Not clubbable
Cricket's membership conundrum
English cricket is braced to be declared institutionally racist. The results of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket’s inquiry into the culture of the game are imminent. The ECB is corralling the boards of the 18 first-class counties to prepare their collective and individual statements of contrition. Quite what the hundred thousand plus members of said counties will think is another matter though.
All but three of the counties are owned by their members, a source of both strength and weakness for the game. Pay a couple of hundred quid and you not only get to watch cricket but also to have a say in the leadership of your team and, as Andrew Strauss has found out to his cost, in the overall shape of the sport. Strauss’ review of the structure of the elite men’s game has run aground on the rocks of county member resistance. The ECB has backed off a vote to approve its recommendations in the knowledge it would be defeated, county by county.
The racism question arose first in Yorkshire and swiftly suffused the sport. Nuanced analysis has been swept away in a tide of generalisations - which will make it harder to persuade the generality of cricket’s members of the validity of the institutional racism charge. Each is effectively challenged to accept that he or she is part of the problem.
“Institutional racism: policies, rules, practices, etc. that are a usual part of the way an organisation works, and that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race.” Cambridge Dictionary
Lord Patel has resigned as chair of Yorkshire CCC after only 13 months. Parachuted in by the ECB in response to the crisis in the county, his departure speaks to the depth of the fissures that now exist - within membership and board and between both. The overworked Tanni Grey-Thompson is being touted in the press as a possible replacement. The Baroness recently joined the Yorkshire board and is nothing if not a slick operator in sports politics. This role though will require skills around the county’s Headingley ground rather than in the corridors of power.
I’ve had cause to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the county ownership structure in recent weeks having been a candidate in the search to find a new chair for Middlesex CCC. At turns fascinating, frustrating, farcical and fun, the heavily structured process has just concluded with none of us seven short-listed candidates being appointed. Back to the drawing board for Middlesex’s members and the board that serves them.
Farcical? The senior independent director leading the search decided close to the deadline to apply for the role himself. Other candidates were informed. And then suddenly he was no longer in the mix. His video explaining the process is still on the Middlesex website here but nothing about his subsequent hokey cokey.
In preparing for interview I took soundings across English cricket, from the ECB though the counties, Middlesex members and in the cricketing media. It was clear that questions about equality, diversity and inclusion would be front and centre - which they were. But more surprising was the distinct lack of emphasis at interview on success on the field of play, especially for the men’s elite squad.
Not sure what the average Middlesex member, presumably keen to follow a winning team, might feel about that. And this a county that has won only three trophies in 30 years and which must look enviously at its noisy, wealthier neighbour Surrey on the other side of the River Thames with eleven titles in the same period.
This de-emphasising of cricketing success is not unique to Middlesex it seems. My research did though reveal an imperative in many counties to produce players for the England teams. This goes to the heart of the financial dynamic in the sport. The counties are heavily dependent on financial distributions from the ECB, which in turn largely generates its funds from the England men’s team.
The governing body directly incentivises counties to develop players for the national squads, on top of the money it distributes to prop up counties’ balance sheets and to enable them to support the grassroots game. Finding cricketers to play for England and delivering a successful county first XI are entirely different things - the cream of the country’s crop may rarely turn out for their counties given their England commitments.
The annual fees from a few thousand members are dwarfed by ECB handouts and the counties’ activities to generate ancillary revenues from their grounds by hosting conferences, weddings, concerts and the like. And yet the members own them. Little wonder they get frustrated whenever any England players choose not to turn out for their counties during breaks in the international calendar.
Good governance is front and centre for the ECB right now, which must make county structures a frustration. However, they are also a bulwark against dictatorship - an obvious charge to lay at the door of previous ECB leadership. With members still in control, the financial excesses of football and rugby can be avoided, but without an influx of new cash the national body will always call the tune.
Throw in the explosion of T20 franchise leagues around the globe, and the threat to the first-class counties is severe. Remaining relevant, providing sporting entertainment that passes muster, appealing to the members of tomorrow. Quite the challenge, but an exhilarating one if like me you love the sport.
I hope the Middlesex members learned something from their failed search for a chair that enables them to make an excellent appointment second time round. I got fodder for this column and enjoyed it hugely on the way through, sustained by Groucho Marx’s letter of resignation to the Friars Club in New York:
“I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.”
With Middlesex now back in Division One of the County Championship after five seasons in the lower tier, I’ll still be rooting for them in what promises to be a pivotal year both on and off the pitch.
Filthy f-bomb tennis
I thought I’d be watching Netflix’s Break Point fly-on-the wall series about elite tennis so you wouldn’t have to. But for all its stylised imagery and saccharine sentiments, the opening episode about Nick Kyrgios - all smiles, f-bombs and smashed racquets - is worth an hour of your time. It’s downhill after that though.
Trouble is that F1’s Drive to Survive has set the expectations bar too high, and these documentary makers don’t appear to have had access to the key stories that made the 2022 tennis season. That may come in future series as the sport’s greatest stars get comfortable with the cameras and the degree of editorial control they can exert. The lack of a team dynamic will always be an issue though. I’ve far higher hopes for the behind-the-scenes series on the upcoming Six Nations rugby that Netflix has just announced. Just so long as they don’t try and sugar-coat the sport.