T20

The Fast And The Furious

LordCanisLupus52 Comments

There have been a number of interesting things, shall we say, that have occupied minds over the past few days. I note that in the comments today, for instance, there has been some views expressed on TV contracts and media relations; a request to talk about what is happening in Australia with Chris Gayle; and, of course, some general hilarity over some reporting and scoring.

I really didn’t want to say anything on Gayle. All has been said. His attitude to women, his tiresome nonsense meant long ago that I unfollowed him on Twitter. His approach is dreadful, and he doesn’t have a clue what the consequences of his actions are. Don’t give me straw men about women doing it to men too – they don’t get the sort of abuse women do who “make a big deal about this”.

Mark asked me if I’d given any thought to commenting on what has been happening in Australia. Yes, I’d given it some thought. But then who needs to hear another voice outraged at Chris Gayle’s conduct? Because of his actions female reporters are going to be scarred by it, abused for it, made, in some eyes, culpable for it and have to take the sort of stuff on Twitter I would have nightmares about (and no doubt they do too). Why? You can’t move on the internet for people sticking their views up. The initial reaction is incredibly important, and it isn’t a blog like mine that’s going to be a key player. It is those directly affected who matter.

This isn’t a bloody cop out. I listened to the podcast Dennis put up on his site. It’s powerful stuff. Listen to it. I can’t walk a mile in Melinda and Neroli’s shoes because I am not a female reporter subjected to this shit. I won’t be the one copping the abuse, the rape threats, the outright disgraceful misogyny that this stuff elicits. It would have been miles more effective in getting the message across if each newspaper across the land had just written out the transcript of this podcast, conveying the emotion of Melinda Farrell especially, rather than a special paid columnist to air their “I’m so fucking important” view, as so many have.

Yes, that might sound like me being a touch hypocritical. But let me give you an example of hypocrisy. Jonathan Liew wrote a very decent article today in the Telegraph, actually approaching it from a slightly different angle. I’m not a fan of all Liew’s work, but this was worth reading. He says, as others (men) do that when they meet Gayle he’s charming, humorous and good company. But he also condemns totally what he did to Mel McLaughlin. It’s a decent read.

So, we have a serious article, written by a bloke with a reputation for being a bit smart, and who you could listen to. Then, right below it, are those links – you know the ones, the “Outbrain” ones, those paid for adverts that induce to click on them for salacious stories and gossip – and the first one is a picture of Neymar with a blonde woman with, let’s face it, a large chest and the headline “Neymar parties with UFC stunner” (or something like that).

I mean, that bloody well says it all. Look, in our newspaper we’re berating a sports star for acting like a prick, treating women like trophies, having one of our top journo’s go into depth and thought – and look, click on a picture of a sports star with a woman in a very small bikini? Leave off. You wonder, you really do….

No blame on Liew, all the blame on the muppets (being kind) who ignore this thing. Takes me back to Keays and Gray, and the Mail Online having a lead story getting all self-righteous about their sexism, and the picture next to the story on-line was of Cheryl Cole, as then was, with a tattoo on her back and the headline “Nice Tramp Stamp”. Spare me the newspaper moralising, please.

irony

I now realise I’ve done precisely what others have. I tell you what I won’t do. I won’t publicise this on Twitter (other than the auto notification on the LCL Twitter Feed) to get those nodding hits of approval or the scathing admonishments. I won’t go all out to call people knuckle-draggers because they might have a different view. I won’t be vicariously offended by something that did not happen to me, but will support whatever stops this shit happening again. The ONLY voices we needed to hear were the victims.

Instead some journalists bring in their own stories, like Russell Jackson, put it at the front of their piece, their first evidence. Then, when called on it, you claim the person “wasn’t one of the big beasts” (as if that matters), and that it wasn’t representative of the overall article (you mean your first piece of evidence, and the most striking, is not to be taken as your most convincing point?). Chuck in another story about an OBE, in pure TTT (Tyers Twitter Tendency) mode and then attack the critic. It’s been a time.

But, these are my opinions. Others apply. It’s my view of the current world we live in.

Meanwhile the Big Bash goes on in full swing and breaking all sorts of records. It’s the perfect size, played in mainly perfect weather, and with just enough blend of international talent and home-grown stars to make it work. Six teams might be too concentrated, ten teams a dilution without the Australian internationals. They play in the six main population centres and the two largest conurbations get two teams. The structure is almost perfect. Australian domestic cricket pretty much covers all the bases for quality players and it works.

So what about the T20 in England, I hear the cry? The Big Bash works, so why don’t we apply it here? Well, one, I don’t want it, so that’s a start. Two, we don’t have the massive stadia to play it in and don’t talk to me about football grounds. Three, yes the block wouldn’t work in a bad summer. Four, it would be the death of county cricket. Oh, it’ll carry on as a niche sport, but players won’t want to get injured in that if they miss the Big Blast, because that’s where the money would be.

If you had eight teams, got the international players over to play it, and did it in a three week slot at, say, the middle / end of August, it might work. Football might get in the way, but I’m not sure why it would decimate it. There would be big crowds, there would be interest, you might even get FTA to cover it, but given that the bidding power of satellite providers dwarfs that of FTA, I think wrong trees are being barked up. It would work, and at the same time leave the counties beholden to it. Sooner or later a franchise owner will say “why am I subsidising these clowns?” and off we go. Sports clubs owners in the UK aren’t exactly known for seeing the bigger picture. This isn’t an American sporting organisation that looks to grow the whole sport.

Don’t go searching for the golden answer because it doesn’t exist. Ramble on with our Blast and you’ll get good county standard matches. Go for a franchise tournament and the better players get richer, while the rest go to hell in a handcart, but the public laps it up. County cricket would wither on the vine, a dependent relying on the success of others – for some counties it is like that now, this would accentuate it. Run two T20 comps, one for the counties, one for the franchises, and it will be the equivalent of BDO/PDC darts. If that’s a price worth paying, so be it. Talking about expanding the current arrangements is arrant nonsense. Enough teams in the Blast jack it in when they’ve lost three early games, the standard is variable and introducing more teams will dilute quality, and more games will take away the special nature of the fixtures, turning it into a Sunday League type affair.

We have an 18 county structure. If we were to start from scratch we wouldn’t have. We do not have that luxury. I don’t know what will work, and don’t pretend that I do. That would be a position many would do well to take.

Finally – Pringle on a sensitive topic. Can’t wait…

Finally, Bunkers’ final day report is a beauty. Read it.

Always happy to have you comments….

The Next T20, The Pink Ball, And Tregaskis

LordCanisLupus29 Comments

Comments on today’s T20 should be included below. An impressive win against what looked like an over-matched Pakistan team gives us that little bit of hope when it comes to the next World T20. I’ve been on the Billings Bus for a bit, and like what I see so far, but he doesn’t seem to fit in to a first XI which has Buttler in it. Indications are that other players are going to be rested (suggesting Morgan might be) so we’ll see the depth of the line-up.

I have to say that I didn’t see much of the day-night test. I have time off work and wanted to sleep…. I love sleep more than cricket. I did see some parts though, and the round-up at the end from Cricket Australia TV was drinks all round, wasn’t it wonderful, everything was amazing, and mulitple bruising from patting each other on the back. The important stat was 44,000 in the crowd, and the game not being a farce. One would suggest a normal test match where one team is out for 202 and the other was 50 odd for 2 would not get much of a glance – a game in the balance, an average amount of runs, and the game being more than a cakewalk for batsmen – but this isn’t a normal game. If you’re looking for hyperbole, then Shiny Toy is your man.

Vaughan has form for going over the top, but what was needed was something like today. Adelaide is a batting wicket at most test matches, and it’s clear the ball has had some effect, or there is something else going on with the pitch. I haven’t studied it, seen what they’ve done, but Selfey was intimating that the pitch had a bit more grass on it to protect the ball. The fear with the ball would be an abrasive surface tearing it apart. But there’s nothing wrong with that pitch preparation, and indeed a normal day’s play was just what was required. It has been a success, but the problem is when the Cricket Australia TV gush so much. If I’m agreeing with them, then there’s something wrong.

Let’s see how the match plays out. One observation from me is I hate watching the pink ball on the TV. It is going to take some getting used to.

Then there’s Tregaskis’s piece. From where I’m sitting, the press lost my trust 18 months ago. They were conduits for leaks, gleefully on many occasions, printed a number of stories that were pro-ECB no matter how often they complained about how this monolith had put up a bubble to keep them out, and their judgement on certain characters was found wanting. T’s piece makes many very good points, and in some regards I think he over-reaches a little (but hey, don’t we all), but he’s got certain journos talking to a blogger and in the main, that can’t be a bad thing. T has a cache that I don’t have. He’s a respected writer, winner of a tremendous award, and also got to write a terrifice article in The Cricketer. He’s also a charming fellow to talk to on the phone, on the one instance I got that chance. He approaches his subject with diligence and with a clear idea of the right way to go about it. He affords many of the journalistic community a respect I cannot do, and for that, he’s a much better man than I.

John – the answer is still no.

I come at this issue as a cricket fan, and yes a fan of one player I felt was treated very badly. I hold the media very responsible for letting us down. For turning the other way. For taking one side of the story and putting it that way. I have a piece on the stocks that I’ve just not had the heart to put up summing up the interactions over the last 18 months. While some have sought to build up some trust since, it isn’t working across the piece.

As for Nagpur, well….. if you want to kill off the sport, keep doing that. Harsha Bhogle, not known as a critic of the BCCI, isn’t exactly enamoured with it. http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/india-vs-south-africa-pitches-are-diluting-the-joy-of-success/

 

T20, Pink Ball, Nagpur Nonsense

LordCanisLupus59 Comments

Sorry for no updates. Just not particularly enthused to write much, it has to be said. I go through these phases.

A quick insert. Do read Tregaskis’s latest epic on the media. A thought provoking, in depth look from the outside. Awesome effort. Let’s see what the aftermath is too.

There’s a lot of chatter going on about cricket at the moment. The T20s in the UAE have the feel of “we can’t wait to get home for at least three days” but they are part of the limited preparation for the World T20 next Spring. If you feel as though there are things you want to talk about on these matches, then please comment below.

I’m also really sorry but I can’t see the fuss over the pink ball test. Things have to be tried, and this sounds like an idea worth having a go at. The sheer ludicrous twaddle about the quality of the ball, when you’ve got a debacle of a test series going on in India, is priceless. Until a test is played we aren’t going to know if it works or not. Cricket can be so far up its own deluded arse sometimes. If it lacks credibility, we’ll know.

But now I’m going to contradict myself, because this stuff about the toss is arrant nonsense. There is developmental stuff to see if the game can be expanded – thus the worthy efforts of a day-night test – but then there’s this tinkering to solve a problem no-one has fully defined? What’s it trying to solve? And what is its expected solution. I’m too tired to even contemplate this.

Finally, the Nagpur test is nearly over. You’ve had your say. Games like this damage test cricket. My view. The odd one being like this is fine, it’s something different. But a series of pitches where fast bowling is largely neutered has to be wrong – in just the same way as juicy greentops to negate spinners is. There’s no easy answers. I just refuse to believe fine Indian batsmen are going to be keen to see their averages take a plunge playing constantly on dust bowls. One of you said it is all about the home team winning for commercial reasons. Sadly, there’s not a lot anyone can do about it.

Polite Enquiries is up with you-know-who, there are interesting noises from the ICC, it appears Selvey might have watched Warriors more quickly than Death of a Gentleman

And that’s your lot. I’m about to have a lovely turkey dinner cooked by the beloved, and even though I’m not American, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving because, let’s face it, we should be thankful for something.

Cheers…

White Ball Priority

LordCanisLupus28 Comments
You're our only (choice) hope...
You’re our only (choice) hope…

I was researching a piece I intended to write last night, when the news from Paris started to filter in. I find, like most of you no doubt, that stories like this consume you, so the piece took a back seat. Now I’m struggling to remember what I’d heard, so if this doesn’t have some flow, forgive me. Naturally, last night’s events hit home. That’s us out there, eating and drinking, going to concerts, watching sporting events. The world is a potentially horrible place.

This piece is on Strauss and his ODI comments.

I wasn’t concentrating on cricket much towards the end of the week, which is a bit of a problem for a cricket blogger! Work and social stuff took over, but I couldn’t help but notice some of the reactions on here, and on Twitter, to a round of interviews that Andrew Strauss conducted during the 1st ODI (or just before). So last night I listened to the Agnew interview and the one with Nick Knight.

The confusion I had was I thought the line to take from these interviews was that Strauss would prioritise (and he used that word a lot) “white ball cricket” because if we didn’t we would fail again in the World Cup in 2019. Many of you on here took this to mean that players could miss tests to play in the IPL or perhaps the Big Bash to get experience of top quality, pressure-filled cricket (Mike Walters in the Mirror certainly did). This certainly wasn’t dampened down immediately, but then, yesterday Strauss made it clear that he was not suggesting that England would weaken their test team to allow this to happen.

 “I can’t foresee any circumstances in which we would weaken our Test team in order to allow a player to play in the IPL or any other franchise-based competition.” Strauss…BBC

The cynical among us, and that numbers me, might note that the two day period between the airing of these interviews, when the position wasn’t made crystal clear, and the clarification offered yesterday was deliberate, to see how the position went down when allowed to float, or Downton-esque and a cock-up. Whereas Downton was a buffoon from the outset, I’m absolutely convinced that Strauss is, if nothing else, a sharp operator. Leaving that position open (ish) was probably quite an astute move to see if some of the big beasts roared. I don’t think, for one minute, Andrew Strauss wants Joe Root and Ben Stokes to play in the IPL (the only two test certainties that will play international white ball cricket and possibly get picked). Jos Buttler might also be sought to play in the IPL but his status as a test player is in jeopardy. The test team is our money-spinner and to mess about with that, even in the early season test series, opens the door to much in the way of consternation. Remember when we rested our bowlers against the West Indies at Edgbaston a few years ago? Some people went mad!

KP’s interjection at this point, while understandable, probably wasn’t well judged. I’ll leave it there at this point and may return to it later.

The thing that concerned me was Strauss and his non-stop mentions of the word “prioritise”. What does this actually mean? Strauss claims that the model to follow appears to be the Australian one, where they can play well in both formats of the game at the same time. He takes the message that Australia prioritise the game in the right way and his takeaway is that we should seek to specialise our white ball cricket. This, clearly from where I am sitting, means two almost separate units, with very few players playing in all formats of the game.

Let’s leave T20 cricket as an outlier at this time. That’s a format of the game Australia have never succeeded in because they seem to play another different team entirely for that (and pretty much have treated it like a joke – but a productive one – see David Warner). Australia’s ODI winning team lined up as follows:

Warner (current test opener), Finch (specialist), Smith (current test batsman), Clarke (then the test captain), Watson (then the test middle order bat), Maxwell (played tests, but seen as specialist), Faulkner (played tests, in their thoughts), Haddin (then test keeper), Johnson (test bowler), Starc (test bowler), Hazlewood (test bowler).

Arguably Australia had two out and out white ball specialists, and one (Faulkner) who has made his name in that game (but I’m sure is in their thoughts for test cricket). This may change given the retirements – Wade will probably be ODI keeper instead of Nevill, Khawaja isn’t, I think, seen as an ODI batsman, and it remains to be seen if Burns can force his way into the white ball arena. Voges isn’t an ODI player for the future. But what is clear from the above is there isn’t the separation of powers that Strauss seems to think is vital.

Looking at their opponents in the final, New Zealand, the specialists were Ronchi and Elliott. Vettori was playing ODIs to end his career (having been a prolific test player) but all the others are in the test reckoning. There really aren’t that many “specialists” like a Kieron Pollard or a Quentin de Kock.

Strauss wants to bring this specialism to the fore and I think it is dangerous. One of the names he mentions is Jason Roy. At this stage he’s shown ODI promise without delivering the big innings, and it is a great credit that England are going to stick with him. I remember how we treated Ali Brown, and I still get livid about it. We wanted a pinch hitter, but when it went wrong he got slagged off. I think it is too soon to give up on Roy as a potential test player. I don’t think he’ll get there, but in red ball cricket, he has been a bloody important player for Surrey. He plays that innings in Surrey’s line-up that demoralises the opposition. He will fail, but sometimes he will succeed. Strauss appears to be pigeon-holing him as a white-ball specialist very early. The same may happen to Alex Hales. What if we have a new player who comes in as an ODI player, is whisked off to T20 competitions, and yet he could be a test player in the making? All through this I look at how we’ve treated James Taylor to the point that at this stage, we don’t really have a scooby (clue) what he is.

I don’t have to tell you that I’m not a fan of Strauss. I’m also not going to pretend that he’s another Paul Downton. There’s a lot of good thinking in what Strauss is telling us, but he’s a politician to his boot-straps, and management consultancy is in his DNA. The latter seems to make sports journalists go weak at the knees. A man only has to come in, spout out about culture and environment, talk about processes and evaluation, and set low goals, and suddenly he’s a guru to be listened to, a beacon to follow. I call it Lancastrianisation. The aim is stuffed back donkeys years, and when you get there, well……

So much has been written about the Rugby World Cup that it’s almost become a spectator sport. Look at what Lancaster and the RFU did, and do the opposite might be a better lesson to learn. They cut off the talent pool by putting in restrictions on selection, they identified a lot of players (who weren’t good enough), they took multiple second place finishes and close losses as evidence of progress, they then brought in a wild card to show they were innovative, and made last minute changes to the team, and they collapsed in a heap. The journalists in that sport, a lot who make cricket writers appear like meek and humble people, have hardly aimed fire at Lancaster. If half the vitriol that Paul Ackford aimed at Sam Burgess for example had been aimed at Lancaster, well…..we might actually be admitting where the problems lie. Meanwhile, the head honchos in the RFU remain. So while cricket gazed on admiringly at this nonsense, they perhaps need to “refocus”.

What I also found funny was Strauss saying that prioritising ODI cricket for a World Cup would be a new approach. Now it is if you do it a long way out, but in 2014-15 we played no test cricket for six months. We prioritised the ODI game and yet it didn’t work. So prioritisation isn’t new, it is now a different kind. But that’s classic management speak – the past is not to be referred to, and all things have to be new. There has to be change. Change. A word I never want to hear muttered by a manager or administrator again in my life.

Managers also make tasks sound harder than they might be. Strauss sets the bar low (we had a miserable World Cup – while forgetting we got to the Champions Trophy Final last time around) and then makes it sound like the way out is absolutely nigh on impossible. If you fail, well you tried, if you succeed, you are a genius:

“If someone is playing in the Test team or very close to the Test team, then that’s a harder decision to make. But let’s be honest – we’re not going to make massive strides in white ball cricket without making some hard decisions along the way.

“I think we have to be prepared to do that and I personally believe we can make those strides and not do it at the expense of Test cricket.”

So what did we learn. We’ll focus on specialists – so I’m assuming that’s Willey, Woakes, Roy, Billings, Hales, Topley and the skipper, Morgan. Perhaps Buttler if it’s decided that tests aren’t for him, and perhaps Bairstow if he drops out of the test team. The portents are not good – Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara are two that come to mind – but if Strauss is serious about attitudes to the game, then fine.

Nick Knight, in his interview on Sky, raised the T20 World Cup, which seems to be something hardly mentioned in the corridors of power. So the management consultant assured us we had great talent and had a real chance. But the words he spoke at the end of the piece were the ones that sparked the rage in me….

“I think we’ve pretty much identified the group of players we want to work with in the short term. It’s important we give them opportunities to develop.

“It would be wrong to be searching in very different directions right now. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s a closed shop in the long term.”

The World T20 is in March. We have a T20 player scoring hundreds. He’ll have plenty of big game T20 experience. He’s absolute class. He’d walk into this team in normal circumstances. I’ll quote Peter Miller from his excellent podcast with Daniel Harris last night – England would rather lose cricket matches than pick Kevin Pietersen. For that, KP is correct when he says:

https://twitter.com/KP24/status/665045781393580032

We all knew that. That’s why I have no problem in him speaking his mind.