Charles Randall: Confusion clearly in profusion here Scepticism rife over format (6 Aug 1997)

Wednesday 6 August 1997

Confusion clearly in profusion here Scepticism rife over format

Charles Randall

THE reaction to the ECB proposals to reduce full-time county staffs, phase out the second-team championship and rely on club leagues was one of confusion and scepticism yesterday.

There was doubt that weekend club games could provide a suitable basis for the four-day championship, and none seemed concerned about losing their livelihood. Few young cricketers do worry about money.

This was the thrust of dressing-room opinion yesterday at Studley Cricket Club, on the outskirts of Redditch, in Warwickshire`s second team game against Glamorgan on the first day of the sort of match that the ECB seem determine to consign to the scrap heap.

Warwickshire`s side contained five players with first-class experience, plus Soren Vestergaard, Denmark`s best seam bowler, on his fourth summer contract since being spotted by Dermot Reeve in the ICC Trophy.

The captain and most experienced player was Wasim Kahn, 26, a left-hander with four first-class hundreds in his 31 matches, and the oldest man was Michael Bell, 30, a left-arm seamer with only 18 first-class matches in his six years, owing mainly to injury.

The nucleus comprised youthful, enthusiastic Birmingham players who had progressed through the county age groups, such as Mo Sheikh, Steve McDonald, Chris Howell and Neeraj Prabhu, a Loughborough University economics student.

None of them had qualifications or experience of work outside cricket, though Sheikh, if the crunch came, could join the family ice cream business and Prabhu should have his degree next year.

Wasim Kahn said: "I don`t think a hundred or a 110-over club cricket match would prepare people for the longer game. I still think you need the basis of second eleven cricket for the fourday game.

"A squad member could find himself playing a club game at the weekend and that`s all. You`re basically sitting on your bum for six months."

Howell, a batsman, said: "Some of us will have to go out and get a job, but I don`t think club players would be keen to play two days a weekend at the end of hard week`s work. I wouldn`t be keen, though if I had a chance of catching the eye for firstclass cricket, I suppose I would."

Sheikh, a promising all-rounder, said: "I don`t really understand what the effect will be. My career path is confused. I don`t see how a Birmingham league is going to raise first-class standards.

"I don`t think there`s much of a comfort zone. There are always about four or five players in each second team that you know ought to be playing first-class cricket."

McDonald, an off spinner and former MCC Young Cricketer, said: "If you`re settled down with a job, it`s a big `ask` to pack it up. In the second team we`re playing a lot, playing during the week. I disagree with having has-beens in the second eleven."

Prabhu made the point: "If you`re only playing two days a week, how do you keep up your match fitness?"

And the development of European players should not be forgotten. Vestergaard said: "The gap between Danish and English cricket is enormous. It takes a bit of getting used to. In Denmark you rely on the ICC Trophy, playing in the English leagues or having short trials with counties."

There is a small, but important, band of players on the ladder who still need convincing.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)