COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Warne remembered by Hampshire | Power struggles at top of the county game | More trouble at Yorkshire | Should Durham be asking questions? | Lots of new signings

Rich Clarke
CricketPaper

Hi again,

The cricketing world came to a shuddering, shocking halt last week with the death of Shane Warne. Unfortunately, these days the passing of the famous is met with hagiography more than true analysis. You can only try to piece together the subject’s character by the quality and volume of personal tributes and anecdotes. If the dearly departed receive a few bland, boilerplate accolades then they may well have been a bit of a plonker. But even then, a raft of overflowing, effusive tributes can still present a crude and distorted picture. We are all just a sum of thoughts, words and deeds when we meet our maker. However, in remembering athletes, this mosaic of memories adds depth and context to what we all saw on the pitch.

At the time, the sight of the young Shane Warne dancing at Trent Bridge after winning the Ashes in 1997 left me feeling he was the worst type of Australian cricketer - a bad winner. No matter the stick he got from the English fans, surely it was enough to thrash us on the pitch? But we often display such crassness in our youth and one of Warne’s endearing qualities was his couldn’t-give-a-toss approach to life. Had he not been such a supreme bowler then his diet and lifestyle would have been an area of intense criticism. But, if we are bringing lifestyle into it, then anyone who managed to pull Elizabeth Hurley commands the utmost respect for those of us who were in our 20s during the golden age of Loaded.

I’ll gloss over his record-breaking heroics for Australia. That is not the focus of this newsletter and it will be better covered elsewhere. But it is worth noting that, after retirement, Warne became a welcome and fair-minded enthusiast in the commentary box. Think of how many elite cricketers become cliche-dribbling, corporate-speak contrarians once a microphone is pushed towards their lips. Warne’s intelligence, warmth and generosity of spirit meant he grew in stature.

But, for an Englishman like me, his greatest testament is the respect he gave the county game. When I first covered Hampshire for the Aldershot News in the early 90s, they were a middling county housed at a typically quaint ground on the fringes of Southampton. Rod Bransgrove’s money and ambition changed all that. The Ageas Bowl is a stadium fit for a star and Warne was the leading man between 2000 and 2007. He took 276 first-class wickets for Hampshire @25.59 with a best of 7-99, plus 2,040 runs, including a highest score of 107. He was even captain for the final three years of his spell on the south coast. We heard stories of Hampshire players receiving inspirational or congratulatory texts even when he was back home and this report from a game against Middlesex in 2006 is typical. At this point, Warne had played 70 per cent of the county’s Championship games over the previous two seasons and, in the game, bowled 24.1 unchanged overs throughout the visitors’ second innings to secure a victory. When did we last see anything like that in domestic red-ball cricket from one of the game’s true superstars?

As a cricketer, Warne’s numbers support his greatness and certainly he revitalised one of the game’s most difficult arts - leg spin. He was also a stone-cold winner. But, at the same time, let’s not make a saint out of a man whose tabloid tales would suggest he could be an unabashed and unapologetic sinner. In the past few days, Australian fans have put cans of VB beer on his statue when, quite famously, that was not his tipple. It is one minor indication that the myth is always different to the man. 

Yes, Warne took the riches the game could offer. He left Hampshire when the IPL called and was a head coach in the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named after previously criticising its very inception.

However, despite this and the distance from which these words are being written, it seemed that Shane Warne respected every facet of cricket and remained a largely positive force on the game until the end of his life.

Bowled Warnie.

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Moves and Contracts

Players: Leonard (Somerset), Steketee (Essex), Lamb, Wells, Blatherwick, Jones(Lancashire), Ali (Lancashire), Kelly (Northants), Bird (Kent), Evans (Surrey, White-ball only), Crane (Hampshire), Charlesworth (Gloucestershire), Roach, Amla (Surrey), Gleeson (Lancashire), Watt (Derbyshire)

Coaches: Mason (Worcestershire)

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Dearly Departed

Shane Warne, Australian cricket legend, dies aged 52 (Guardian)

Shane Warne, Australian cricketer, 1969-2022 (FT)

Shane Warne’s death is like that of a friend and gets worse with each hour (Guardian)

The Hampshire years: How Shane Warne's eccentric captaincy transformed a county (Telegraph) ($)

''It Is Impossible To Exaggerate The Impact Shane Warne Had On This Club'' (Hampshire CCC)

Sonny Ramadhin (Lancashire)

Sheila Hill (Kent)

News, Views and Interviews

Now it is time for the ECB to investigate what happened to Durham (Cricketer) ($)

Durham rebuff calls for review of ECB punishment in 2016 (The Cricketer) ($)

George Dobell makes a reasoned and impassioned argument in his piece. However I understand the approach from Tim Bostock. Durham are on the rise again after being treated very harshly so why rock the boat when, as the CEO implies, you can benefit from the guilt. But it does not reflect well on the ECB and again calls into question their role. I heard the interview on Talksport at the time and Steve Harmison was much less diplomatic about the whole sorry affair. 

It's my job to bring the smile back to Yorkshire: Former England star Darren Gough has been brought in to rebuild the troubled county after the Azeem Rafiq race storm… and admits he has plenty on his plate (Daily Mail)

Yorkshire accuse three vice-presidents of spreading 'mischievous false information' in wake of Azeem Rafiq scandal (Mail)

Four ex-Yorkshire cricket employees sacked in aftermath of Azeem Rafiq racism scandal - including former head coach Andrew Gale - to begin legal case against the county on May 6 (Mail)

Gary Ballance to be given second chance by Darren Gough and Yorkshire CCC despite his part in Azeem Rafiq racism crisis (Yorkshire Post)

The Yorkshire plot just gets thicker and thicker. From this distance, I sense the forces of the establishment are acting as a brake on change. What is their motivation I wonder? Loss of power and prestige? Resentment, jealousy or anger? Or perhaps the feeling that Rafiq is a chequered character who was wrong to call out the county. Clearly, the last notion is wrong-headed and victim-shaming is always an important tool for the powerful in retaining the status quo. It is a delicate situation at Yorkshire but there must be demonstrable change.

County chairs renew ECB power struggle with fresh blueprint for cricket (Guardian)

In a similar vein, this concerns me as it sounds like the county old guard is trying to retake control. While I am hugely critical of the ECB, the sport must change or die and this sounds like a retrograde step. But this sort of retrenchment is the product of the nature of change Harrison and Graves brought about and the methods they used to secure it. With the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named foisted upon us for the foreseeable future and the forces of conservativism possibly in control of it, this may well result in the worst of all worlds.

Former Essex chair John Faragher denies using racist phrase or resigning from board (Cricketer)

Luke Fletcher awarded testimonial year in 2023 (Nottinghamshire CCC)

Fully deserved. Is Big Fletch the most popular player on the county circuit with neutral fans?

Worcestershire made an 8,000 profit but received £3.8m from the ECB. The highest amount ever and must be seen within a context of a turnover of just over £5m (Worcestershire CCC)

Glamorgan Financial Statement (Glamorgan CCC)

I had a skim through this and it seems that Glamorgan's finances in 2021 broadly bounced back to 2019 levels. But it is still tough to ascertain the long-term picture. As for Worcestershire, that is still a hefty cheque from the ECB.

‘Dad’s eyes lit up’: Northamptonshire County Cricket Club captain visits 84-year-old fan following stroke (Northants Telegraph)

Lovely stuff from Adam Rossington and Northamptonshire.

London Youth Games launch new category at cricket event (Hackney Gazette)

We must applaud anything designed to introduce a more diverse group of children to the game. I used to work on local papers in London and the Youth Games is important. Taking the higher-quality county-linked youngsters out is beneficial as it will not be their most important cricket tournament but it will be huge for many of those just below.

The Hundred makes sense for the players, but is it really the best option for English cricket? (The Cricketer) ($)

"Just think of the outrageous expense that The Hundred has cost. A cheque for £23.4 million a year to persuade the counties to give it the go-ahead, plus a hefty amount of money to pay the players. That's more than £30 million a year"

You can never trust the views of those with vested interests. In this case, that means the ECB and those players and commentators likely to be involved. I’m freelance too, it is entirely understandable as jobs such as these are at a premium. But I have sanity-checked my view on the tournament against those who are a) independent and b) care about the game past and present. The majority are journalists and the vast majority are anti or very sceptical. 

ECB launches review into chief executive Tom Harrison’s conduct over resignation of Leicestershire chairwoman Mehmooda Duke (Times) ($)

Just how is Teflon Tom Harrison still in a job? Most of my concerns have been about competence, greed and care of the game. But this story has a much more nasty stench. 

More than half a million tune into Channel 4 live coverage (Love Rugby League)

The peak audience for the opening game of the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named was 1.6m on BBC1, thanks in part to a marketing spend that (along with Covid) contributed much to the ECB's reserves reportedly dropping from £70m to around £2m in recent years. The same figure for the rugby league opener on Channel 4 was 624,000 and I did not even know it was on. And, the BBC’s commitment to live cricket may be more expediency than marriage anyway. While terrestrial television is key to visibility (something English cricket has learnt the hard way), global figures suggest that the game is well-suited to streamers. All this, yet again, indicates there were other routes and other solutions than divisive and unnecessary disruption. And, it seems, Harrison’s final act as CEO is to attempt to ‘secure a legacy’ by extending the TV deal he negotiated with, presumably, the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named firmly established. Former ECB chair Colin Graves went before the event began and Harrison is expected to follow before the second ones starts. Both departed under clouds of displeasure and dismay. The early exit of the two key executives who bulldozed the event through again suggests it has been a shitshow in which deep reserves of cash and PR b*ll*ocks has been used to cover an utter lack of strategy.

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