So the waiting is nearly over as the boys fly down under to keep the Ashes. The hype can only crank up a gear or two now both here and in Oz – seems that England stole the Ashes last time (admittedly it was closer than the series result would show in Wisden) and that it’s time for them to take them back?

For all the soul searching and discussions over the selectors decisions and other off field issues, we are where we are and it’s time to support the team.

 So 26 days until the first ball at the Gabbatoir, 26 days until all the hype is over, 26 days until I fulfil the dream of a lifetime! 

Time to start packing!

Yet again the ECB have not covered themselves in glory when trying to deal with the fall out at the end of the first class cricket season – the Durham/Hampshire/Kent issue last year and Middlesex and the cross bow match this!

Whilst there has been a lot of ‘sniping’ between the two teams relegated from Division One this year, there is a wider point to be considered.  As well as needing to re-write the protocols when a match is abandoned/cancelled etc beyond the control of either team e.g rain, bad light, cross bows, umpires ‘call’ and so forth so that everyone knows who can decide what and when at such an abandonment – and these need to be clear at the start of the season, the question I pose is what do all the ‘suits’ at the ECB actually do?

From their website there seems to be an awful lot of them covering every conceivable area of cricket development and management across England and Wales but how can they make such poor PR decisions and processes, now for two years in a row?  They seem to cost a lot but I wonder if some of the job titles/positions are taken from the excellent BBC2 comedy ‘W1A’ – interminable meetings of people clearly over-promoted and full of their own self-importance; a case of ‘life imitating art’?

 

Hype – who needs it?

So… the pre-series media hype has started in earnest, talk of war, hatred, hopeless selection choices, ‘things aren’t like they used to be’ in my day and everything in between.

But this is nothing new! It’s almost become a traditional pre-series ritual and I suppose will carry on until Nov 23 when the real test start.

Do we need all this never ending and wide-ranging hype?
•Tickets for Ashes series anywhere are like gold dust so it’s not done to boost ticket sales;
•Cricket followers know the series is on the horizon so don’t need to be whipped up into a state of excitement bordering on hysteria,
•Casual cricket followers will be drawn into the series once the tests start so am rapidly running out of places or people who need all this hype!

Perhaps the media need it themselves to fill the blank hours and pages stretching out between now and the start? One wonders what’s coming next!

All the mistakes are mine, the opinions are mine and are not associated with any organisation I am currently involved with!