world cup has shown us one thing then its no matter what the form of the game you need quality batsmen, and bowlers who do something extra with the ball.
The mad rush for 20/20 'specialists' in the media was as dumb as it was predictable. Any similarities were blown out of the water by the sheer class of the players on view compared to international class, moon balls and 'slow' bowlers who vary there pace may work on lesser batsmen plying there trade in County cricket but against the best 6 or 7 batsmen of each country they look what they are, toothless.
County cricket has always appeared to be playing in a parallel universe to the national team. They plod along insisting the likes of Ramprakash and Caddick are better than anything in the England setup yet the whole system is at odds with developing young players.
Why else would the likes of Munday,Clare,Finn,Williams etc etc be brought in for the last game or two just because the second rate foreigners have gone home.
mark, Edinburgh,
At last, someone seriously contemplates bringing into the test team a batsman who has matured into a far better player than he ever was as a callow youth. Please, play Ramprakash. He is too good to overlook.
Tom Allen, London,