English Cricket - Damning Report
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My brother & I were brought up in a lower middle class household in a post-industrial South Wales valley (Aberdare, Cynon Valley) and both attended the same single sex comprehensive state school
I was there 1978-85, him 1981-88
We played cricket in school and for our local club along with boys & men from working class to upper middle class (my definition, lawyers, bankers, doctors)
It was an all-white experience because our valley was 99% white save for 1 Welsh-Pakistani in the Club team
From that foundation I was able to get to county standard (wicket keeper) whilst in school and my younger brother played for Wales Schools & Universities from U14 through to U21 (all rounder)
There was another boy his age at our Club who played for Wales from U14-U19
My brother's cohort came from both state and private school, predominantly state
A number of boys in his cohort went on to play first class cricket for Glamorgan and one, Robert Croft, went on to play for England
We were very fortunate that
we had a family which ran the local cricket club (the Derricks, one of whom John played for Glamorgan and later coached them)
had access, within walking distance, to cricket pitches
the cost to play each week was free in school and only cost a couple of quid subs for the Club
and we practiced and played at every opportunity, year round
If any of those elements are missing in the 'black community' then I'm sure it's difficult to learn, excel, and break through but in Wales at least my experience is the norm not the exception so barriers are not in place
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@MajorRage said in English Cricket - Damning Report:
My sons coach played for Bermuda - he's black
Slightly OT, but we have a couple of white Barbadians in our little village with 3 of their kids born there. If they played in the local cricket team it'd be an all white team and proof "black cricket has been failed"
(We also have 3 NZ born kids in the area. Along with the Bajuns, they are very useful when we have to show "diversity" when applying for grants for youth groups and village amenities)
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@MajorRage as we've talked about a few times when discussing leaving, feels like UK is circling the drain a bit.
Just today: this cricket thing, the covid enquiry where everyone who was in charge is saying they should've locked down faster/harder/longer, the oil windfall tax raising way less than expected AND killing investment, Labour putting VAT on school fees.
Maybe I need to lay off Twitter....
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@TeWaio I have to agree. You need to lay off Twitter!
The north sea oil thing is a political spat. It's a green thing
Everybody knows should have locked down earlier - nothing new here, but Hancock needs to just fuck off forever.
VAT on school fee's is a proposal with decent intentions, but the consequences are unknown and it will be on a school by school basis. I personally think they'll go half assed, and remove charitable status but not apply the full VAT rate. Disables the way to tax efficient funnel money & allows the middle earners to continue to save the government money.But coming for my cricket is a step too far.
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Atherton’s take
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A balanced take from Atherton, as one would expect.
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Wait a minute.
They asked for submissions to form the base of their evidence? And they got 4000.
If 300k registered players in the UK. So around 1.3%.
Athertons take is good. The experience of most is overwhelmingly positive. Why the fuck is that not in the headline.
I’m so sick of the talk of diversity. If that makes me a bigot so be it.
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Is this the place to air my grievance about the sudden need to call the Ashes thr "men's ashes"
Get entirely fucked
It's called the Ashes for a fucking reason you silly fluffybunnies. The women's ashes is not even a fucking thing
It's the fucking ashes
Fuck off(Also It's batsman)
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My nephew was playing in the Surrey schools U14s final today
My brother sent this
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Alternative take
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@MiketheSnow said in English Cricket - Damning Report:
Alternative take
100% absolutely spot on.
Spectator take equally as scathing but for different reasons:
Does cricket suffer from ‘institutional racism’?
What a strange document the Independent Commission on Equity in Cricket (ICEC) has produced, in its ‘Holding up a mirror to cricket’ report. Rambling, explicitly political, antagonistic and poorly-argued, it ignores some obvious explanations for the ills it discusses, and fixates on irrelevancies....
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Thinking about this and reflecting on things like the campaign to scrap the "Elitist" Eton v Harrow game.
Good mate of mine is an MCC member. I've been to Lords many times, had lunch there more than once and given the chance to put my name on the waiting list for membership as a member of the public. There was something like a 20 year waiting list on that route. But if you play for one of the many MCC teams who tour schools, are a village cricket stalwart or are a groundsman somewhere, your chances are pretty good to almost automatic.
I doubt there's a more diverse and representative group of people in any private club in the UK. You'll find people like Tim Rice next to a council gardener and Mohamed from Leicester chatting to an ex-PM. There're rules you need to stick to, but a passion for the game is what unites them - "diversity" or "elitism" doesn't come into it.
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@MajorRage said in English Cricket - Damning Report:
@MiketheSnow said in English Cricket - Damning Report:
Alternative take
100% absolutely spot on.
Spectator take equally as scathing but for different reasons:
Does cricket suffer from ‘institutional racism’?
What a strange document the Independent Commission on Equity in Cricket (ICEC) has produced, in its ‘Holding up a mirror to cricket’ report. Rambling, explicitly political, antagonistic and poorly-argued, it ignores some obvious explanations for the ills it discusses, and fixates on irrelevancies....
Great article
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@Victor-Meldrew said in English Cricket - Damning Report:
Thinking about this and reflecting on things like the campaign to scrap the "Elitist" Eton v Harrow game.
Good mate of mine is an MCC member. I've been to Lords many times, had lunch there more than once and given the chance to put my name on the waiting list for membership as a member of the public. There was something like a 20 year waiting list on that route. But if you play for one of the many MCC teams who tour schools, are a village cricket stalwart or are a groundsman somewhere, your chances are pretty good to almost automatic.
I doubt there's a more diverse and representative group of people in any private club in the UK. You'll find people like Tim Rice next to a council gardener and Mohamed from Leicester chatting to an ex-PM. There're rules you need to stick to, but a passion for the game is what unites them - "diversity" or "elitism" doesn't come into it.
100%
I often wonder whether the people compiling these 'independent reports' have ever played the game and/or like the game
Did they fail to play for England because of perceived elitism or racism or is it that they simply weren't good enough?
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@MiketheSnow looked into this, and it turns out one of the panel members I was at uni with, Zafar Ansari. He did play for England then retired at 25(!) to become a barrister. While I still don't agree with the report's findings, I'd say he's a pretty appropriate person to be on the panel.
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@TeWaio said in English Cricket - Damning Report:
@MiketheSnow looked into this, and it turns out one of the panel members I was at uni with, Zafar Ansari. He did play for England then retired at 25(!) to become a barrister. While I still don't agree with the report's findings, I'd say he's a pretty appropriate person to be on the panel.
That's great
More of that please
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Listening to Mel Jones - UK-born, Black, who's played for Australia - commentating from Lord's for Sky.
Oh, the irony.
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Isa Guha is one of the most respected cricket commentators anywhere in the world right now
