Cricketing matters

Readers will not be surprised to learn that I am against the proposed 100 ball format intercity competition. The rationale for it seems to be the attraction of a new and younger audience but the reality is money from broadcasting rights to rival the IPL. One ECB  executive commented that cricket is our national  summer game. The competition will run alongside the county T20 competition – though confusingly the Warwickshire side is called the Birmingham Bears – but not interfere with its scheduling. I foresee overloading, congestion and fatigue for players. It also clashes with IPL where the big money lies.

Is cricket really our summer sport?

The football season ends in late May and there are every two years the World Cup or European championships. The summer media coverage to the point of saturation is all soccer: who will be  Chelsea, Manchester City or Manchester United’s next big purchase? This summer who will get the Arsenal and Chelsea job?

How much coverage or sponsorship will this new competition get when there is a Test series, T20, Royal London one day competition and the County Championship already?  There has been no endorsement of it by Joe Root or any Test player.

Finally I was saddened to learn of the  passing of Colin Bland the finest fielder I ever saw. What distinguished Bland from other great fielders was his deadly accurate throw. He could hit the wicket at either end, a significant asset if a bowler, not the wicket keeper, is at it.

I will always remember as a kid going to Lords in 1965 to see Peter van der Merwe’s South African touring side. Bland ran out Ken Barrington and Jim Parks.

I used to fantasise with my Howzat cricket dice and back at my prep school at the games field at Canons Park, Edgware, that I was a swooping Colin Bland in the covers …or at least imagined I was.