English First Class Review Delayed (17 Oct 1996)

17 October 1996

Lamb and MacLaurin delay expected first-class review

Christopher Martin-Jenkins

THE promised review of the structure of county cricket has been postponed until next summer, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.

Sir Ian MacLaurin and Tim Lamb, the new pairing at the top of the national summer game, have decided that since any changes to the structure would not be put into practice before 1999 there is no need to rush into another working-party report.

Instead, the new chairman and chief executive of the Test and County Cricket Board are planning a tour of all 18 first-class counties this winter. One of the main items for discussion will be the future domestic structure. During their visits they hope to identify common opinions on how the county game can be tailored in future to produce a more consistently successful national side.

Speaking only a fortnight before taking over from the retiring Alan Smith as the chief full-time administrator, Lamb made it clear that this did not mean that the long-term trough, into which the national side have fallen, was going to be ignored in the interests of the counties.

"On the contrary, we shall be stressing the thin ice on which cricket`s current relative prosperity is standing," he said. "I know it has been said for some time that England`s poor results threaten the whole structure of professional cricket, but that this has not stopped sponsors and television companies continuing to support us. But we mustn`t be complacent.

"We shall be stressing to the counties the need to make the national team the priority and reminding them that it is England and all that flows from international cricket which holds the key to their own prosperity. In the case of more than one first-class club we are talking about some 70 per cent of their income coming from the central pot of sponsorship and television fees.

"My own view is that it is the England cricketers who play too much, not the county cricketers, but we hope that by talking to each county some consistent themes will emerge about how we should tackle things in future.

I hope we shall get some younger people in the key positions

"The domestic programme for the next two seasons is already agreed, so there is no hurry. It seems premature to discuss the future until we have had at least one summer, in which the majority of championship matches will be played from Wednesday to Saturday, with no Sunday sandwich."

It is characteristically cautious of Lamb not to rush into change until it has become essential; rather less typical, perhaps, of MacLaurin, whose success as chairman of Tesco - he retires from that role next June - has been dependent on flexible and innovative thinking. MacLaurin, soon to become a lord, is a charming man, but a tough one.

It has been widely said by those who have seen him working on committees at Lord`s in recent years that, if he perceives the need for changes but cannot get them pushed through, he will leave the game to its own devices.

Lamb may have been steeped in the minutiae of the day-to-day planning and administration of the county game in his previous role as cricket operations manager, but it would be wrong to think that his mind is closed or that he has been unaware of the shortcomings of the TCCB, now in the process of transmogrifying into the England and Wales Cricket Board. Among other things, Lamb plans a thorough review of the Board`s media relations and far more openness about ECB affairs.

He said: "The elections for the various committee chairmen on the Board are just in the process of starting. Personally I hope we shall get some younger people in the key positions. But these jobs will not be salaried, so it won`t be easy to find people of sufficient calibre, who are available to put in the time and effort which will be required.

"Mike Brearley, for example, would be an obvious asset, but he has made it clear to me that he is not available because of his professional commitments." (Brearley`s main work is as a psychotherapist.) Lamb added: "I have to respect his integrity, but it is no coincidence that we have a man in his thirties, John Carr, taking over my job as cricket operations manager or that Mike Gatting is going to manage the A team after Graham Gooch`s unfortunate withdrawal. We have to get young blood involved.

the list of overseas coaches - not to mention captains - is growing

"It may well be that the real trouble with our game is not any lack of talent in the counties, especially in the 17 to 20 age bracket, or any great fault in the type of cricket we play, but that our coaching and management techniques are not as good as they should be, or as good as those that operate overseas.

"That is why the plan to train one man from each county this winter at the Bradford Management Centre should do a lot of good." English cricket certainly needs more expertise in the art of man-management. There were alarmingly few serious alternatives to David Lloyd when it came to finding a new England coach last season and the list of overseas coaches - not to mention captains - is growing. More than a third of the counties will have foreign coaches next season: Foster (Kent), Gilbert (Surrey), Stillman (Derbyshire), Haynes (Sussex), Marshall (Hampshire), Houghton (Worcestershire), and Whatmore (Lancashire).

At least four counties will have overseas captains: Courtney Walsh, Dean Jones, Tom Moody and David Boon will be in charge of Gloucestershire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire and Durham, and Wasim Akram could take over at Lancashire.

It could be argued that there is an equal lack of natural leadership in the game`s administration. Lamb got his job, overcoming a strong challenge from the more obviously entrepreneurial Warwickshire vice-chairman, Tony Cross, partly because he had proved to the counties that he has a safe pair of hands and partly because the board which selected him liked his catchphrase: "I want cricket to remain a business within a game, not a game within a business." It remains to be seen how he and MacLaurin will put the sound-bite into practice.

The National Cricket Association yesterday formally agreed to dissolve into the new unified Board, leaving only precise constitutions for the planned recreational and first-class forums to be agreed before the organisation, to be known as the ECB, finally emerges.

As at any birth, pleasure, relief and hope are the appropriate emotions.

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