EW Swanton: Two divisions point way to life below stairs (22 Jul 1998)

22 July 1998

Two divisions point way to life below stairs

By E.W.Swanton

PREPARE for a cool, hard look at Upstairs, Downstairs, the proposed recipe for England's Test eclipse. Following the Government's decision at the English Cricket Board's request to end the BBC's monopoly of Test cricket on television, the ECB chairman, Lord MacLaurin, has written two letters to the 18 first-class counties and MCC proposing a meeting in October.

Several aspects of the English game may merit immediate discussion but those who never miss a chance of jumping on the two-division bandwagon have assumed that a revision of the status quo may be in the wind.

In his second letter, however, the chairman, referring to media speculation that he merely wants to press for two divisions, writes that this is not true. He says he has a completely open mind regarding any discussions concerning the playing programme.

The first-class forum voted 12-7 to retain the County Championship in its current form for three years, 1998-2000 inclusive. The bulk of the counties oppose a relegation and promotion system because the hazards and chances of this most fascinatingly unpredictable of games may plunge their club undeservedly into a depressing situation of declining membership and sponsorship. The best of their players would want to extricate themselves and would be chief targets in an inevitably larger transfer market.

England's XIs can only be chosen from a virile championship, all against all. County patriotism is still in most cases strong and the youth programmes fostered by the new county boards should help to engender it.

It is said that an elite Premier League has improved the standard of English football, though whether that is true and if so whether this is due to the increased number of foreigners I am not qualified to say. In any case, comparison is meaningless. In football, 38 matches yield 38 definite results with points accordingly. The weather is not a factor, while teams are not directly weakened by European or international fixtures.

Cricket, by contrast, is constantly at the mercy of the weather, either prohibiting play or necessitating contrived finishes. With nine of the season's 20 weekends taken up with international fixtures or cup finals, counties may be depleted in, say, four or five fixtures. As the summer progressed so the conflict of interest under a two-division plan as between Test and county places would greatly increase. With counties about to play matches likely to result in their staying upstairs or going downstairs, would they want their key players taken away for England? Alas, they would not.

In the last few years, we have seen Warwickshire and Worcestershire in 12 months shoot up 15 places to first and second respectively, Glamorgan, the current champions, descend 15. Kent have risen from bottom one year to fourth the next. Championship positions have always been imprecise reflections. Hours lost mean results regrettably but inevitably arrived at by collusion.

If two divisions had been operative this year, Leicestershire, worthy champions in 1996, would now be in the second division having lost, I believe, last summer 2,300 overs to rain, the equivalent of five four-day matches.

In a nutshell, the majority of the counties, while accepting most proposed reforms, reject two divisions not because they object on principle - they have accepted promotion and relegation for the National League next year on the basis of the 1998 AXA placings - but chiefly because it cannot work fairly and an odd point or two would mean far, far too much, possibly indeed a club's survival.

The identity of those in favour is, of course, significant. The six counties hosting Tests are among the biggest and richest. The transfer market would inevitably expand, to their advantage. In the scramble for players, salaries would surely continue to rise, probably sharply; hence the support of the Professional Cricketers' Association.

The clamour for change is, of course, completely understandable. We long for the good times, and for heroes to cherish. But who is to say that a "more competitive" championship, though it might make for more exciting TV, would produce better Test cricketers? Positive ideas in this direction must await further opportunity.

WHAT a memorable weekend it was which saw a capacity crowd at Lord's appreciating a feast of batting from Sachin Tendulkar and others of the world's best cricketers and, simultaneously, a very young Englishman from Hook, Hampshire, enjoying an almost unbelievable performance among the world's greatest golfers up at Birkdale!

In Justin Rose we saw not only superb technique but a smiling, modest personality, and to round off a perfect picture on Sunday evening was the charming speech of the Open winner, Mark O'Meara, with its warm tribute to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

As Peter Alliss remarked, quoting the late Henry Longhurst, you can't beat the control of these great events by a band of dedicated amateurs with no axe to grind. Much the same, let me whisper, might be said, in respect of the widespread nature of their activities, of another venerable institution, MCC.

THE selectors have brought into the party for tomorrow's Test at Trent Bridge another young Englishman whose determination lies behind a cheerful exterior in Andrew Flintoff. All good luck to him if he plays and, of course, to Alec Stewart and the England XI. The perpetually-knocking critics might remember that their readers include a huge company of old players and followers in this country who hold cricket in great affection irrespective of Test disappointments against formidable opposition.

IN this year of anniversaries let us not forget the English Schools Cricket Association, founded in a Twickenham pub in 1948. Since then, they have organised cricket for thousands of boys of all ages and varieties of school, and under their auspices most of our best, headed by David Gower and Mike Gatting, first stepped out when under 15. As their evergreen president, Hubert Doggart, writes in these pages, the focal point of the celebrations takes place with the Bunbury under-15s matches at Wellington College in the week starting next Sunday.

The ECB's glamorous brochure even contains a letter of encouragement from the Prime Minister, reminding him, no doubt, of his fleeting days with the junior colts at Fettes.

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