Ashes-2023 England VS Australia 16 June-31 July

[Bevab]

I’m talking about the youth in England not playing

Not people with an interest to attend

Ten, 15 years time will see if the ECB was right to sideline red ball cricket to concentrate on white ball which the kids love

That is my point here

They are actively looking to have 8 centres of cricket instead of the county system with 18

The first step to doing that is the 100 which is 8 teams and huge areas of the country left without anything to watch live in August peak summer in England

They even forced the sidelining of the Ashes to do this. Does that not show they are not interested in the red ball game, if they could do that ?

The viewing public in England last week was around 1.5 million out of approx 50 million

Around 3% of the population whereas the 97% couldn’t care less

It’s a dying sport unless the youth can be inspired

You’re not going to get a hundred percent of the population involved in tests, that’d be an utterly foolish goal to aim for. And I don’t think the ‘hype’ or whatever mysterious element you’re claiming is going to bring the youth into cricket when the real issues are the lack of cricket on FTA, societal and class divides and the sport competing against multiple other options that are simply much better from a viewer and participant perspective.

The ECB isn’t doing the Hundred because they want eight centres of excellence for cricket in the country, they’re doing it to try and circumvent the Sky deal so that they can get some form of FTA cricket while also making a quick buck off a non existent format. Why would they set up a side based in Wales when that region has barely produced international standard cricketers compared to other regions in England if it was about cricket being focused there?

It’s like claiming the ISL exists for the reasons you claim for Indian Football when certain regional teams have had no real football pipeline.

 

[CartyDurham]

You’re not going to get a hundred percent of the population involved in tests, that’d be an utterly foolish goal to aim for. And I don’t think the ‘hype’ or whatever mysterious element you’re claiming is going to bring the youth into cricket when the real issues are the lack of cricket on FTA, societal and class divides and the sport competing against multiple other options that are simply much better from a viewer and participant perspective.

The ECB isn’t doing the Hundred because they want eight centres of excellence for cricket in the country, they’re doing it to try and circumvent the Sky deal so that they can get some form of FTA cricket while also making a quick buck off a non existent format. Why would they set up a side based in Wales when that region has barely produced international standard cricketers compared to other regions in England if it was about cricket being focused there?

It’s like claiming the ISL exists for the reasons you claim for Indian Football when certain regional teams have had no real football pipeline.

They do want 8 centres. That was what Strauss was aiming for

How can you grow cricket and inspire youth when the 100 is in 8 centres and huge swathes of the country are unable to go and watch live

The current England stars never or very rarely play country cricket , t20 nor the 100

How is that inspiring youth seeing the likes of imran tahir come and go in a few weeks?

Honestly England will be in big trouble when the current players finally retire as there is nothing coming in the county championship in the 20 year old stage to replace them

We have a talent like Smeed who has all the shots but has retired from red ball cricket to play white only

That will only increase in time.

I know this is a view not widely held but we shall see

Cricket is of limited interest in England. It’s a huge minority sport and fta tv is a thing of the past barring a few games of the 100

It’s sad but virtually zero state schools have the finance in place to play the game and it’s all in the private sector. You can see that in the current team and it’s only going to be more like that in the years to come

 

[Bevab]

Is Tongue really the only change the Poms are making for the next test?

 

[Aislabie]

They do want 8 centres. That was what Strauss was aiming for

How can you grow cricket and inspire youth when the 100 is in 8 centres and huge swathes of the country are unable to go and watch live

The current England stars never or very rarely play country cricket , t20 nor the 100

How is that inspiring youth seeing the likes of imran tahir come and go in a few weeks?

Honestly England will be in big trouble when the current players finally retire as there is nothing coming in the county championship in the 20 year old stage to replace them

We have a talent like Smeed who has all the shots but has retired from red ball cricket to play white only

That will only increase in time.

I know this is a view not widely held but we shall see

Cricket is of limited interest in England. It’s a huge minority sport and fta tv is a thing of the past barring a few games of the 100

It’s sad but virtually zero state schools have the finance in place to play the game and it’s all in the private sector. You can see that in the current team and it’s only going to be more like that in the years to come

So the best thing England could possibly do for cricket would be to reform the county game (including County 2nd XIs and Minor Counties) into a big Football League style structure where nobody should be more than an hour from their nearest Cricket League team. This can even include MCC Young Cricketers, MCC Universities, Scottish regions, Irish provinces and Dutch regions if you really want to go bananas.

This would be a season-spanning T20 league. If possible, five matches per week should be on FTA (Friday night, Saturday day & night, Sunday day & night) plus a MoTD style highlights show.

Each division would comprise 16 teams, and there would be a 40-over Knockout Cup among all teams. Each Cricket League team would have a maximum of 18 players on their "active roster", and any player not on their active rostervwould be eligible to go on loan to another team to get game time.

County Championship matches (eight per team per season) would be played between Mondays and Thursdays, including at the height of the season.

Getting cricket back in state schools would be huge, but it is a very difficult one to accomplish. In the meantime, programs like All Stars and Dynamos are genuinely really good additions, and we will start seeing players who discovered the game this way by 2030.

At the recreational level, league cricket longer than 40 overs per side is pointless and actively pushes people out of the game - there's no place for this except at ECB Premier League level or above. Indeed, local leagues should be encouraged to run T20 divisions, which would really help club teams develop their social side.

I feel like this is off topic in the Ashes thread.

 

[pillowprocter]

So the best thing England could possibly do for cricket would be to reform the county game (including County 2nd XIs and Minor Counties) into a big Football League style structure where nobody should be more than an hour from their nearest Cricket League team. This can even include MCC Young Cricketers, MCC Universities, Scottish regions, Irish provinces and Dutch regions if you really want to go bananas.

This would be a season-spanning T20 league. If possible, five matches per week should be on FTA (Friday night, Saturday day & night, Sunday day & night) plus a MoTD style highlights show.

Each division would comprise 16 teams, and there would be a 40-over Knockout Cup among all teams. Each Cricket League team would have a maximum of 18 players on their "active roster", and any player not on their active rostervwould be eligible to go on loan to another team to get game time.

County Championship matches (eight per team per season) would be played between Mondays and Thursdays, including at the height of the season.

Getting cricket back in state schools would be huge, but it is a very difficult one to accomplish. In the meantime, programs like All Stars and Dynamos are genuinely really good additions, and we will start seeing players who discovered the game this way by 2030.

At the recreational level, league cricket longer than 40 overs per side is pointless and actively pushes people out of the game - there's no place for this except at ECB Premier League level or above. Indeed, local leagues should be encouraged to run T20 divisions, which would really help club teams develop their social side.

I feel like this is off topic in the Ashes thread.

Ok, now sim it

 

[Bevab]

So the best thing England could possibly do for cricket would be to reform the county game (including County 2nd XIs and Minor Counties) into a big Football League style structure where nobody should be more than an hour from their nearest Cricket League team. This can even include MCC Young Cricketers, MCC Universities, Scottish regions, Irish provinces and Dutch regions if you really want to go bananas.

This would be a season-spanning T20 league. If possible, five matches per week should be on FTA (Friday night, Saturday day & night, Sunday day & night) plus a MoTD style highlights show.

Each division would comprise 16 teams, and there would be a 40-over Knockout Cup among all teams. Each Cricket League team would have a maximum of 18 players on their "active roster", and any player not on their active rostervwould be eligible to go on loan to another team to get game time.

County Championship matches (eight per team per season) would be played between Mondays and Thursdays, including at the height of the season.

Getting cricket back in state schools would be huge, but it is a very difficult one to accomplish. In the meantime, programs like All Stars and Dynamos are genuinely really good additions, and we will start seeing players who discovered the game this way by 2030.

At the recreational level, league cricket longer than 40 overs per side is pointless and actively pushes people out of the game - there's no place for this except at ECB Premier League level or above. Indeed, local leagues should be encouraged to run T20 divisions, which would really help club teams develop their social side.

I feel like this is off topic in the Ashes thread.

I think you’ve said this before in a festival of cricket type of run, it’s certainly better than whatever the heck 100 is supposed to be.

 

[Bevab]

Wood being unavailable is a shame, Tongue did look decent against Ireland and has the privilege of getting Smudge out this season once (though I’ll vehemently stick by my assertion that the latter isn’t going to average in the triple figures).

If they’re rolling out a seam friendly pitch (as it currently stands) with four pacers then they’ll be fine, I don’t think it’ll work if they do it on an Edgbaston like pitch with a crocked Stokes and Rootalitharan’s offies.

I’m expecting Australia to be a lot more proactive against Root regardless in this test, it was clear they left a lot of runs against him and the match swung decisively when Cummins hit those two boundaries against Root.

 

[Till Valhalla]

Wood being unavailable is a shame

Why

 

[wasteyouryouth]

No Wood, No Woakes.

 

[Bevab]

Why

Wasn’t ready/fit according to Stokes.

I do think they can get more overs out of Tongue compared to Wood (kinda important in the current setup/scenario they have) even if those overs may not be of the same quality. Besides Wood has been less than impressive in the past on English pitches for some reason.

 

[Till Valhalla]

Wasn’t ready/fit according to Stokes.

@Na Maloom Afraad

One day NMA gonna find me and slap slap backhand slap

 

[Bevab]

No Wood, No Woakes.

I don’t think Woakes was ever an option for the fourth seamer role as that would have meant having two bowlers of the same style with Jimmy/Woakes and Broad/Robinson. It worked in the past when you had Stokes to break up the monotony and/or Leach to bowl some reliable spin.

Under the circumstances I’d say picking Tongue was the right call. Also selecting him for the Ireland test in the event of him making an appearance like this in the Ashes to give him a taste of test cricket was also an excellent move in hindsight. Making your test debut at the Lord’s against your biggest rival who is also one nil up would have been some real extra pressure.

 

[Croadyman]

Is Tongue really the only change the Poms are making for the next test?

Yeah he plays for my county too which makes it a bit more special. Why Foakes can't get a look in though is beyond me.

 

[Bevab]

@Na Maloom Afraad

One day NMA gonna find me and slap slap backhand slap

To be fair being fit for white ball and red ball cricket are two different things. Especially when said red ball cricket may involve bowling more overs on average due to the nature of Bazball and the current England predicament of not having a proper spinner or all-rounder to cover overs.

Post automatically merged: Jun 27, 2023

Yeah he plays for my county too which makes it a bit more special. Why Foakes can't get a look in though is beyond me.

At this point I assume it’s a combination of sunk cost fallacy and not finding a role for him without affecting the team composition adversely.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I don’t think Woakes was ever an option for the fourth seamer role as that would have meant having two bowlers of the same style with Jimmy/Woakes and Broad/Robinson. It worked in the past when you had Stokes to break up the monotony and/or Leach to bowl some reliable spin.

Under the circumstances I’d say picking Tongue was the right call. Also selecting him for the Ireland test in the event of him making an appearance like this in the Ashes to give him a taste of test cricket was also an excellent move in hindsight. Making your test debut at the Lord’s against your biggest rival who is also one nil up would have been some real extra pressure.

The only more frustrating thing than being a Chris Woakes fan must be being Chris Woakes - although he at least gets paid a six figure sum to run drinks and bowl in the nets all summer.

Worrying that Wood isn't playing, he can't be fit.

I thought Tongue did well against Ireland but this is a big step up. Also worrying that after Wood he's the only next fit option for a pace bowler.