“In this ultra-modern age counter attractions have multiplied many times since my youthful days,” a former England batsman wrote, as he questioned whether teenagers had the time to “devote to cricket.”
That the former international was Herbert Sutcliffe and he was writing in a pamphlet following England’s defeat in the 1950-1951 Ashes series.
It shows that worrying about the future of cricket, and English cricket in particular, is nothing new.
However, whereas Sutcliffe was concerned by ice skating and greyhound racing taking people away from cricket, the worry now is about how one type of cricket — Twenty20 (T20) franchise leagues — could spell the end of another in five-day Tests.
The recent decisions of England internationals Adil Rashid and Alex Hales to sign “white-ball” only county contracts — a red ball is used in traditional first-class matches — this season, thereby opting out of Test contention, heightened these concerns.
Rashid and Hales have not played a Test since 2016, but the worry for some is that, without a major alteration to cricket’s congested schedule and a change in spectator habits — Tests outside of England and Australia often draw paltry crowds — their example might be followed by that of more high-profile cricketers.
Jonny Bairstow, a Yorkshire and England teammate of Rashid, is alive to the danger, although the wicketkeeper remains committed to continuing his Test career.
“If we’re not careful, there are going to be more and more people [giving up red-ball cricket],” said Bairstow, who is on tour with England in New Zealand.
“You’ve got lucrative tournaments ... [to] go off for five weeks and earn a heck of a lot of money ... [with] the strain and stress on the body of bowling [only] four overs compared to 24 in a day in Test cricket,” he said.
Bairstow’s thoughts were echoed by Test colleague James Anderson, with England’s all-time leading Test bowler adding: “I just hope and pray there is enough love for Test cricket out there, not just the players that are playing at the moment, but players coming through still having the ambition and drive to play Test cricket in the future.”
Bairstow and Anderson grew up in an environment where the most reliable way for cricketers to maximize their income was to become an established Test player, as this would lead to a larger wage packet and enhanced opportunities for sponsorship deals.
To gain Test selection, players would have to take part in domestic first-class competitions such as England’s County Championship or Australia’s Sheffield Shield.
However, the advent of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other T20 franchise events has created an environment where it is now possible to make major money, in cricket terms, without playing Tests.
For example, England all-rounder Ben Stokes was bought for £1.37 million (US$1.89 million) by the Rajasthan Royals during January’s IPL auction.
By offering specialist “white-ball,” as well as Test, central contracts in a bid to improve England’s woeful record at major global limited-overs tournaments, the England and Wales Cricket Board might have inadvertently made it easier for players to turn their backs on the first-class game.
“You always want your best players playing as much high-quality cricket as you can,” England selector Angus Fraser said on Friday.
“I don’t know how you become better at anything by doing less of it,” the former England fast-medium bowler added.
Fewer Championship matches are now played at the height of an English summer, so spinners, often critical to Test success in the sub-continent, lose out on the chance to bowl in helpful conditions.
“The reasons involved are sound,” Fraser said, while acknowledging the problem. “Twenty20 brings in a lot of income for the game and you want to get families involved by having those matches on during the school-holiday period.”
Elite rugby union and rugby sevens are now effectively two separate sports, such are their differing demands, with a similar split possible in cricket.
“It’s in danger of doing that,” said Pete Russell, the chief operating officer of the T20 Hero Caribbean Premier League [CPL], at this week’s player draft in London.
“We are one of eight T20 tournaments around the world now, and these guys have a lot of opportunities to make good money elsewhere,” Russell said.
Moreover, his colleague Damien O’Donohoe, the CPL’s chief executive, said there is a broader problem confronting all cricket and sport in general.
“In relation to the fans, their attention span is so short even for us trying to get people to watch a three-hour game is a big challenge, hence why we’ve been working so closely with the likes of Facebook and Twitter,” he said. “I think sport across the board has an issue with that — people’s attention is much shorter,” O’Donohoe said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier