Being Outside Cricket

On the bus to the station, but thought I should pay a short tribute and also have a thread for your thoughts.

To me he had that special status. “The bloke you had to get out”. Each team seemed to have at least one (except us in the 90s!). His century to open the 1992 World Cup set up that tournament. There are plenty of tributes out there. Feel for his friends and family, and for New Zealand.

RIP Martin Crowe

Let’s do something I used to do. Thirty minutes, and thoughts I have about all things cricket.

• You might have noticed the lack of posts. As I said, I’m just about all written out and often can’t think of much new to say. But I’ll try to keep up with some stuff. Sometimes, and it is becoming more frequent, I wonder why I bother. I especially wonder that when all I’m doing is sounding an opinion. I can’t express into adequate words those who choose to ignore the malaise in the game, and instead attack those trying to put a case as to why things must change. I see my view, and that of many on here, now being jumped on as the DOAG bandwagon starts to roll. But some would rather creep up to a Selvey about online critics, than actually pose the question to him “why have you said nothing about the ICC?”.
• Which brings me on to Selvey. I have been excessively restrained on this. The frustration over his see no evil, hear no evil approach to the ICC changes and the lack of public critical judgement he has shown on them is palpable. What on earth has he got to lose, and do not answer that question? Both Chris and I are being careful not to print articles that are just about nailing this attitude from Selvey – we see it clearly enough. Articles of his spur on hits on here without us doing anything. We all know what’s wrong, you don’t need to read it. We’ve turned down a guest article on Selvey, and we hardly ever turn down articles! Instead of Selvey railing against his critics, and failing to address their points, he needs to realise what he’s doing. He’s abdicating his responsibility on these matters. I don’t know about office politics at The Guardian, but we have a sense of what is going on. This constant ignorance of the elephant in the cricket room is tainting him further and further.
• I still have a lot of anger. Don’t confuse my silence with not being angry. The fact is that the non-selection of KP for the World T20 has, finally, totally, closed the door. There was no reason to believe he would be selected, and I’m sure those whose work I see on the social media and BTL networks far too often for my sanity, are crowing with delight at us. That’s life. We weren’t wrong. We’ve been down this path far too often, and yes, we’ll go there again. The ECB have done nothing, no matter how much those who I thought more of contend that they have, to assuage my anger. Shut up. Pipe down. Move on. Pay your Sky Subs, and don’t you dare get any ideas.
• The proposed test match championship is just yet another wind-up. Well it is until I see the first ball bowled in it. I can’t but help get the feeling that this glasnost in the ICC is a temporary thing. A chimera (and I don’t mean the fire breathing monster type). It’s going to need TV deals to fund it, and it’s going to need India to be at the sharp end of it. That’s reality folks, and there are few guarantees for that. Also, I can’t also help thinking Manohar is gone when the next BCCI congress, or whatever, goes ahead. Or at least he’ll have his refreshing wings clipped. I have no faith in these people whatsoever, and their track record is not one of progressive thinking. I don’t blame India, but it doesn’t mean I have to like what they do. We can’t sit around dreaming up divisions and all sorts, when we’ve hardly heard a peep out of India as to if they want it. I have absolutely no reason not to be cynical.
• Believe it or not, I love watching Indian cricket, so please don’t take this as an attack on that nation, but good grief, their organisation on tickets for the World T20 is an absolute shambles. I know that in the case of matches not involving India it might be a little easier to secure tickets on an as and when basis, which for both test tours to Australia we did (even with the horrendous Australian Cricket Family ruse in 2006). But that’s not really the point. There’s been arguments over venues, politics being played out, and it’s just bloody wrong. Administrators and organisers need to get the effing basics right before they start lecturing any supporters about their issues. A potentially exciting tournament may not, in the end, be critically affected, but one day one will. Complacency for the people who go to games is the start of a terrible downward cycle.
• Of course I’m sad to see Brendon McCullum leave international cricket, although I don’t know about him doing it before a major tournament where his team may well have a decent shout. But you choose the time of your leaving. Of course his impact on the game is not to be judged by the numbers, because doing that over the whole of his career doesn’t make him anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps he wasn’t a great player but a player of great innings, eh? However, it is for his galvanising effect on the country’s almost moribund cricket team that he deserves all the praise. Last night I was transferring stuff from my hard drive recorder to DVD and had the end of the World Cup Semi-Final, with Grant Elliott’s six. They came a long long way under McCullum. I thought some went over the top in their paeans but that’s life. It’s not overly a sin to be nice to people, and say nice things.
• The thing with England, and it’s a theme I’m talking about on a more frequent basis, is that cricket is in the market with other sports for my time. Now, writing a blog has kept me interested for a couple of years, but now one of the key cogs, the KP issue, is dead and buried, there is a sense of what now? I have a full-time job, and things to do at weekends. I get home at 7:30 and then have a limited amount of time to do or watch what I want. So what do I do? I’m seeing an increase in the time I watch the NBA. The baseball season is around the corner, and I’m looking forward to that. I quite like watching the PGA Tour golf on a Sunday night, now that the NFL has gone. We have the Olympics and Euro championships coming up. Cricket has to fight for space, and it did, well, for my lifetime. But now I see it and go, why? Why should I spend my time catching up with England cricket? They sacked their main highlight reel over something they might tell us a long way down the line. Why bother with a sport that does that?
• It’s a little more than half an hour, but let’s finish off with some points upcoming. Anyone care to take a guess at the five cricketers of the year, which will be announced next month in Wisden? Stick ‘em in the comments. What about the World T20? Looking forward to it or don’t give a stuff? County cricket will be upon us soon. Are any of you interested? Do you go to games at all? Also, anyone want to write an article for us, the offer is always open.
• Chris and I will be meeting tomorrow night, in one of our quarterly editorial sessions. Any results from that, and I doubt there will be many, we will relay to you.
• Finally, to those that seek to do this blog down. I laugh at you. Have a nice evening.

We’ve had a busy old winter, and now, before the World T20, we have a time for a little reflection and recuperation.

I thought I’d set up a new post as the previous one had 110 or so comments, and very few of them related to the post itself! Incidentally, if you do follow the basketball at all, Stephen Curry performed one of his miracles last night. But if things merit your attention and comment, fire away here.

There was a very small kerfuffle this week. Don’t want to go into it too much, for fear of giving the individual too much attention, but sad to say as a result I’ve turned my Twitter Feed private for the time being. I have no idea why what I say about our authorities and our media upsets the pearl clutchers so much, but that’s the way of the world.

Yes, I still need to finish Blackwash, but I had other things to do this weekend.  Pietersen has said he’s off social media for a while, Dobell writes the odd article but he says he is off it too while he finishes the Trott book, and all said and done, there’s not a lot going on.

I read an Ed Smith article in an old edition of the Wisden Cricketer about pre-season training. He didn’t show off. He didn’t put in some obscure classical reference, or cultural anchor point. It was really, very good. I wish he’d write like that rather than wanting to be recognised as the smartest guy in the room.

I really can’t be bothered about the T20 and CC changes. Deckchair rearrangement. That may be an excess of cynicism. But it’s how I feel.

Have a good week, all.

Please do try to stick with me through this. It might ramble a little more than usual. It is related to cricket….trust me.

In the United States, some of you may be aware of a basketball team called the Golden State Warriors. They play in “unfashionable” Oakland to full houses, and until last year, had not won the NBA championship since 1975; and when they triumphed last year it was over the mighty LeBron James. They were probably better known for many years as the team who Michael Jordan injured his foot against (which put him out of his second season in the NBA, by and large), but for the most part they wandered around the lower reaches of the Western Conference, obscured by the monstrous Lakers to the south in LA, an afterthought when marveling at the San Antonio Spurs.

Through a combination of good fortune (picking Stephen Curry (the league MVP last year) up in the draft, the development of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green), good business (trading for really good fits for other starting slots and the bench) and a great coaching team, they are threatening the NBA regular season record of 72 wins set by my hero’s team in the 1995/6 season. They pack out houses across the US, they sell a huge amount of merchandise, and the TV companies can’t get enough of them. They are simply wonderful to watch.

I am also reading a book at the moment called “The Ugly Game” and it is the Times Insight Team’s book on the widespread corruption surrounding the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid. I absolutely cannot get enough of the World Cup. It is, to a large degree, a great leveller. It is still, just about, a meritocracy when it comes to on the field play. England, despite having tons of cash, are useless at it. France can come and go, Germany always seem to do well because their players put international football on a pedestal, similarly Italy, and to a certain extent, recently, Spain have bought in. Then there’s Brazil and Argentina, and even the so-called “minnows” now can put up a damn fine show. It’s a fantastic event, run by a bunch of absolute venal c***s. And I don’t use that word every day on here. Every page of the book gets me more and more angry.

At the weekend Manchester City played in the FA Cup 5^th Round. They were three wins away from a major final in a year when the league looks out of reach. Their manager threw a hissy-fit about having to play this on a Sunday and then Dinamo Kiev (a three and a half hour flight away) on Wednesday (and I’ll bet they aren’t going cattle class either) so played a team of inexperienced or reserve players and lost 5-1. No-one seems to batt an eyelid, and yet another nail is put into the FA Cup’s coffin. The same Cup competition that meant the world to all football fans twenty years ago.

So what? What do they have to do with cricket?

For the Golden State Warriors, lets take a slight flight of fancy here and look at the recent performances, if not results, of New Zealand. Here’s a team with very limited resources, unfashionable, but with some excellent new talent allied to the old, and playing in a way that attracts fans. They are immensely popular with neutrals. They reached last year’s World Cup Final. They played attacking, attractive cricket in England. In the NBA they’d be inundated with requests to be on TV. They’d be the talk of the town. McCullum’s century would be played on every media network for a few weeks. Williamson would be feted as a genius, a talent to savour. Australia can even be their LeBron to New Zealand’s Steph. But they are small-fry, “not a big draw”. As far as the ECB are concerned, New Zealand away is now a tour to be tagged on to the end of the next Ashes. Or a prequel to a home series. Bravo!

For FIFA, we have the ICC. I am in no position to cast aspersions on their fiscal probity, but let’s face it, as Death of a Gentleman showed, the secrecy is there. Where curtains are drawn, and the probers kept out, there’s a high correlation that there are people up to no good. Like FIFA, they hold our love of the game in their hands, and like FIFA, they use it to make lots and lots of money. It is not enough to say that we can’t do anything about it, and if we do, we’ll get squashed. Sport may be a business but it doesn’t have to make that its “virtue” (and subsequent vice). The win at the back-slapping, ain’t we all jolly marvellous, Sports Journalist Awards for the film should have shamed all those cricket journalists present. They had done nothing to do what Sam and Jarrod did. OK, very little. Because they are scared of the ICC, and by extension, the ECB. We’ve gone down that line before. Because I hate their actions, I can’t give their public persona, the international team in the case of the ECB, my total support. Maxie puts the case more strongly than me in a lively old post today, but I’m not a million miles away from his view.

And then there’s the Manchester City question and their treatment of the FA Cup (and they are by no means the only ones – see Arsenal). Again, another read across for the sport of cricket. For the FA Cup, read test cricket. The 142 year old history puts it alongside test cricket for longevity. Its history gave it its lustre, and the fans of my age group loved it. My team even made the Final in 2004, a lifetime’s ambition. Winning that semi at Old Trafford was one of the greatest sporting occasions of my life. Three seasons ago we made the semis again. I never went. Didn’t care. We were beaten by Man Utd in 2004, who barely broke sweat, and whose fans treated the win like a visit to the dentists. I remember drawing Southampton away in 2003, and looked back at when we played them in four matches in 1986 (both cups), which contained one goal between them, but in the case of the two at The Den, were pulsating matches, played in front of pretty full houses, certainly for the FA Cup. When we went to St Mary’s, there were a distinct lack of Southampton fans. They’d voted with their feet. This 4^th round tie wasn’t important, at all. Sure, they got more into it when they reached the Final, but they’d voted with their feet. Not important enough. The other competition, the league, meant much, much more. Because of money. And that’s what is happening to test cricket. T20 is more important because of money, whether you like it or not, to the players, and increasingly to the fans.

These are three examples of sport to have hit me in the last few days. While I watched most of the T20 match on Sunday and sat there only really enjoying the sheer magnificence of Jos Buttler (and I will always want him to do really well) from an England perspective, I wondered what I’m doing. I saw Hashim Amla’s early assault and loved to see a class player fit right in to this format without the biff bang wallop and realised that this sport has a lot to offer. But that’s just it. When you know that your love and passion is fuelling the cynicism, the money-grabbing, and yes, probably the corruption too (mainly focusing on how India fans devotion to IPL is being abused), it’s soul destroying. For some, this can be separated, for some, it can’t.

Which takes me back to Golden State. I am not a devoted, lifelong supporter of the Warriors (although I liked their team of the early 90s with Mullin, Hardaway and Richmond) but I make sure I record every game of their’s this season when they are on the TV. Without wishing to be a hostage to fortune, it is a well run sport (Adam Silver, the Commissioner, is highly regarded), I know nothing of the Warriors owners antics, and I therefore watch a wonderful sporting team, playing superb, exciting basketball and enjoy the sport. Maybe it’s me deliberately not wanting to know there’s something wrong. It would spoil the enjoyment I’m getting. You can’t un-know what you know. But the general consensus is that this is a good thing. A less fashionable team, through a mix of good luck and good management have a great thing going. It’s lovely to watch.

There’s great sport in many places, but everywhere it is under threat where the principle is to make money before considering what you are putting out there. When sport does this, it loses. When it loads the dice, it loses. When meritocracy and hope are suppressed, it loses. Cricket, and in particular our board, really need to think about it and not take the current slow-ish ticket sales for this year’s international cricket as evidence to retrench some more back to safe, money-making series. Because if you build good sport, and don’t take your fans, your customers, for fools, they will come. One day, that problem may hit the great behemoth that is football. You can never be too sure.

So to the end of the tour. The final game. Lord knows when we’ll return, given it’s been six years since we last turned up. Maybe we can squeeze in two more Ashes tours before the next visit? That’s what we all want, right?

England will be smarting from the defeat on Friday. Well, if they aren’t they bloody well should be. They didn’t make enough runs, but not by as much as we thought at half-way, and then bowled and contained well to get themselves into a winning position. The ending summed up the game. England lost the game on a fielding error that prevented the match going to a Super Over.

Today the game is in Jo’burg. The legendary bull ring. The graveyard of bowlers in T20 cricket. There have been eight scores of over 200 there in the limited history of T20 international cricket. Last year South Africa posted 231 and lost.

But we heard all this in the run-up to the ODI and it was, by recent standards, relatively low scoring. So who knows what we’ll get.

Comments on the game, if you care, below. “These people” on the blog will be honest and forthright and tell it as it is. And that’s from me.

UPDATE – South Africa win the toss and bowl. England bring in Billings for Willey.

I drafted a piece for the blog on Monday (15th) and decided not to post it. I thought it was all getting a bit repetitive. But the Bogfather, through a comment in the post below, made me rethink.

You can sit up last night and watch people fall over themselves watching a tour de force by Brendon McCullum that was as fortunate as it was exhilirating and still be entranced by this sport. This was the test equivalent of my club side sh*tting it when someone started hitting the ball really hard. But watching it, communicating with the Tweeters you like, ignoring those that you don’t, or you think have really gone off the boil, and think this sport still has a ton to offer. So read this as someone who hadn’t watched the 1st day’s play last night.

“Treadmill”

The treadmill rolls on to a T20 series. England’s winter tour is reaching its denouement and all eyes will soon turn to an ICC tournament to be held next month in India. England have won one test series and lost one test series. They have won one ODI series and lost one ODI series. They have won one T20 series, so let’s see how this one goes…. there is a pattern there.

This blogger, though, finds himself in a different position than before. Previously there was true anger. A rage fuelled by my view that there was an injustice done to a player, and a contempt shown to the punters. While it was not about getting KP back, getting him back would have been a rapprochement of sorts. If it was just a T20 World Cup, then it would have been a sound cricketing decision. Of course the ECB would never pick him. Imagine what would have happened if he’d been a roaring success, like the time we won the competition. Leaving him out was by far the safest option. By the end of this farce the main reason I wanted him picked was to see the reaction of some of the resident obsessed online, more than the freak show another performance for England would be.

But there is not so much anger now. Not really. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the ECB have absolutely no right to think that I’m back on side, and all is right with the world. They are wrong if they believe that in finally accepting the end of KP in an England shirt means I’m back on the bus. They could not be further from the truth. They’ve lost me as an England cricket supporter.

This is a monumental achievement, and you’d have seen it coming from two or so years ago. Let me put into words the scale of this achievement. From a child I’ve loved the England cricket team. One of my commenters said how he used to listen to TMS on the overseas tours overnight, so that he was sleep deprived. I once sneaked a radio into a mock exam room to listen to the 4^th day of the India v England test in 1985 (when it appeared as though we couldn’t get Azharuddin or Amarnath out). I started going to test matches, went on three tours (two to Australia, one to South Africa) when I had money, and tried to watch as much as I could. I recorded cricket for posterity, have most England tests on highlights since 2005 (having had to throw the rest out before due to compatability issues) and at times probably knew too many stats for my own good. I bought replica stuff, even as an older man who should know better, kept the stubs, the programs, the memorabilia. As you will know, I took photos, lots and lots of photos. The sport was one I played, I loved and still do. But England, I’m sorry, have lost me. If Adelaide 2006 happened now, I reckon I wouldn’t care. Back then, it was devastating.

This is running over “Schism” again, and I expect the same old same old. But I don’t care if this is repetitive. TLG’s excellent piece on the interviews with Cook last week put a lot of my concerns, a lot of what I had been saying, in context. Did you notice that the selection of an ICC tournament team did not merit a press conference with either the Chairman of Selectors (the man responsible for the selection of the side), any of his panel, nor with the Director, England Cricket (the man responsible for the team), the CEO (who was there when the decision not to go with KP was announced by Strauss) or the Chairman (he’s in Downton’s cupboard)? None of them thought this squad was worthy of explanation. If they did, I missed it. If the press asked, I missed it.

What followed was a soft toss interview with Cook. Only they will know, but that looked to me like certain questions were said to be off limits, so off limits they remained. This was preceded by Hussain’s Daily Mail interview with Eoin Morgan. I’ve seen mentioned that by saying what he did, Eoin Morgan has become a target for the KP fans. Apart from providing us with a great catchphrase, and that’s from me, this was an advance message sent by a captain who, as far as I am aware, is not part of the selection panel. At the time we were 2-0 up in the series and lots of wind was being blown into Mr Morgan’s sails. Six days later, and the series lost, such bravado, such confidence now looks like arrogance. I’m sad our captain, who clearly had no beef in the past with KP, nailed his colours to the mast. But I’m not berating him for it. I put it down to media strategy and such forth. Call me what you want, but you know I’m not going to be a million miles off (no way Morgan puts that statement out without clearing it first).

But this is all mere fluff. The other side of the debate is claiming the spoils. The other side never really cared about the main themes, seeming to concentrate on the one that drove them the most – antipathy to KP, antipathy to those calling for his return. For many, an explanation was not what was required. Ed Smith once told us that Alex Ferguson never told the public why he sold Beckham (he did, later). For some, they just wanted the whole thing to go away. Given our politics at the moment evoke the same response from me shows wishful thinking – you still have to deal with it.

We wanted to be treated as adults. As proper supporters of the team. Not as part of the decision-making process, but true, to use that abhorrent word, stakeholders. A national team is our team. It brings out the best, and worst, in all of us, but above all, it is our team. It represents us. As do those who run the game, who administer the sport, who make the decisions. They should be making them on behalf of us, using their judgement, reporting back and explaining. We have had too much decision making and not enough transparency. Even when they say they have. By not saying anything about the Pietersen non-selection, when it was out there, being talked about, they were representing only themselves.

I am a blogger. A fan of the game. I know I am representing just one person. Myself. Others may agree with me, others may disagree. It is clear that those who agree with me will comment on here. I think I’ve been quite fair, if forceful in what I would like to see happen. I’m not naive. I know how “business” works. I know, to some degree, how “comms” works, and I know a cover-up when I see one. I’m pleased that the other side of the argument approves of this. I really, really do.

So, it’s not good to be angry for too long. We have the press we deserve, always keen to shoot down the infantry when there’s an officer class to protect. We have the coverage we deserve, slick, on message, vacuous for large parts of the time, names over substance, and never really questioning the powers that be. And we have the bloggers we deserve; inveterate moaners, massive smart arses, those in love with their own prose, those in love with their own voice (and yes, I am more than one of those!).

I’m fearful, actually. I have said many times that I walked away from Millwall. I’m not a season-ticket holder. I don’t have any desire to go to games any more. I don’t really love the sport any more. But I still get happy when they win, and still a little miffed if they lose. I do care. The authorities at my football club have to strike a pretty precarious balance, but with a couple of exceptions (one Chief was a complete lying prick) they weren’t against me. I don’t feel that about those who run English cricket. They do not give a shit. So it’s time to reciprocate. It remains to be seen that my lack of respect for them will manifest itself in constant output on the blog. I’ll try. But it’s hard to get enthused to write, when it’s hard to get enthused about the team you are, mainly, writing about. You don’t want a piece like this every week. And I don’t want to write it.

As I said, written last Monday. Thoughts and feelings evolve, even in that short time.