Ted Dexter: Counties` self-interest still prevails (23 August 1997)

Saturday 23 August 1997

Counties` self-interest still prevails

By Ted Dexter

LAST month in this column I described Aug 5, the launch date of the England and Wales Cricket Board`s blueprint for cricket, as D-Day. It has turned out to be more like A-Day.

B-Day was the morning after with a profusion and confusion of responses. C-Day will be a county club EGM in early September and the actual D-Day may (or may not) be later in the month, depending on the outcome of C-Day.

Only time will tell whether the contents of the glossy document entitled Raising the Standard can gain enough support to do what it promises. Doubts are already being expressed at various levels which is hardly surprising given the number of anomalies - and here is one to be going on with.

Among 17 subject headings there is the key proposal to "Put the need for a successful and vibrant England team at the top of the ECB`s agenda". Sadly, far from being at the top, the matter is dealt with in summary fashion last of all under just three headings. Fixtures will stay almost as before with an increase in one-day internationals sneaked in. England player contracts will not change. England `A` and Under-19 team arrange- ments will remain as before. Half-a-dozen paragraphs, no progress, end of story.

It is at the other end of the discussion document that the better proposals are found. For instance there will be a new "development" game offered to secondary schools to follow on from the success of Kwik Cricket in primary schools. That`s excellent.

The boards in the 38 ECB counties are urged to take great care of their most talented youngsters, particularly to avoid overplaying them. Essential.

There is a recommendation for the two-day "grade" for- mat for under-17 and under-19 representative cricket and a swing back to "time" cricket as opposed to limited overs below the under-17 level. Great.

The next six pages concern the relationship between recreational and first-class cricket under the heading "Bridging the Gap".

The intention is to bring about a quantum leap in standards in the sector just below the top by establishing a national network of premier leagues culled from the top tier of clubs, the minor counties, county representative teams and first-class county second teams. Hoorah.

Here there will also be pressure to play two-day matches and an element of promotion and relegation which sounds like more competition and more quality. Now, will this principle be carried through to a logical conclusion?

Turn the page and the train is seemingly still on the rails with talk of achieving the highest possible playing standards in first-class cricket to "ensure a healthy future for the game and high levels of funding".

However, then comes one little seven-letter word - pro- viso. Within one line it becomes an "over-riding proviso" to "ensure the preservation and well-being of 18 first-class counties".

You can sense the head of steam escaping. From this point the train loses all momentum, shunted sideways into a Clapham Junction of alternative routes, all of them leading back to where we have come from.

Looking on the bright side, there will be substantially more prize money for the championship, one of the Dexter suggestions. There will be only two limited-over competitions, not three. Fantastic.

Once you read a little more closely, however, you find the price to be paid. There will be three fewer four-day matches and an overall increase in the number of limited-over matches. Now we feel the full strength of that innocent-looking little proviso.

There will be late-season play-offs for the final cham- pionship placings in a rather odd three-division format which will make August and September more exciting for some. But the flip side to this is a proposed reduction of overs in the NatWest Trophy from 60 to 50 with subtle words in justification.

Going up from 40 overs to 50 in the proposed National League is heralded as a "purer form of cricket".

By contrast, the NatWest overs reduction "alleviates timing problems, standardises and provides England players with better preparation for the Triangular Tournament in August".

Hang on a minute. What Triangular Tournament? There is no mention of anything new in the England team arrange- ments. Wasn`t it a certain Archbishop Trench who wrote that "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions?"

The fact is that the shining goal of England cricketers being led towards technical excellence and competitive knowhow never was at the forefront of the debate.

Michael Atherton, or his successor, will fly off to the West Indies with the same mix of players as before. They will be picked from 18 teams engaged in more or less friendly competition which still means that the best players are never seriously stretched. Without question they will bat and bowl to the best of their ability as they always do. Whether or not they will win is another matter.

It has also been clear, from the moment that Lord MacLaurin stated in his introduction that "there is no quick fix to addressing issues in cricket", that the 18 first-class counties, unless they perform a last-minute turnaround, are simply voting themselves back on to their nicely shaded side of easy street for the foreseeable future.

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