P Deeley: ECB go on the attack over reports of crisis in game (4 Jul 1998)

4 July 1998

ECB go on the attack over reports of crisis in game

By Peter Deeley

ENGLISH cricket is not in crisis. This was the riposte delivered yesterday by the game's administrators to a shoal of newspaper headlines suggesting that the sport is in near-permanent decline in this country.

The response came on a day when England were being put to the sword at Old Trafford by the South African batsmen, watched by a crowd again well below capacity who did not hesitate at times to deliver the slow handclap.

Richard Peel, director of corporate affairs in the enlarged England and Wales Cricket Board, decided that a proactive strike was the necessary answer to the welter of criticism both of the team performance and a lack of enthusiasm from supporters.

Maintaining that the allegations were "misleading", he said: "It's typical that one disappointing day for English cricket prompts the cry that the game is dying. Of course, what happens on the pitch is paramount but the development of a world-beating England side is an ongoing process.

"If you read all the papers today one gets the impression the game is going down the plug-hole and nobody is doing anything about it. If I was an outsider, reading what had been written, I would genuinely feel we were in desperate difficulties."

Peel refuted criticism of the first-day attendance at Old Trafford of 11,200, against a capacity of 21,000. He produced figures showing that the average over the last 11 Tests on the ground was 12,310 - with three opening days less than 9,000.

He cited off-field developments to illustrate the overall healthy nature of cricket, including plans to build a new hotel complex at Old Trafford and a £7.2 million grandstand to be opened on the eve of the Trent Bridge Test later this month.

Peel also drew encouragement from the board's national development plan with its emphasis on the grass roots, though he conceded "this will take some time to come through, perhaps two to three years".

Asked what was needed in the meantime to keep the game on an even keel, Peel said: "It needs to be more appealing and needs personalities."

Expanding on the board's statement that the game was growing at its base "with more than 1.5 million schoolchildren playing the game", Peel agreed that this figure largely referred to Kwik cricket.

He said the board had secured £30 million in sponsorship money in the last 18 months and that this would be boosted by the television delisting decision - though he acknowledged that a losing side would be less marketable to television networks.

Responding to criticism by Mark Nicholas in The Daily Telegraph that major companies were turning their back on the game in terms of sponsorship, Peel said: "Some have left the game but we are confident we shall get others in. We are in active discussion with new sponsors."

He expressed confidence that major support would be forthcoming for the World Cup next May and June, agreeing however that no sponsorship was yet available for this summer's international triangular tournament, which is only five weeks away.

The crowd figures published by the board show that in all 4,716,612 people have watched 79 home Tests in the last 14 years. The joint aggregate attendance at the two London grounds of 2,391,381 exceeds the total for the four provincial arenas (2,325,231).

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