COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Blast crowds struggling, are you surprised? | Foxes fight back with £10 deal | Key to cut Championship games? | Fans' banners taken down | Jim Parks RIP
It’s been another sobering, thought-provoking week for English cricket. The early part centred on ticket prices, both for the Test and the Blast. Then, on Wednesday morning, the Telegraph reported some of England MD Rob Key’s plan to ‘fix English cricket’.
Again? How many times is that now?
The headline for county fans was a likely reduction of Championship games from 14 to 10. “I think you've basically added in a month of the season with a competition,” said Key. “…so you've got to lose a month's worth of cricket.”
There is a stonking great elephant in the room here. And I’ll give you a clue, it is wearing a shirt sponsored by a crisp manufacturer.
As time ticks on, I am getting increasingly concerned about these all-important reviews into English cricket, partly because of the chumocracy at the top of the game. Key’s qualifications were sketchy to say the least but we were told he was “a good bloke” so… umm… that is clearly OK then. And why does Andrew Strauss’ skills as an England captain and batter afford him so much influence on the future of the game both off and on the pitch?
Like the Sue Gray report, the high performance review is taking a long time to complete, it is quite leaky and the recommendations will be presented with the spin of Shane Warne multiplied by Murali.
As I have said before, it is all back to front. You cannot introduce the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named, ring-fence it while the jury is still out and then start to ask the existential questions.
It all smacks of another stitch up in which, yet again, legacy fans are barely considered.
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T20 Blast
T20 Blast team of the week: Who joins Paul Stirling in the XI? (Cricketer)
Gloucestershire legend Ian Harvey to leave assistant coach role (Gloucestershire)
County cricket: T20 Blast lets game do the talking after quiet buildup (Guardian)
Sussex sign fifth T20 Blast overseas player to highlight county cricket's recruitment problem (Cricinfo) Also, Sussex new contracts - Hunt, Coles, Tear
Dominic Drakes to join Yorkshire for four-game T20 Blast stint (Cricinfo)
How to save the Vitality Blast without ending The Hundred (Telegraph) ($)
I’ll be honest, this last article rather wound me up.
It started like this…
"The counties can’t say that they weren’t warned. Just as many had feared, sales for the Twenty20 Blast have declined compared to 2019, with many supporters preferring The Hundred instead.
“It isn’t hard to understand why. Compared to the T20 Blast, The Hundred has three salient advantages. First, with fewer teams, full involvement of England’s specialist white-ball players and more overseas players, the quality is higher. Second, the tickets are cheaper: tickets for Hampshire’s opening T20 Blast match at the Ageas Bowl are an eminently reasonable £24, but it costs as little as £12 to go to Southern Brave Hundred games - which are double-headers featuring the men’s and women’s teams - at the same ground. Third, the schedule is better: The Hundred is played throughout August, with the group stages exclusively in the school holidays."
Errr… and all three advantages have been deliberately manufactured by the ECB.
It’s not a surprise but now we are getting articles on ‘how to solve a problem like the Blast’ following hot on the heels of similar ones about ‘solving’ the Championship and the number of counties. As for the answer? Well, replacing the ECB with a body fit for purpose would be a start. We would not be in this situation had cricket questioned itself seriously and acted accordingly over the past few decades.
Blast ticket prices are a hot issue now, and the natural comparison is the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named. But I’d venture that paying for top playing talent and unprecedented levels of marketing without recouping much revenue at the gate has contributed greatly to the hollowing out of ECB reserves, which, I might add, were built up on the backs of previous generations of fans.
As the article says, the counties did not have to vote for it. But almost all of them would be in financial peril without ECB payments for their role in providing players and there have been numerous stories of undue pressure to bend to the will of the governing body. Those in the room used the term ‘ambush’. To present it so uncritically is, at best, naive given most of its ‘successes’ would have been possible via similar support of the Blast.
This piece, by Andrew Miller, offers much more context on how we got to this position.
For me, George Dobell has been calling it right from the start, see above. The Blast appears drab on TV and expensive in real-life when compared to the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named because the ECB have made it so. Either through their action or inaction. It has left many fans watching on, wide-eyed but helpless, as their sport is shunted into a siding seemingly in the hope it will simply rust away.
So, here’s where we are now in the Blast, above. There are lots of factors behind ticket sales figures but you can never get away from price. The MCC can blame the Jubilee for the 15,000-20,000 empty seats expected over the Lord’s Test but it is also damn expensive. In contrast, the Euro 2022, women’s football tournament held in England in the summer is trumpeting its ticketing success. I am taking my family of four to an England group game and the final for a grand total of £135. That is eight mid-range seats, including four for the showpiece sell-out at Wembley, for less than the cost of a decent single for Lord’s this week. My family are into football, my wife and daughter have played, but I would not be going if it were not exceptional value. There are many different ways to measure crowds. In my time in US sports, we considered overall match ticket revenue not crowd size as our KPI and, seen this way, Blast crowds might still be better money-spinners than those in you-know-what.
The counties’ approach to the cash cow of the Blast has been criticised for many years - too expensive, too focussed on the beery/blokey crowd and not the families which would grow the game. It is one of the important issues you-know-what was designed to address but, on the basis of the disorder we saw last year, it may not be successful.
But let’s face it, inflation is at nine per cent, money is getting tight and we know it is going to get worse. The political pollsters tell us it is the electorate’s overriding concern right now. Leicestershire have read the room and, yet again, led the way with £10 tickets (£5 under-16s) for all their remaining games. This tweet from their CEO suggests it is working…
Just think about this scenario for a minute - £10 tickets across all Blast games, major fixtures shown live on the BBC, a full-on marketing campaign and played in the summer holidays.
I firmly predict we would have had queues around grounds and ticket touts outside as demand would be so high. It would be a product ‘strong’ enough to hold alcohol-free days and family events. And, most importantly, it would have not made anywhere near the dent in the ECB finances nor split the game.
Reportedly, ECB CEO ‘Teflon’ Tom Harrison finally went because he could not get through the long-term television deal that would have cemented the future of the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named. (Hang on, wasn’t he staying because there was a vacuum at the top without a chair, and that still exists). Realistically, a new leadership team are unlikely to scrap it any time soon. There would be too much egg on the collective faces of those who remain. The Telegraph piece argues “regardless of what many would prefer, the success of The Hundred is now intertwined with the success of English cricket”. A common argument but one I have never found overly convincing.
It is near-impossible to make a purely economic case for the Championship or the 18 first-class counties to continue in their current form. (Though Surrey now have a record 17,000 members and it is growing by 200 per week.) But it is incredibly frustrating to see the one blossoming, profitable part of domestic cricket dismantled like this.
This is not on from Warwickshire, above. Supporters’ flags, which also denounced the tournament-that-shall-not-be-named, have been taken down before. Elsewhere, I have witnessed banners being extracted because they were covering advertising boards. So where can they go?
Let’s be clear. There can be no offensive language, effect on play/spectators or threat to safety. Otherwise, just get them up. In fact, I’d have designated space and encourage fans to be creative. I remember the Windies fans expressed their pride in the team through some wonderful banners in the 80s.
NEIL MANTHORP: Connect the dots — and the future of T20 cricket becomes clear (Business Live)
When T20 first arrived two decades ago, it was predicted that the new format could be the death of spin bowling. Now, the pivotal part of any innings is when the slowies arrive after the Powerplay. In Cricket 2.0, the authors mused on the idea of an all spin T20 innings. Here's Talksport’s Neil Manthorpe on the evolution of IPL.
News, Views and Interviews
The reasons behind Middlesex's unexpected revival (Telegraph) ($)
This is one of the surprises of the campaign for me. The fitness of Toby Roland-Jones would seem to be key to them turning this early-season form into honours.
Tanni Grey-Thompson among new board members at Yorkshire CCC (York Press)
Former captain Graham Gooch calls Essex racism allegations a ‘stain’ on club’s history (Mirror)
Essex face sanctions from ECB for falling short on diversity targets (BBC Sport)
I have put out feelers about standing for election to the board at Essex. As a white male, I do not help achieve these very important diversity targets. But, given I was educated in a grotty comprehensive in the west of the county, I like to think I would act as a dilution to the public school bias within the game.
The Journey to an Online Digital Somerset Cricket Museum (Somerset North)
My thanks to subscriber Mike Unwin for sending me this piece on how Somerset's cricket museum has gone online.
Homes near cricket grounds – in pictures (Guardian)
Cricket Simulations - explainer (The Analyst)
Here’s a geeky yet accessible piece on how Opta run their cricket simulations.
Cricket club poses as 36-year-old woman on Tinder in bid to attract new players (Mirror)
Remembering Jim Parks | 1931 - 2022 (Sussex CCC)
Former Sussex and England keeper Jim Parks dies aged 90 (Cricinfo)
Finally, actor Rory Kinnear sums it up…
Rory Kinnear - Sixty Seconds (Metro)
Q: What hobby do you wish you had more time for?
A: “Watching county cricket. Between April and September the clouds lift for me, both metaphorically and literally, and I go down to The Oval and watch Surrey in the slowest format of the game.
“Sometimes there’s wine, sometimes there’s crisps. Actually, I’d say there’s always crisps.”
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August 2023
- Aug 8, 2023 Because cricketers are worth it. Greed, ego and contract negotiations Aug 8, 2023
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May 2023
- May 20, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Blast preview | Foxes put meaning over money | Should Essex house Tigers? | Lancs v Somerset declaration row | Roach goes home | Lancs try to change rules at AGM May 20, 2023
- May 12, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Marketing trends in County Cricket | Week 6 Previews | Chaos at Derby | Cricket Paper back this weekend | Why invest in Yorkshire? | Tom Harrison paid £1.13m in final four months May 12, 2023
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April 2023
- Apr 29, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Week 3 reviews | 12-month IPL contracts offered to England players | Own your mistakes! | Sort out 'reciprocal' rights for county members | Tom Price heroics Apr 29, 2023
- Apr 21, 2023 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Championship Week 3 previews | Ballance retires | The dangerous ageism of labelling older fans 'a problem' | Saudi Arabia T20 threat | Oh Mickey (Arthur), you're so fine Apr 21, 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- December 2022
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November 2022
- Nov 18, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: ECB change board | Back to an eight-team top division? | Smeed's move the first of many? | Hogan unretires | Major deals at Notts | Yorks racism hearing ramps up Nov 18, 2022
- Nov 3, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Richard Gould - the right CEO for the ECB ? | Shock Rushworth move | Yorkshire's key changes | New contracts - Wood, Barker, Hain | Surrey, Worcs coach appts Nov 3, 2022
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October 2022
- Oct 21, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Will a county 'go under' like Wasps? | Key says support you-know-what | Buttler & Croft contracts at Lancs | Yorks racism hearing in public? | Benefit Years no more? Oct 21, 2022
- Oct 8, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Angry reaction to Yorks' relegation | County Awards | Teams of the season | Will counties vote against Strauss Review? | Should we split cricket into two codes? Oct 8, 2022
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September 2022
- Sep 30, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Fantastic finale to the Champ season | Success at Surrey, Notts & Middx | Warks send Yorks down | Strauss Review reaction - and it's not good | Hildreth and Hogan farewells Sep 30, 2022
- Sep 16, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should high performance mean high priority? | Royal London Cup previews | You-know-what 'least enjoyable' competition | $10m fine shows ECB the way on fighting racism Sep 16, 2022
- Sep 12, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Thompson delays county vote on Strauss review | Media blitz - Fri night Blast games, transfer window, player exodus | "One man and a dog" - still!!! | You-know-what Yr 2 figures Sep 12, 2022
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August 2022
- Aug 18, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: 'Over my dead body' CEO on cutting counties | The schedule is a pretzel or a Rubik's cube | Hildreth retires early | Thompson's in-tray | My Faustian bargain Aug 18, 2022
- Aug 16, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Thompson appointed ECB chair | Special General Meeting forced at Lancashire | Yorks tribunal underway | Flintoff's Field of Dreams considered | Stevens to leave Kent Aug 16, 2022
- Aug 3, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Major moves announced | Yorks change captain | Royal London Cup is not an 'alternative' | What Dr Who tells us about the demise of county cricket | Loads of pessimism, sorry Aug 3, 2022
- Aug 1, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Will counties lose that £1.3m payment? | Why the balls have gone soft | Join Campaign to Save First-Class Cricket | B&H Cup 50 years on | Northeast's 410* Aug 1, 2022
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July 2022
- Jul 20, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Why first-class county cricket will be gone in six years Jul 20, 2022
- Jul 14, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Scarbados and Southport shine | Lancs Action Group rally members | Why do 'outsiders' love the Champ | What change will YOU make to save the game? Jul 14, 2022
- Jul 2, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: What Wimbledon can teach English cricket | Vaughan off-air | Gale's parting shot | Sibley, Barnard moves | 'Bazball' in the county game | Who's out of contract Jul 2, 2022
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June 2022
- Jun 24, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Last four Yorks chairs blast ECB | Champ games to be played in UAE or Sri Lanka? | Introducing the 6ixty | Seriously, how to replace the ECB? | Big Somerset signing Jun 24, 2022
- Jun 17, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Yorkshire and former players charged | Willey returns to Northants | Moeen, Sibley to move? | Chesterfield of dreams | YouTube stream hacks Jun 17, 2022
- Jun 9, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Blast catches fire at last | Sky's schedule, fights and food problems | Why fan engagement is the key | Yorkshire payouts Jun 9, 2022
- Jun 2, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Blast crowds struggling, are you surprised? | Foxes fight back with £10 deal | Key to cut Championship games? | Fans' banners taken down | Jim Parks RIP Jun 2, 2022
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May 2022
- May 26, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: T20 Blast Off | Ticket sales struggling because of you-know-what? | Has Championship been a let-down so far? | Surrey's classy gesture | Big sponsorship deal for Lancs May 26, 2022
- May 19, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: ECB CEO Tom Harrison goes... finally | Have bad balls helped batters? | Bees stop play | Where you get in free after tea | Why should we listen to ex-players? May 19, 2022
- May 14, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Is a different Dukes ball the reason for all the runs? | Finally, an ECB chair we can believe in? | Sparkling new Potts |Best of the blogs May 14, 2022
- May 5, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should Joe Clarke play for England? | Essex boardroom problems | Six ducks for Kent tail-ender | Yet more ECB nonsense May 5, 2022
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April 2022
- Apr 24, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Strauss Review nonsense | Key appointment doubts | Compton's stunning start | TalkSPORT's quality coverage | Syd Lawrence Apr 24, 2022
- Apr 15, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: All the Championship previews | Mickey Arthur defends county cricket | A list of the ECB's mistakes this week | Player moves Apr 15, 2022
- Apr 7, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: All the County Championship previews | Fantasy League tips | Bumble speaks out | Latest player moves | And 'Teflon Tom' wants to secure 'his legacy' Apr 7, 2022
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March 2022
- Mar 28, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Should we have a fan-led review? | Surprise! Talk of culling some counties | Yorkshire can't get out of their own way | Should the ECB fine themselves? | All the moves Mar 28, 2022
- Mar 7, 2022 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 Mar 7, 2022
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February 2022
- Feb 18, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: 'Civil War' at Yorkshire | Why Tom Harrison is cricket's Chesney Hawkes? | Mickey Arthur flies in | Surrey's 15k members | Davies banned for tweets | All the player moves Feb 18, 2022
- Feb 2, 2022 COUNTY CRICKET BLOG: Angry about the fixtures, the Yorkshire scandal and especially the ECB... here's why Feb 2, 2022
- January 2022
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December 2021
- Dec 24, 2021 BLOG: All the major player moves & contracts | Exploring Cricket & class | A right old 'Codgerfest' | Counties redeveloping grounds | Changes at Yorkshire | Peter O'Toole taught by Imran Khan Dec 24, 2021
- Dec 10, 2021 BLOG: Yorkshire look to rebuild | Lancashire's new ground | Coaching changes at Hants | Northants and Derbyshire overseas signings | All the latest player moves | Delay on 2022 fixture announcements Dec 10, 2021
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November 2021
- Nov 28, 2021 BLOG: Latest on Yorkshire racism scandal, all the county cricket moves, are ECB 'fit for purpose'? Nov 28, 2021
- Nov 10, 2021 Sign up FREE to the only County Cricket newsletter - all the latest in one place Nov 10, 2021
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October 2021
- Oct 28, 2021 It seems you can't wish Geoffrey Boycott a happy birthday anymore Oct 28, 2021
- Oct 1, 2021 The Championship must find its niche again and Mason Crane must not ruin my Spag Bol again Oct 1, 2021
- Oct 1, 2021 The Grumbler's County Championship team of the season - 2021 Oct 1, 2021
- Oct 1, 2021 How to say goodbye to a cricket season, career or life Oct 1, 2021
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September 2021
- Sep 14, 2021 Dear Mr Dowden, first-class counties are 'art treasures' too Sep 14, 2021
- Sep 8, 2021 We love seeing the youngsters play but it helps county finances too Sep 8, 2021
- Sep 1, 2021 Why watch when there is nothing to play for? Sep 1, 2021
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August 2021
- Aug 24, 2021 The intended consequence of diminished horizons Aug 24, 2021
- Aug 18, 2021 Like the many who will follow him, red-ball Ravi will be missed Aug 18, 2021
- Aug 11, 2021 Cricket needs diversity from all sides Aug 11, 2021
- Aug 3, 2021 Gimmickry can help county cricket too Aug 3, 2021
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July 2021
- Jul 29, 2021 50 and out? Why one-day cricket may fall through the cracks Jul 29, 2021
- Jul 20, 2021 A failure of governance Jul 20, 2021
- Jul 13, 2021 Cricket, data and Foxes Jul 13, 2021
- Jul 9, 2021 Lessons from six months of creating county cricket content Jul 9, 2021
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June 2021
- Jun 30, 2021 What happens when you become a cricket 'meme’ Jun 30, 2021
- Jun 21, 2021 How 'Hobbiton' is starting a village cricket team during a pandemic Jun 21, 2021
- Jun 15, 2021 Where's the fun? Derek Randall and Spinwash show the joyful chaos of yesteryear Jun 15, 2021
- Jun 9, 2021 County cricket fans are having their say... and their 'When Saturday Comes' moment Jun 9, 2021
- Jun 2, 2021 Why cricket's best YouTube channel is under threat Jun 2, 2021
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May 2021
- May 26, 2021 Fanning the flames for REAL supporter representation May 26, 2021
- May 18, 2021 Getting back in the ground, it’s going to be pretty damn emotional May 18, 2021
- May 18, 2021 By the end of this season, we’ll know if traditional county cricket has been outgunned May 18, 2021
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October 2020
- Oct 7, 2020 Vitality Blast: Team of the Season 2020 Oct 7, 2020
- Oct 7, 2020 Streaming offers red-ball cricket a lifeline Oct 7, 2020
- Oct 7, 2020 My T20 finals days: Michelangelo, Kiss Cam and the Sugababes Oct 7, 2020
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September 2020
- Sep 30, 2020 The Grumbler's Team of the Bob Willis Trophy 2020 Sep 30, 2020
- Sep 30, 2020 Barmy Army 'batten down hatches' as Covid hits cricket tour business Sep 30, 2020
- Sep 30, 2020 No-one marketed the Bob Willis Trophy final, so I did it myself for a tenner Sep 30, 2020
- Sep 24, 2020 Udal on Parkinson's Disease - 'When you play cricket, you learn to fight' Sep 24, 2020
- Sep 24, 2020 Tom Banton's not Somerset's Messiah, he's a very naughty boy Sep 24, 2020
- Sep 24, 2020 Why cricket fans will mourn this season more than most Sep 24, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 Cold-blooded Murtagh takes on Donald Trump's spinner Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 By George, he's the proud No11, batting in his mother's memory Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 Bring back the 'FA Cup' of cricket Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 10, 2020 County game grows viewership via stream power Sep 10, 2020
- Sep 9, 2020 Financial nous like ‘Barnacle’ Bailey can guide cricket though the pandemic Sep 9, 2020