I have a close Australian friend. In previous series we have had a lot of banter via text, phone calls etc. For this series, aside from a Zoom call before Christmas where he got a dig in before the second test hadn't yet been decided, he has been very kind. Even to the extent where we exchanged texts on Monday and he genuinely said it was a shame we had lost 4 wickets after putting in a such a decent bowling and fielding display in bowling the Australians out. I would rather he was going at me all guns blazing because he thought England might give Australia a game, instead of feeling his pity!
The Aussie press said nice things about Jimmy Anderson, you know things are bad!
How about scrapping the existing 18 county structure and reduce it to say 6 counties/areas Rather like the Bunbury tournament.
You won’t then be paying the salaries of journeymen players and should only have players in the first class system and that can be feeders for the national side or top class overseas. England players would have to play a certain percentage of area games to keep their contracted status.
Inject the money you save into the club system making it legitimately semi pro to improve standards ( the spare players from the 18 counties will improve the standard of the club game). Aussie club grade 1 is a far higher standard than most of the premier leagues in the UK at the moment. Area scouts actively following the premier leagues to bring into the 1st class game anyone who is performing to the required standard.
If the coaching isn’t good enough in the county system this should weed out the ones who need replacing.
Bin all county age group cricket at all age groups below u15 as it’s a complete waste of time at u10-14 , it’s only a vanity project for the parents.
As we've all said, need to play county cricket. Not The 100. Maybe forget Central contracts & make all players play for their counties again.
Strong disagree, central contracts has been a great innovation. This is the first captaincy in which we are not that successful since they’ve been introduced.
Really? When they don't have to play County cricket? When they were getting paid £700,000 per annum regardless of whether they were in the side or not and players who weren't centrally contracted weren't getting that? When the motivation is to say "thanks for the Central Contract but, by the way, I'm not available to play because I'm knackered having spent three months at the IPL?"
The tail is wagging the dog where players are saying they would rather play franchise than Test cricket, And the ECB in their promotion of The Hundred are adding to that.
Counties are financially incentivised by the ECB to have English qualified players in their squads. They are not incentivised to produce Test players, So, as I keep repeating, from grass roots to the very top everything is dominated by white ball cricket. There are no, as far as I am aware, players on red ball only contracts. But loads on white ball only ones. And that will become more and more prevalent as things stand.
Are you seriously, seriously saying England were better without central contacts? Really?
Smacks of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Counties don’t want to produce red ball cricketers because they hardly play any red ball cricket. And when they do, their best players are away at the ipl. Re format the county championship, have it played throughout the year (like they used to) and work from there. If you take away central contracts then you can kiss producing the next Jimmy Anderson goodbye - do you really think he’d have lasted as long as he has done without a central contract?
I am saying that they have become too reliant on the Central Contract. It's too easy for them to say that they need to rest because they've been playing so much cricket a la Stokes, Buttler, Archer etc etc when a major part of the issue is that they have been away playing franchise cricket. The IPL doesn't finish 'til 3rd June this year - by that time last season Counties had played half of their County Championship matches!!!
What should happen, in my opinion, is that there should be a much bigger amount paid to those who make each squad with an appearance fee paid on top of that.
Right - so by your own admission the problem isn’t central contracts - it’s scheduling of the red ball game. Central contracts have overwhelmingly been seen as a good thing, now apparently as soon as there’s a problem with the team, that’s the real issue - really?
If you stop centrally contracted players from playing in the ipl, you’re going to have the same problem as the last time the ecb tried doing the same thing - players won’t sign their central contracts. You’ll have another KP situation.
It’s bizarre that in order for us to stop repeating the same mistakes as the last 4 years we have to repeat the same mistakes as the previous 20 according to some.
But the IPL and the ECB won't change the schedule will they? The Hundred and The Blast will be played after the IPL finishes on the 5th June so the CC games have to be played in April and May! And why do Australian batsman like Head and the world's number one best batsman Labushagne play for their State, their Club and a County here? They aren't centrally contracted that's why!
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Australians play their cricket during a different period of the Gregorian calendar to us!
You are totally missing the point because you clearly haven't taken on board the fact that Labushagne, Carey, Harris, Head etc etc played BOTH Sheffield Shield AND Club cricket during THIS summer. How many County Championship and Club games did Buttler play last season?
How many Sheffield shield games do they play and how many test matches have they played in the same period?
You’re completely missing my point in that they have a completely different schedule.
So far this season Alex Carey, for example and as Buttler's direct counterpart in that he bats at 7 and keeps, has played (in order of duration of games):
3 Tests 5 Sheffield Shield 1 Two Day Club 4 State One Day 2 Club T20
So that's 15 matches of which nine are all day games - and we are half way through their season. Buttler didn't play a Test match 'til August last season (so nothing in the first half of our season) and played just three games in the whole of the season that were non limited over matches - all Tests. And he hasn't played a County Championship game for over three years.
Just where is Buttler practising his red ball batting and his keeping for whole days at a time? Any keeper worth his salt will say that keeping at the top level is as much about concentration for 90-100 overs a day as basic technique. And you have to train your body and mind to do that. You can't just rock up and do it. We moan about the lack of practice games before the Ashes and yet no one questions why Buttler is being picked for Tests when the only time he actually sees a red ball is in Tests!!!
So there is no comparison whatsoever between the two so far as preparation is concerned for Test cricket. But Buttler still gets a central contract.
Right, but the solution to that is not to get rid of central contracts, it’s to make sure jos Buttler can play championship matches - at the moment he’s playing ipl or the hundred when he’s not playing for England in any format.
so I say again, the problem is with scheduling - not central contracts. If you got rid of central contracts jos Buttler would still not be playing championship games.
I have constantly criticised The Hundred and pointed out how it would affect the longer form of the game. We need rid of it but that isn't going to happen all the time the likes of Harrison are in charge. It is impossible to fit four tournaments into our season. Something has to give. They will not play any of The Hundred and Blast games in April/May either.
Buttler does not want to play County Championship cricket - there would have been loads of windows of opportunity when he could have done so in the last three years but better for him to let the public think he can't play red ball than prove it. His First Class average is 32.46 fractionally lower than his Test 32.53. It is as Nash posted "wrapping players in cotton wool".
The only reason Buttler plays Test cricket is because of his central contract. He gave every indication that he didn't even want to go to the Ashes and I'm sure he will announce his retirement from Test cricket soon no doubt a la ABV and play even more franchise cricket. The difference is that ABV averaged 50.66
So, apart from getting rid of The Hundred, the ECB should pay England cricketers say £20K every time they are called up for a Test squad, And then another £10k if they are actually selected to play. They then have an incentive to work on their red ball game. If they don't want to do that then so be it. Losing a batsman like Buttler who has averaged 25.21 in the last year in Tests and is a bang average keeper too is hardly a loss is it?
But all of that will not work unless Counties are prepared to do their part and dilute their pre-occupation with producing white ball batsmen to the detriment of those that bat correctly. One County coach recently said that if any 16 year old plus cannot play 360 in white ball and score at more than a run a ball they will be dropped. That then leads to practising bad habits which are replicated when these players revert to red ball. This does not happen in India or Australia. In fact, it's the complete opposite in the latter because coaches go ballistic if you give your wicket up unnecessarily in all day games!
54 Test ducks for us this year - a record. Says it all!!!
Ok, so we get rid of central contracts - Anderson and broad retire from international cricket as they can’t cope playing so much cricket, mark wood gets constantly injured without being managed properly. He retires. Ben stokes, joe root, Jonny bairstow and jos Buttler decide to leave county cricket and just play ipl, hundred and for England as they all pay more than the counties.
You’ve still got the exact same problem as before - players not playing red ball cricket.
So once again - the only solution is to change the schedule.
“We need players to work on their red ball cricket” is all well and good but impossible to implement when you’re scheduling the red ball cricket when they’re playing white ball cricket in India or in the hundred or for England.
As we've all said, need to play county cricket. Not The 100. Maybe forget Central contracts & make all players play for their counties again.
Strong disagree, central contracts has been a great innovation. This is the first captaincy in which we are not that successful since they’ve been introduced.
Really? When they don't have to play County cricket? When they were getting paid £700,000 per annum regardless of whether they were in the side or not and players who weren't centrally contracted weren't getting that? When the motivation is to say "thanks for the Central Contract but, by the way, I'm not available to play because I'm knackered having spent three months at the IPL?"
The tail is wagging the dog where players are saying they would rather play franchise than Test cricket, And the ECB in their promotion of The Hundred are adding to that.
Counties are financially incentivised by the ECB to have English qualified players in their squads. They are not incentivised to produce Test players, So, as I keep repeating, from grass roots to the very top everything is dominated by white ball cricket. There are no, as far as I am aware, players on red ball only contracts. But loads on white ball only ones. And that will become more and more prevalent as things stand.
Are you seriously, seriously saying England were better without central contacts? Really?
Smacks of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Counties don’t want to produce red ball cricketers because they hardly play any red ball cricket. And when they do, their best players are away at the ipl. Re format the county championship, have it played throughout the year (like they used to) and work from there. If you take away central contracts then you can kiss producing the next Jimmy Anderson goodbye - do you really think he’d have lasted as long as he has done without a central contract?
I am saying that they have become too reliant on the Central Contract. It's too easy for them to say that they need to rest because they've been playing so much cricket a la Stokes, Buttler, Archer etc etc when a major part of the issue is that they have been away playing franchise cricket. The IPL doesn't finish 'til 3rd June this year - by that time last season Counties had played half of their County Championship matches!!!
What should happen, in my opinion, is that there should be a much bigger amount paid to those who make each squad with an appearance fee paid on top of that.
Right - so by your own admission the problem isn’t central contracts - it’s scheduling of the red ball game. Central contracts have overwhelmingly been seen as a good thing, now apparently as soon as there’s a problem with the team, that’s the real issue - really?
If you stop centrally contracted players from playing in the ipl, you’re going to have the same problem as the last time the ecb tried doing the same thing - players won’t sign their central contracts. You’ll have another KP situation.
It’s bizarre that in order for us to stop repeating the same mistakes as the last 4 years we have to repeat the same mistakes as the previous 20 according to some.
But the IPL and the ECB won't change the schedule will they? The Hundred and The Blast will be played after the IPL finishes on the 5th June so the CC games have to be played in April and May! And why do Australian batsman like Head and the world's number one best batsman Labushagne play for their State, their Club and a County here? They aren't centrally contracted that's why!
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Australians play their cricket during a different period of the Gregorian calendar to us!
You are totally missing the point because you clearly haven't taken on board the fact that Labushagne, Carey, Harris, Head etc etc played BOTH Sheffield Shield AND Club cricket during THIS summer. How many County Championship and Club games did Buttler play last season?
How many Sheffield shield games do they play and how many test matches have they played in the same period?
You’re completely missing my point in that they have a completely different schedule.
So far this season Alex Carey, for example and as Buttler's direct counterpart in that he bats at 7 and keeps, has played (in order of duration of games):
3 Tests 5 Sheffield Shield 1 Two Day Club 4 State One Day 2 Club T20
So that's 15 matches of which nine are all day games - and we are half way through their season. Buttler didn't play a Test match 'til August last season (so nothing in the first half of our season) and played just three games in the whole of the season that were non limited over matches - all Tests. And he hasn't played a County Championship game for over three years.
Just where is Buttler practising his red ball batting and his keeping for whole days at a time? Any keeper worth his salt will say that keeping at the top level is as much about concentration for 90-100 overs a day as basic technique. And you have to train your body and mind to do that. You can't just rock up and do it. We moan about the lack of practice games before the Ashes and yet no one questions why Buttler is being picked for Tests when the only time he actually sees a red ball is in Tests!!!
So there is no comparison whatsoever between the two so far as preparation is concerned for Test cricket. But Buttler still gets a central contract.
Right, but the solution to that is not to get rid of central contracts, it’s to make sure jos Buttler can play championship matches - at the moment he’s playing ipl or the hundred when he’s not playing for England in any format.
so I say again, the problem is with scheduling - not central contracts. If you got rid of central contracts jos Buttler would still not be playing championship games.
I have constantly criticised The Hundred and pointed out how it would affect the longer form of the game. We need rid of it but that isn't going to happen all the time the likes of Harrison are in charge. It is impossible to fit four tournaments into our season. Something has to give. They will not play any of The Hundred and Blast games in April/May either.
Buttler does not want to play County Championship cricket - there would have been loads of windows of opportunity when he could have done so in the last three years but better for him to let the public think he can't play red ball than prove it. His First Class average is 32.46 fractionally lower than his Test 32.53. It is as Nash posted "wrapping players in cotton wool".
The only reason Buttler plays Test cricket is because of his central contract. He gave every indication that he didn't even want to go to the Ashes and I'm sure he will announce his retirement from Test cricket soon no doubt a la ABV and play even more franchise cricket. The difference is that ABV averaged 50.66
So, apart from getting rid of The Hundred, the ECB should pay England cricketers say £20K every time they are called up for a Test squad, And then another £10k if they are actually selected to play. They then have an incentive to work on their red ball game. If they don't want to do that then so be it. Losing a batsman like Buttler who has averaged 25.21 in the last year in Tests and is a bang average keeper too is hardly a loss is it?
But all of that will not work unless Counties are prepared to do their part and dilute their pre-occupation with producing white ball batsmen to the detriment of those that bat correctly. One County coach recently said that if any 16 year old plus cannot play 360 in white ball and score at more than a run a ball they will be dropped. That then leads to practising bad habits which are replicated when these players revert to red ball. This does not happen in India or Australia. In fact, it's the complete opposite in the latter because coaches go ballistic if you give your wicket up unnecessarily in all day games!
54 Test ducks for us this year - a record. Says it all!!!
Think the win bonuses are already pretty good …….
The system means, for example, a 3-0 Ashes win over Australia would see the players split £529,200 for the three wins and then £882,000 for claiming the five-match series overall, making a total prize pot of £1,411,200.
How about scrapping the existing 18 county structure and reduce it to say 6 counties/areas Rather like the Bunbury tournament.
You won’t then be paying the salaries of journeymen players and should only have players in the first class system and that can be feeders for the national side or top class overseas. England players would have to play a certain percentage of area games to keep their contracted status.
Inject the money you save into the club system making it legitimately semi pro to improve standards ( the spare players from the 18 counties will improve the standard of the club game). Aussie club grade 1 is a far higher standard than most of the premier leagues in the UK at the moment. Area scouts actively following the premier leagues to bring into the 1st class game anyone who is performing to the required standard.
If the coaching isn’t good enough in the county system this should weed out the ones who need replacing.
Bin all county age group cricket at all age groups below u15 as it’s a complete waste of time at u10-14 , it’s only a vanity project for the parents.
This makes lots of sense. There will be (mainly older) people opposed to "scrapping" the county system.
I wouldn't go that far. In fact, I'd encourage counties to continue playing (each other, the universities, touring sides, etc) for as long as they can do so in an entertaining and profitable way. But there can't be a good case for counties to continue with "first class" status if a smaller number of teams, as you suggest, can be arranged and deployed, playing the highest-standard of red ball cricket, funded centrally (i.e. by the ECB) and used exclusively as a development route for the Test team.
If Kent want to play Sussex, or Derbyshire crave a match against Somerset, that should take place at whatever time in the season the counties involved want it to take place.
But a six or eight team group of experienced, new and potential Test players would provide the England coaching set up a far greater preparation for Tests than some of the lower standard ("go and play in the county championship to get yourself some runs/wickets") red ball cricket.
This way, counties will be incentivised to do what they do well (put on cricket matches, encourage local people to watch, winning sponsorship from local businesses) and the England team can be as well prepared as possible, with players playing with and against elite players, funded without salaries having to be met by counties.
I'd be interested to know how many people thought, before the series began, that England would regain the Ashes in Australia for the first time in half a century. It's so incredibly rare, that it's hardly a surprise that it didn't happen, even if you overlook the many, many causes of - and excuses and reasons for - the defeat
I'd be interested to know how many people thought, before the series began, that England would regain the Ashes in Australia for the first time in half a century. It's so incredibly rare, that it's hardly a surprise that it didn't happen, even if you overlook the many, many causes of - and excuses and reasons for - the defeat
Not me - though I was surprised how quickly we capitulated.
The ECB may have hailed the first season of the Hundred as a great success but it has left some of those close to England's Test captain underwhelmed.
Certainly Don Root, the paternal grandfather of England's Test captain, Joe, is unimpressed. In a letter to The Cricketer magazine, which is published today, Root senior describes the new tournament in unflattering terms.
Suggesting it is "as welcome" as Covid-19, he claims it has already had a negative impact on England's Test team and warns about what he feels is an imbalance between red- and white-ball cricket at present.
"The Hundred is among us," Don wrote. "So is Covid and it's just about as welcome.
"We are constantly being lectured about the necessity to attract more funding to spread the gospel and nourish the grassroots of cricket. Apparently this can only be done by an increase in some form of the white-ball version of the game.
"At what cost to the red-ball version? Onwards and downwards would appear to be the new ECB mantra. The results of this policy can be seen in the Test series.
"Of course every sport needs sound financial resourcing, but do we have the balance right at the moment between financial needs and performance on the field? As far as red-ball cricket is concerned, I think not."
Going into the postponed fifth and final match of England's Test series against India, Joe Root was a notable exception to his team's overall standards. He had amassed 564 runs at 94.00 for the series with each of England's three hundreds, almost three times as many runs as any of his team-mates. He has also scored six of England's seven hundreds in 2021, for a total of 1455 runs at 66.13 in 12 Tests.
It is currently unclear whether Joe had any knowledge of the letter ahead of publication. But he has often referenced his grandfather's support in his formative years as a key ingredient in his success and the pair remain close. Don was, until the outbreak of Covid, a regular presence at England games.
Joe Root's grandfather wasn't wrong though was he? I posted it in September but didn't want to resurrect the other thread because The Hundred is a symptom of the ECB's attitude to red ball cricket but it is certainly not the only issue. But what will Harrison and his cronies do about improving the red ball game? This Ashes series will, hopefully, be a watershed moment in the same way as the racism enquiry into Yorkshire has been. Another massive failing of Harrison and the ECB.
Fixtures are due to come out in January but I wouldn't mind betting that the ECB are scurrying around now trying to take out their square pegs that didn't fit in the first place and hammer them into even less suitable holes! Something will have to give and the Royal London, like last year, will be one for sure. Will they fit more CC games in the middle of the summer? If so, will those games be going on whilst The Hundred is in which case Kent, for example, will lose virtually the whole of their top six to it. That will resolve nothing,
Imagine though - if the ECB scrapped The Hundred and told Sky that if they didn't allow some of The Blast games to be shown on terrestrial TV then they wouldn't be invited to tender a bid for future cricket events; that the ECB then spent the same amount of money promoting The Blast as they did The Hundred; that they then structured all three tournaments in a way that enabled all forms of cricket to be seen throughout the summer; and that they incentivised Counties to produce Test batsmen; that, as I've suggested, instead of a Central Contract, much bigger payments were made to players making any Test squad with a bonus for playing each and every game.
I'd be interested to know how many people thought, before the series began, that England would regain the Ashes in Australia for the first time in half a century. It's so incredibly rare, that it's hardly a surprise that it didn't happen, even if you overlook the many, many causes of - and excuses and reasons for - the defeat
Not me - though I was surprised how quickly we capitulated.
A few years ago, the McGrath 5-0 prediction was a bit of banter to wind us up, now it's becoming a sensible prediction
As @Addick Addict suggests, a major rebrand of the Blast would have been sufficient if they simply wanted to sex up cricket and attract a new audience. The Blast was already an excellent competition with a strong following. The Hundred has marginalised the Blast and created a competition with no international equivalent, which takes most of the best players away from their counties for a month or so.
As @Addick Addict suggests, a major rebrand of the Blast would have been sufficient if they simply wanted to sex up cricket and attract a new audience. The Blast was already an excellent competition with a strong following. The Hundred has marginalised the Blast and created a competition with no international equivalent, which takes most of the best players away from their counties for a month or so.
The problems with the Test team have been in place longer than the hundred.
Too many average players playing county cricket in all competitions.
In a way the hundred has it right - less teams = better standard.
The take of Steve James, former cricketer and current The Times writer, on the Ashes situation and coaching issues:
Nothing summed up the general state of batting coaching in this country better than the sight before this Test of some of the top-order players batting on one leg in the Melbourne nets. Funkiness has replaced basic simplicity. It is a disease that has spread throughout the system from the bottom of the pathway to the top.
I have no idea what that drill was supposed to achieve, but I do know that it was the polar opposite of the type of practice that Haseeb Hameed needs. Hameed needs to move more, not less. Before the ball is bowled, he goes deep in his crease with his back foot and his front foot moves forward a little. From that position he then barely moves at all. He is all hands and wrists, often thrusting those hands out in front of him at the ball. So then that drill was actively encouraging him to throw his hands at the ball. There was no other way of doing it. It beggared belief.
As ever, after another away Ashes defeat, there will be a solemn and searching inquisition and quite rightly the scheduling of the County Championship, and the inevitably poor quality of pitches, because of an increased emphasis on white-ball cricket, will be bang in the firing line, but this is a problem that goes much, much deeper.
Quite simply, England’s Test-match batting will never be good enough while the fundamentals of the art are so wilfully ignored at the youngest levels. It was a point superbly made this week in an excellent piece on Cricbuzz.com by Rob Johnston. He interviewed the Warwickshire director of cricket and former England assistant coach, Paul Farbrace, who said, “I think our coaching has got lazy in the last few years. Coaching in England has gone away from instilling basics in young players to actually saying, ‘Play your game, play the way you want to play.’
“It’s a cop out because coaches are not being strong enough. They’re not working hard enough to instil the basics in our young players, and as I say, there are too many players at the age of 15, 16, [with] the techniques ingrained into them not [being] good enough. Coaches have let them get away with it because they want to be their friend, they want to be nice to them and they want to encourage them to hit the ball well.”
As someone who has become passionately involved in youth coaching again in the past four years this resonates loudly. The lack of basic technical advice is quite staggering, mainly because the ECB’s coach education programme, certainly at levels two and three, while often innovative and interesting in parts, allows coaches to sail through without that necessary technical knowledge and experience, or an ability to demonstrate. That needs looking at. The level four qualification, at an eye-watering £7,000, is also out of reach for too many.
With little or no cricket played in state schools, one-on-one coaching has become a busy business, with many parents almost trying to outdo each other with the number of sessions booked — and maybe even sometimes strategically ensuring those sessions are with a coach who might just be selecting a representative side for which their child is in contention.
The focus too often is on the shorter forms of the game. “We want the openers to bat like Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy” was one comment I heard last season. Not if we want them to be red-ball openers, we don’t. Those with the temperament to bat all day are too easily discarded. One of my favourite sayings is that “I want my batters to play the innings of the day rather than the shot of the day”. But too many players aim for the latter. There is a time and a place for the reverse sweeps, ramps et al, but few coaches and players understand this.
It is the same with power-hitting. It is, of course, an essential part of the modern game, but it is only a small part. The percentage of time you need to power-hit is tiny compared with the time you need to bat more conventionally. Having a defence should never be confused with being a defensive player.
All the very best players have founded their games on a solid defence. I have told the story before in these pages of how at Glamorgan the great Sir Vivian Richards once asked me to throw him some balls and he defended the majority of them.
Elementary practices, often with tennis balls, to groove the basics of grip, stance and back lift are frowned upon by too many these days. They work and need to be encouraged more.
Coaches over-complicate in other ways, for instance by introducing trigger movements for young players. Professionals need trigger movements against the pace of bowling they face, but 12-year-olds do not. They have enough to worry about in terms of trying to master their set up and range of shots. In addition, they are still growing and balance is always key, so telling them to go back and across before the ball is bowled is only going to cause problems with their head position. The better players will trigger naturally when needed. Those given an unnatural trigger at a young age often then trigger again when the right time comes, causing all sorts of unnecessary movement.
One of the biggest problems with young batters is the back lift. Too many of them do not have one, even if they — and often their coaches — think they do. They stand with bat aloft in the modern way and then, when the ball is about to be bowled, they drop their hands and play from there, jabbing at the ball mainly with their bottom hand. It was so much easier when players tapped their bats on the ground and then had to move their hands back to play a shot.
The ECB may have hailed the first season of the Hundred as a great success but it has left some of those close to England's Test captain underwhelmed.
Certainly Don Root, the paternal grandfather of England's Test captain, Joe, is unimpressed. In a letter to The Cricketer magazine, which is published today, Root senior describes the new tournament in unflattering terms.
Suggesting it is "as welcome" as Covid-19, he claims it has already had a negative impact on England's Test team and warns about what he feels is an imbalance between red- and white-ball cricket at present.
"The Hundred is among us," Don wrote. "So is Covid and it's just about as welcome.
"We are constantly being lectured about the necessity to attract more funding to spread the gospel and nourish the grassroots of cricket. Apparently this can only be done by an increase in some form of the white-ball version of the game.
"At what cost to the red-ball version? Onwards and downwards would appear to be the new ECB mantra. The results of this policy can be seen in the Test series.
"Of course every sport needs sound financial resourcing, but do we have the balance right at the moment between financial needs and performance on the field? As far as red-ball cricket is concerned, I think not."
Going into the postponed fifth and final match of England's Test series against India, Joe Root was a notable exception to his team's overall standards. He had amassed 564 runs at 94.00 for the series with each of England's three hundreds, almost three times as many runs as any of his team-mates. He has also scored six of England's seven hundreds in 2021, for a total of 1455 runs at 66.13 in 12 Tests.
It is currently unclear whether Joe had any knowledge of the letter ahead of publication. But he has often referenced his grandfather's support in his formative years as a key ingredient in his success and the pair remain close. Don was, until the outbreak of Covid, a regular presence at England games.
Joe Root's grandfather wasn't wrong though was he? I posted it in September but didn't want to resurrect the other thread because The Hundred is a symptom of the ECB's attitude to red ball cricket but it is certainly not the only issue. But what will Harrison and his cronies do about improving the red ball game? This Ashes series will, hopefully, be a watershed moment in the same way as the racism enquiry into Yorkshire has been. Another massive failing of Harrison and the ECB.
Fixtures are due to come out in January but I wouldn't mind betting that the ECB are scurrying around now trying to take out their square pegs that didn't fit in the first place and hammer them into even less suitable holes! Something will have to give and the Royal London, like last year, will be one for sure. Will they fit more CC games in the middle of the summer? If so, will those games be going on whilst The Hundred is in which case Kent, for example, will lose virtually the whole of their top six to it. That will resolve nothing,
Imagine though - if the ECB scrapped The Hundred and told Sky that if they didn't allow some of The Blast games to be shown on terrestrial TV then they wouldn't be invited to tender a bid for future cricket events; that the ECB then spent the same amount of money promoting The Blast as they did The Hundred; that they then structured all three tournaments in a way that enabled all forms of cricket to be seen throughout the summer; and that they incentivised Counties to produce Test batsmen; that, as I've suggested, instead of a Central Contract, much bigger payments were made to players making any Test squad with a bonus for playing each and every game.
I must say that I like the cut of Don Root's jib....
As we've all said, need to play county cricket. Not The 100. Maybe forget Central contracts & make all players play for their counties again.
Strong disagree, central contracts has been a great innovation. This is the first captaincy in which we are not that successful since they’ve been introduced.
Really? When they don't have to play County cricket? When they were getting paid £700,000 per annum regardless of whether they were in the side or not and players who weren't centrally contracted weren't getting that? When the motivation is to say "thanks for the Central Contract but, by the way, I'm not available to play because I'm knackered having spent three months at the IPL?"
The tail is wagging the dog where players are saying they would rather play franchise than Test cricket, And the ECB in their promotion of The Hundred are adding to that.
Counties are financially incentivised by the ECB to have English qualified players in their squads. They are not incentivised to produce Test players, So, as I keep repeating, from grass roots to the very top everything is dominated by white ball cricket. There are no, as far as I am aware, players on red ball only contracts. But loads on white ball only ones. And that will become more and more prevalent as things stand.
Are you seriously, seriously saying England were better without central contacts? Really?
Smacks of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Counties don’t want to produce red ball cricketers because they hardly play any red ball cricket. And when they do, their best players are away at the ipl. Re format the county championship, have it played throughout the year (like they used to) and work from there. If you take away central contracts then you can kiss producing the next Jimmy Anderson goodbye - do you really think he’d have lasted as long as he has done without a central contract?
I am saying that they have become too reliant on the Central Contract. It's too easy for them to say that they need to rest because they've been playing so much cricket a la Stokes, Buttler, Archer etc etc when a major part of the issue is that they have been away playing franchise cricket. The IPL doesn't finish 'til 3rd June this year - by that time last season Counties had played half of their County Championship matches!!!
What should happen, in my opinion, is that there should be a much bigger amount paid to those who make each squad with an appearance fee paid on top of that.
Right - so by your own admission the problem isn’t central contracts - it’s scheduling of the red ball game. Central contracts have overwhelmingly been seen as a good thing, now apparently as soon as there’s a problem with the team, that’s the real issue - really?
If you stop centrally contracted players from playing in the ipl, you’re going to have the same problem as the last time the ecb tried doing the same thing - players won’t sign their central contracts. You’ll have another KP situation.
It’s bizarre that in order for us to stop repeating the same mistakes as the last 4 years we have to repeat the same mistakes as the previous 20 according to some.
But the IPL and the ECB won't change the schedule will they? The Hundred and The Blast will be played after the IPL finishes on the 5th June so the CC games have to be played in April and May! And why do Australian batsman like Head and the world's number one best batsman Labushagne play for their State, their Club and a County here? They aren't centrally contracted that's why!
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Australians play their cricket during a different period of the Gregorian calendar to us!
You are totally missing the point because you clearly haven't taken on board the fact that Labushagne, Carey, Harris, Head etc etc played BOTH Sheffield Shield AND Club cricket during THIS summer. How many County Championship and Club games did Buttler play last season?
How many Sheffield shield games do they play and how many test matches have they played in the same period?
You’re completely missing my point in that they have a completely different schedule.
So far this season Alex Carey, for example and as Buttler's direct counterpart in that he bats at 7 and keeps, has played (in order of duration of games):
3 Tests 5 Sheffield Shield 1 Two Day Club 4 State One Day 2 Club T20
So that's 15 matches of which nine are all day games - and we are half way through their season. Buttler didn't play a Test match 'til August last season (so nothing in the first half of our season) and played just three games in the whole of the season that were non limited over matches - all Tests. And he hasn't played a County Championship game for over three years.
Just where is Buttler practising his red ball batting and his keeping for whole days at a time? Any keeper worth his salt will say that keeping at the top level is as much about concentration for 90-100 overs a day as basic technique. And you have to train your body and mind to do that. You can't just rock up and do it. We moan about the lack of practice games before the Ashes and yet no one questions why Buttler is being picked for Tests when the only time he actually sees a red ball is in Tests!!!
So there is no comparison whatsoever between the two so far as preparation is concerned for Test cricket. But Buttler still gets a central contract.
Right, but the solution to that is not to get rid of central contracts, it’s to make sure jos Buttler can play championship matches - at the moment he’s playing ipl or the hundred when he’s not playing for England in any format.
so I say again, the problem is with scheduling - not central contracts. If you got rid of central contracts jos Buttler would still not be playing championship games.
I have constantly criticised The Hundred and pointed out how it would affect the longer form of the game. We need rid of it but that isn't going to happen all the time the likes of Harrison are in charge. It is impossible to fit four tournaments into our season. Something has to give. They will not play any of The Hundred and Blast games in April/May either.
Buttler does not want to play County Championship cricket - there would have been loads of windows of opportunity when he could have done so in the last three years but better for him to let the public think he can't play red ball than prove it. His First Class average is 32.46 fractionally lower than his Test 32.53. It is as Nash posted "wrapping players in cotton wool".
The only reason Buttler plays Test cricket is because of his central contract. He gave every indication that he didn't even want to go to the Ashes and I'm sure he will announce his retirement from Test cricket soon no doubt a la ABV and play even more franchise cricket. The difference is that ABV averaged 50.66
So, apart from getting rid of The Hundred, the ECB should pay England cricketers say £20K every time they are called up for a Test squad, And then another £10k if they are actually selected to play. They then have an incentive to work on their red ball game. If they don't want to do that then so be it. Losing a batsman like Buttler who has averaged 25.21 in the last year in Tests and is a bang average keeper too is hardly a loss is it?
But all of that will not work unless Counties are prepared to do their part and dilute their pre-occupation with producing white ball batsmen to the detriment of those that bat correctly. One County coach recently said that if any 16 year old plus cannot play 360 in white ball and score at more than a run a ball they will be dropped. That then leads to practising bad habits which are replicated when these players revert to red ball. This does not happen in India or Australia. In fact, it's the complete opposite in the latter because coaches go ballistic if you give your wicket up unnecessarily in all day games!
54 Test ducks for us this year - a record. Says it all!!!
Think the win bonuses are already pretty good …….
The system means, for example, a 3-0 Ashes win over Australia would see the players split £529,200 for the three wins and then £882,000 for claiming the five-match series overall, making a total prize pot of £1,411,200.
They could safely offer £1,000,000,000 per player for beating Australia.
Of the 26 at the DLCA, 20 were privately educated. Seb (born in second half) and Jas (born in first half) make up two of the six that went to State schools. There are four who are non white of which Jas is the only one who was not privately educated - but he was born in September so his chances of playing for England are increased to 0.7% or 1/140. Jas isn't a batsman though so probably has a better chance than that of doing so albeit still massively less than those overall who fall into category (1)
Hopefully, the ECB will do something about this disparity. Not holding my breath though as it will mean a whole new infrastructure, money thrown at the project and a ruffling of the feathers of those who are part of the "cosy" system currently in place!
Of the 26 at the DLCA, 20 were privately educated. Seb (born in second half) and Jas (born in first half) make up two of the six that went to State schools. There are four who are non white of which Jas is the only one who was not privately educated - but he was born in September so his chances of playing for England are increased to 0.7% or 1/140. Jas isn't a batsman though so probably has a better chance than that of doing so albeit still massively less than those overall who fall into category (1)
Hopefully, the ECB will do something about this disparity. Not holding my breath though as it will mean a whole new infrastructure, money thrown at the project and a ruffling of the feathers of those who are part of the "cosy" system currently in place!
Of the 26 at the DLCA, 20 were privately educated. Seb (born in second half) and Jas (born in first half) make up two of the six that went to State schools. There are four who are non white of which Jas is the only one who was not privately educated - but he was born in September so his chances of playing for England are increased to 0.7% or 1/140. Jas isn't a batsman though so probably has a better chance than that of doing so albeit still massively less than those overall who fall into category (1)
Hopefully, the ECB will do something about this disparity. Not holding my breath though as it will mean a whole new infrastructure, money thrown at the project and a ruffling of the feathers of those who are part of the "cosy" system currently in place!
Of the 26 at the DLCA, 20 were privately educated. Seb (born in second half) and Jas (born in first half) make up two of the six that went to State schools. There are four who are non white of which Jas is the only one who was not privately educated - but he was born in September so his chances of playing for England are increased to 0.7% or 1/140. Jas isn't a batsman though so probably has a better chance than that of doing so albeit still massively less than those overall who fall into category (1)
Hopefully, the ECB will do something about this disparity. Not holding my breath though as it will mean a whole new infrastructure, money thrown at the project and a ruffling of the feathers of those who are part of the "cosy" system currently in place!
I think your maths needs a bit of work!
I thought you would say that!
It's just that, if a white, privately educated person, born in the first half of the school year has a (roughly) 50% chance of playing for England, we're in real trouble. Because it means I might get picked. Or, if I am not, we're in worse trouble, because my brother will be picked instead.
46.82% - white, privately educated and born in first half 26.33% - white, privately educated and born in second half 13.98% - white, State educated and born in first half 7.87% - white, State educated and born in second half 2.46% - non-white, privately educated and born in first half 1.39% - non-white, privately educated and born in second half 0.74% - non-white, State educated and born in first half 0.41% - non-white, State educated and born in second half
46.82% - white, privately educated and born in first half 26.33% - white, privately educated and born in second half 13.98% - white, State educated and born in first half 7.87% - white, State educated and born in second half 2.46% - non-white, privately educated and born in first half 1.39% - non-white, privately educated and born in second half 0.74% - non-white, State educated and born in first half 0.41% - non-white, State educated and born in second half
48% of England batsman are white, privately educated and born in the first half of the school year...
...not...
...48% chance of you playing for England if you are white, privately educated and born in the first half of the year.
Of the 26 at the DLCA, 20 were privately educated. Seb (born in second half) and Jas (born in first half) make up two of the six that went to State schools. There are four who are non white of which Jas is the only one who was not privately educated - but he was born in September so his chances of playing for England are increased to 0.7% or 1/140. Jas isn't a batsman though so probably has a better chance than that of doing so albeit still massively less than those overall who fall into category (1)
Hopefully, the ECB will do something about this disparity. Not holding my breath though as it will mean a whole new infrastructure, money thrown at the project and a ruffling of the feathers of those who are part of the "cosy" system currently in place!
I think your maths needs a bit of work!
I thought you would say that!
It's just that, if a white, privately educated person, born in the first half of the school year has a (roughly) 50% chance of playing for England, we're in real trouble. Because it means I might get picked. Or, if I am not, we're in worse trouble, because my brother will be picked instead.
I think you know what was meant! I suspect the reality is that the greatest computers in the world couldn't actually calculate your chances of playing for England as they aren't capable of producing the number of figures to the right of the decimal point - after, of course, that zero to the left of the decimal point and the trillions of zeros to the right of it!
Of the 26 at the DLCA, 20 were privately educated. Seb (born in second half) and Jas (born in first half) make up two of the six that went to State schools. There are four who are non white of which Jas is the only one who was not privately educated - but he was born in September so his chances of playing for England are increased to 0.7% or 1/140. Jas isn't a batsman though so probably has a better chance than that of doing so albeit still massively less than those overall who fall into category (1)
Hopefully, the ECB will do something about this disparity. Not holding my breath though as it will mean a whole new infrastructure, money thrown at the project and a ruffling of the feathers of those who are part of the "cosy" system currently in place!
I think your maths needs a bit of work!
I thought you would say that!
It's just that, if a white, privately educated person, born in the first half of the school year has a (roughly) 50% chance of playing for England, we're in real trouble. Because it means I might get picked. Or, if I am not, we're in worse trouble, because my brother will be picked instead.
I think you know what was meant! I suspect the reality is that the greatest computers in the world couldn't actually calculate your chances of playing for England as they aren't capable of producing the number of figures to the right of the decimal point - after, of course, that zero to the left of the decimal point and the trillions of zeros to the right of it!
You haven't seen me bat. It would be many more than just "trillions".
There's always been a bit of a divide between the posh boys in the middle order creaming the ball through the covers, and the oiks who do the physically hard stuff like fast bowling and opening the batting
If England had to rely on southerner pace bowling attack, it would be pretty feeble.
Comments
So once again - the only solution is to change the schedule.
Why did England lose the Ashes? | Nasser, Atherton, Ward & Key react to the third test | Vodcast
The system means, for example, a 3-0 Ashes win over Australia would see the players split £529,200 for the three wins and then £882,000 for claiming the five-match series overall, making a total prize pot of £1,411,200.
I wouldn't go that far. In fact, I'd encourage counties to continue playing (each other, the universities, touring sides, etc) for as long as they can do so in an entertaining and profitable way. But there can't be a good case for counties to continue with "first class" status if a smaller number of teams, as you suggest, can be arranged and deployed, playing the highest-standard of red ball cricket, funded centrally (i.e. by the ECB) and used exclusively as a development route for the Test team.
If Kent want to play Sussex, or Derbyshire crave a match against Somerset, that should take place at whatever time in the season the counties involved want it to take place.
But a six or eight team group of experienced, new and potential Test players would provide the England coaching set up a far greater preparation for Tests than some of the lower standard ("go and play in the county championship to get yourself some runs/wickets") red ball cricket.
This way, counties will be incentivised to do what they do well (put on cricket matches, encourage local people to watch, winning sponsorship from local businesses) and the England team can be as well prepared as possible, with players playing with and against elite players, funded without salaries having to be met by counties.
Fixtures are due to come out in January but I wouldn't mind betting that the ECB are scurrying around now trying to take out their square pegs that didn't fit in the first place and hammer them into even less suitable holes! Something will have to give and the Royal London, like last year, will be one for sure. Will they fit more CC games in the middle of the summer? If so, will those games be going on whilst The Hundred is in which case Kent, for example, will lose virtually the whole of their top six to it. That will resolve nothing,
Imagine though - if the ECB scrapped The Hundred and told Sky that if they didn't allow some of The Blast games to be shown on terrestrial TV then they wouldn't be invited to tender a bid for future cricket events; that the ECB then spent the same amount of money promoting The Blast as they did The Hundred; that they then structured all three tournaments in a way that enabled all forms of cricket to be seen throughout the summer; and that they incentivised Counties to produce Test batsmen; that, as I've suggested, instead of a Central Contract, much bigger payments were made to players making any Test squad with a bonus for playing each and every game.
The Blast was already an excellent competition with a strong following.
The Hundred has marginalised the Blast and created a competition with no international equivalent, which takes most of the best players away from their counties for a month or so.
Nothing summed up the general state of batting coaching in this country better than the sight before this Test of some of the top-order players batting on one leg in the Melbourne nets. Funkiness has replaced basic simplicity. It is a disease that has spread throughout the system from the bottom of the pathway to the top.
I have no idea what that drill was supposed to achieve, but I do know that it was the polar opposite of the type of practice that Haseeb Hameed needs. Hameed needs to move more, not less. Before the ball is bowled, he goes deep in his crease with his back foot and his front foot moves forward a little. From that position he then barely moves at all. He is all hands and wrists, often thrusting those hands out in front of him at the ball. So then that drill was actively encouraging him to throw his hands at the ball. There was no other way of doing it. It beggared belief.
As ever, after another away Ashes defeat, there will be a solemn and searching inquisition and quite rightly the scheduling of the County Championship, and the inevitably poor quality of pitches, because of an increased emphasis on white-ball cricket, will be bang in the firing line, but this is a problem that goes much, much deeper.
Quite simply, England’s Test-match batting will never be good enough while the fundamentals of the art are so wilfully ignored at the youngest levels. It was a point superbly made this week in an excellent piece on Cricbuzz.com by Rob Johnston. He interviewed the Warwickshire director of cricket and former England assistant coach, Paul Farbrace, who said, “I think our coaching has got lazy in the last few years. Coaching in England has gone away from instilling basics in young players to actually saying, ‘Play your game, play the way you want to play.’
“It’s a cop out because coaches are not being strong enough. They’re not working hard enough to instil the basics in our young players, and as I say, there are too many players at the age of 15, 16, [with] the techniques ingrained into them not [being] good enough. Coaches have let them get away with it because they want to be their friend, they want to be nice to them and they want to encourage them to hit the ball well.”
As someone who has become passionately involved in youth coaching again in the past four years this resonates loudly. The lack of basic technical advice is quite staggering, mainly because the ECB’s coach education programme, certainly at levels two and three, while often innovative and interesting in parts, allows coaches to sail through without that necessary technical knowledge and experience, or an ability to demonstrate. That needs looking at. The level four qualification, at an eye-watering £7,000, is also out of reach for too many.
With little or no cricket played in state schools, one-on-one coaching has become a busy business, with many parents almost trying to outdo each other with the number of sessions booked — and maybe even sometimes strategically ensuring those sessions are with a coach who might just be selecting a representative side for which their child is in contention.
The focus too often is on the shorter forms of the game. “We want the openers to bat like Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy” was one comment I heard last season. Not if we want them to be red-ball openers, we don’t. Those with the temperament to bat all day are too easily discarded. One of my favourite sayings is that “I want my batters to play the innings of the day rather than the shot of the day”. But too many players aim for the latter. There is a time and a place for the reverse sweeps, ramps et al, but few coaches and players understand this.
It is the same with power-hitting. It is, of course, an essential part of the modern game, but it is only a small part. The percentage of time you need to power-hit is tiny compared with the time you need to bat more conventionally. Having a defence should never be confused with being a defensive player.
All the very best players have founded their games on a solid defence. I have told the story before in these pages of how at Glamorgan the great Sir Vivian Richards once asked me to throw him some balls and he defended the majority of them.
Elementary practices, often with tennis balls, to groove the basics of grip, stance and back lift are frowned upon by too many these days. They work and need to be encouraged more.
Coaches over-complicate in other ways, for instance by introducing trigger movements for young players. Professionals need trigger movements against the pace of bowling they face, but 12-year-olds do not. They have enough to worry about in terms of trying to master their set up and range of shots. In addition, they are still growing and balance is always key, so telling them to go back and across before the ball is bowled is only going to cause problems with their head position. The better players will trigger naturally when needed. Those given an unnatural trigger at a young age often then trigger again when the right time comes, causing all sorts of unnecessary movement.
One of the biggest problems with young batters is the back lift. Too many of them do not have one, even if they — and often their coaches — think they do. They stand with bat aloft in the modern way and then, when the ball is about to be bowled, they drop their hands and play from there, jabbing at the ball mainly with their bottom hand. It was so much easier when players tapped their bats on the ground and then had to move their hands back to play a shot.
(1) If you are white, privately educated and born in the first half of the year - 48% (just under 1 in 2)
(2) If you are from an ethnic minority, State educated and born in the second half of the year - 0.4% (1 in 250)
So, you are 120 times more likely to succeed if you fall in category (1) than category (2)
Of the 26 at the DLCA, 20 were privately educated. Seb (born in second half) and Jas (born in first half) make up two of the six that went to State schools. There are four who are non white of which Jas is the only one who was not privately educated - but he was born in September so his chances of playing for England are increased to 0.7% or 1/140. Jas isn't a batsman though so probably has a better chance than that of doing so albeit still massively less than those overall who fall into category (1)
Hopefully, the ECB will do something about this disparity. Not holding my breath though as it will mean a whole new infrastructure, money thrown at the project and a ruffling of the feathers of those who are part of the "cosy" system currently in place!
46.82% - white, privately educated and born in first half
26.33% - white, privately educated and born in second half
13.98% - white, State educated and born in first half
7.87% - white, State educated and born in second half
2.46% - non-white, privately educated and born in first half
1.39% - non-white, privately educated and born in second half
0.74% - non-white, State educated and born in first half
0.41% - non-white, State educated and born in second half
...not...
...48% chance of you playing for England if you are white, privately educated and born in the first half of the year.
Big difference!
🙂
If England had to rely on southerner pace bowling attack, it would be pretty feeble.