England

Weather to play cricket – talking points from Colin Graves’ recent interviews

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Meant to do this the other day. Midway through the first Test, England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Colin Graves smooshed around all of the various media present, saying the same things to different people.

The two main things that he said were that the T20 Blast is “mediocre” and that day-night cricket is coming to England.

We have two very quick points to make and once again, they both hinge on weather. If we sound obsessive, we’re not. It’s just a simple truth that in the absence of giant tarpaulins draped over our grounds, playing cricket in England and Wales demands that we consider atmospheric micturition.

T20 in a block

A lot of people want to see the domestic Twenty20 competition played in a block rather than throughout the season. If we consider only the cricket, this makes an awful lot of sense. You’d probably be able to get more big players involved and the competition would hold people’s interest better. Set against that, what if it pisses it down?

It can rain at any time of year in the UK, but sometimes it rains in a block. Sometimes it rains in a block across most of the country and cricket is barely played for a fortnight. What if that fortnight coincides with a large portion of your ‘flagship’ cricket thing? It also seems highly likely that the tournament will be played in August, during the school holidays, which is very much the rainy season in some parts of the country but not others, which seems a tad unfair.

We’re not entirely against this idea. We’re just pointing out that designing great cricket tournaments in the UK really isn’t as straightforward as it is in other countries.

Day-night Test matches

We also have reservations about the idea of playing day-night Test cricket in England.

In India and Australia, people are quite keen to watch cricket at night because it’s cooler. In England, people generally aren’t – because it’s cooler.

British people want to sit in the sun and get moderately shit-faced, don’t they? Maybe they don’t. Maybe they want to turn up after work and get moderately shit-faced while wearing a parka.

Yeah, okay, give it a try. Might as well see what happens, but again we’d like to emphasise that Britain and the British climate really don’t have all that much in common with the rest of the cricket-playing world and sometimes you have treat different things as if they’re different.

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19 comments

  1. Will you please stop writing all this common sense masquerading as whimsy.

    It’s really starting to get on my tits.

    I come here for rotund cricketers, indifferent cats and beard talk.

    If I wanted to read common sense about cricket I’d go to…

    …you know…

    … http://www.commonsenseaboutcricket.com or wherever.

    1. I went there and got this :-

      Parents need to know that Pig Goat Banana Cricket’s absurd comedy may confuse young kids who don’t grasp the difference between fantasy and reality. The characters’ world is a place where everyday objects come to life and bizarre things happen all the time, but it’s also a place where a friend’s constant rudeness or deception never takes a toll on a relationship. These mixed messages are better for older kids, as is the frequent gross-out humor (snot, nose-picking, farting, and poop) and name-calling (“jerk,” “freak,” “idiot,” and the like). That said, there are some positive messages about friendship and seeing the best in other people.

  2. Compressing the T20 season into a tiny block risks the whole thing being a farcical wash-out, or a blazing sun-drenched success, which seems a bit all-eggs-in-one-basket.

    1. Should that be “block” or “bloc”? Perhaps I should settle on “blok”, as a compromise.

  3. ICC need to improve T20 Cricket and make Large series of T20 They only focused on One Day Matches. If they have the series of 5 matches of one day include 5 match series also for T20 .

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    3. I think it’s developing consciousness. Given time I predict fewer and fewer non sequiturs, with an increase in logic and sense until one day it sends in a picture of a charismatic and underappreciated county cricketer riding a xebu holding a piechart.

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        There you are, Purple Arrow. My glove’s on the floor, for the picking-up thereof.

  5. There is zero danger of day-night tests in England. It will be too late in the night for Indian television audiences.

    PS: This is also why Cricket Australia is so keen on day-night tests.

    1. I like the idea of night-day cricket in England.

      6:00 to 8:00 – session one.

      8:00 to 8:40 – brekker.

      8:40 to 10:40 – session two.

      10:40 to 11:00 – elevenses.

      11:00 to 13:00/13:30 – session three.

      Cricket all over in time for a fine lunch, power nap, high tea, a few hands of Canasta or a game of billiards before dinner and early to bed. Repeat x5. Splendid.

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