Frenetic Kolkata was the focus of attention last weekend; now we turn to freezing Chester-le-Street and Chelmsford. It was easy to leave India with optimism. The T20 World Cup had somehow delivered vivid, compelling cricket. There was melodrama, elation and despair in equal measure with so many games, including England’s final with West Indies, going to the wire. This, surely, was a spectacle to inspire.
Upon return to the UK this optimism was tempered. Of course, cricket fans had been aware of England’s exploits but how many had actually glimpsed them? For the non-subscription nation there had not even been half an hour of highlights tucked away somewhere on free-to-air television. There was some inspirational stuff going on in Kolkata and Mumbai but at home how many of the next generation of sportsmen and women had noticed it?
A similar problem arises for cricket in 2016, the summer of football’s European Championship and the Olympic Games. There is much to admire and many who can inspire in English cricket at the moment. The one-day side under Eoin Morgan is exciting and unpredictable; the Test team has in the last 12 months won the Ashes and defeated South Africa away from home. Joe Root has evolved into one of the best batsmen on the planet; we may be witnessing the blossoming of one of England’s greatest, who can stand alongside the Yorkshire giants of the past.
Jos Buttler in one-day cricket has them gasping beyond Taunton or Old Trafford now. In Mumbai and Melbourne they marvel at the power of his hitting. Ben Stokes demands our attention, partly because we never know which of the two impostors he is going to meet. In fact he is quite capable of meeting both of them in the space of 15 minutes. With a red ball Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad continue to forge a partnership of unprecedented productivity.
And yet the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan will do well to divert attention from France and Rio. The newshounds will be keeping an eye on Pakistan when they arrive in late June given the controversy of their last two tours (match abandoned at the Oval in 2006, match stained by spot-fixing at Lord’s in 2010) and the reappearance of Mohammad Amir will be closely monitored.
England are in the uncomfortable position of being favourites to win against both teams in all formats. But my guess is a few seats are still available for the first Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley, which starts on 19 May.
Of course there are cricket followers out there, more numerous than is often made out, who will on Sunday be monitoring the fall of every wicket and the twang of every frozen hamstring. The domestic season is under way.
There is more change afoot. The structure of domestic cricket changes more rapidly than that of any other major sport and this is a reflection of its instability. This season represents something of a prelude. In the Championship two sides will be relegated but only one promoted from the second division to enable an eight-team first division and a 10 team second division in 2017. The T20 competition runs throughout most of the summer this season but will be in blocks next year.
It has taken a while but the first division is now inhabited by counties, who play on Test grounds — with the exception of Somerset. In the second division Glamorgan are the only side with a Test venue. At last — and somewhat depressingly — money has found its voice though there are still romantics out there who dream that Leicestershire can emulate the football club down the road. It is now routine that a good player stuck in the second division seeks to move to a bigger club — not just for financial reasons.
There is one significant change to the playing conditions in the Championship and that concerns the toss. The visiting captain can now choose to bowl if they so wish. The idea stems from the quality of the wickets prepared last summer, especially in the second division. There were too many seamer-friendly pitches, which resulted in shorter games and a band of accurate medium-pacers flattered by their figures. The hope is for better pitches; the danger is that there will instead be blander pitches as groundsmen and captains play safe.
So off we go. At various times through the summer – and most often in a T20 match – it will be possible to watch Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle from the victorious West Indies side of last week, plus Kane Williamson, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Adam Milne, Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner from New Zealand, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene from Sri Lanka, and Wahab Riaz and Shahid Afridi from Pakistan, but don’t ask me precisely where and when.
Also on view — and you will not have to research so deeply to find out — there will be the likes of Peter Trego, Chris Read, Jack Shantry, Chris Rushworth, Jack Brooks and Rob Key, who may be far more beloved by diehard supporters. As are Sussex’s Luke Wright and Yorkshire’s Andrew Gale, the two captains most likely to lead their sides to the top of their respective divisions.
