Australia vs England - The Ashes 2021/22

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Ritchie said:
Was reading that England cricket has been on the slippery slide since 2005. This summer is the culmination of almost two decades of neglect by the ECB. The problem like in all sports.. starts at the grass roots level. English boys and girls simply are not playing cricket. When several thousand young teens were surveyed several years ago a majority said they did not list cricket as their preferred sport. In fact many did not list it among 10 other sports offered in the questionair.
Thank goodness that cricket is still popular here among the young.
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I don't know of any youngsters who play cricket in my neighbourhood, it's mainly football or rugby, shame really.
 
Recall when I was a kid there was an impromptu game being played on almost every back alley or open space, even our dirt road. (see pic).
Cricket is and remains a religion in this country. You will spot boys/girls in white scattered across hundreds of parks every weekend in all states.
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Ritchie said:
Recall when I was a kid there was an impromptu game being played on almost every back alley or open space, even our dirt road. (see pic).
Cricket is and remains a religion in this country. You will spot boys/girls in white scattered across hundreds of parks every weekend in all states.
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It's like that here but with football, even when I was out today I heard shouting and cheering from a field as a game was in play.
 
BettyBoo said:
It's like that here but with football, even when I was out today I heard shouting and cheering from a field as a game was in play.
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Jess that is not unusual as footy is your sporting religion. What English and Australian cricket needs are people with vision running it. Not those only interested in boosting their money pots. For starters, players need to be paid less with the savings put back into grass roots cricket.. preferably red ball cricket from which Test cricket is derived.
 
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Ritchie said:
Jess that is not unusual as footy is your sporting religion. What English and Australian cricket needs are people with vision running it. Not those only interested in boosting their money pots. For starters, players need to be paid less with the savings put back into grass roots cricket.. preferably red ball cricket from which Test cricket is derived.
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Totally agree. Footballers are overpaid and overrated to start with. Money should be invested instead of pampering these bigheaded showoffs.
 
Ritchie said:
Was reading that England cricket has been on the slippery slide since 2005. This summer is the culmination of almost two decades of neglect by the ECB. The problem like in all sports.. starts at the grass roots level. English boys and girls simply are not playing cricket. When several thousand young teens were surveyed several years ago a majority said they did not list cricket as their preferred sport. In fact many did not list it among 10 other sports offered in the questionair.
Thank goodness that cricket is still popular here among the young.
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Participation over there is an issue, most definitely. The other issue is the ECB have pushed red ball cricket to the fringes in favour of the T20 Blast and the stupid "The Hundred" competition. First-class cricket is played in April and May and then a bunch of matches follow in August and September, the pitches there are not great in the early part of the season with less bounce which makes coming to other countries where there is much more bounce a more difficult prospect. Having 18 counties doesn't help either and only further dilutes the overall product.

The prioritisation of white-ball cricket has seen their red-ball fortunes struggle in recent times of which the most recent Ashes series is a prime example. In fairness, it has been in decline for some time and the events of the most recent 8-12 months have highlighted that and with England's rather non-competitive performances in the Ashes series here have led to much more intense scrutiny.

I see the ECB has guaranteed that at least seven rounds of the 2022 County Championship will be played in June and July so that's a forwards step for them in getting games played when the weather conditions are best. The ECB also want players participating in the Sheffield Shield as well which is something that CA will have to consider although it will be interesting to see what the state boards think of that.
 
LJ need some participation over on the women thread in the Test match.https://www.bigcricket.com/community/threads/aussie-women-international-cricket.195120/
 
Ljp86 said:
The ECB also want players participating in the Sheffield Shield as well which is something that CA will have to consider although it will be interesting to see what the state boards think of that.
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Cant see that happening. Red ball grade cricket yes. Room there. Australia only has six state teams.. England has 18 county teams. Several of the Pom Ashes side played in state based Premier Cricket (club) in their formative years.
 
Ritchie said:
Cant see that happening. Red ball grade cricket yes. Room there. Australia only has six state teams.. England has 18 county teams. Several of the Pom Ashes side played in state based Premier Cricket (club) in their formative years.
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Certainly won't happen I wouldn't have thought, the states will want to play their own players. England would be better off sending the England Lions here semi regularly if they want experience in Australian conditions, I'm sure the states would enjoy the opportunity to play against an international Second XI in a four-day game.

I imagine the English players may play grade cricket here, we do seem to get some pop up here in grade cricket from time to time, mostly guys on the fringes of the county set-up and those who play minor counties cricket.
 
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