David Willis of the Cricket Reform Group recommends reform of the “bloated structure” of 18 first-class counties by adopting the proposals of the “visionary” ECB chairman, Colin Graves (Letters, 11 August). By implication, this would mean a vast reduction in the number of professional cricketers in England and, potentially, a significant reduction in the number of first-class counties. How this squares with making cricket more available to the masses is anyone’s guess.
Mr Willis identifies “huge potential for tapping into a youthful market” without providing any evidence for this assertion. It’s also unclear who would benefit from this “bonanza”. Clearly it wouldn’t be the spectators who are packing out the grounds for the existing county T20 competition this season. Or indeed the cricketers themselves.
I was assured by the ECB in 2008 that revenues from Sky’s monopoly of the rights to broadcast Test cricket had led to “astounding rises of participation”. A decade later, it is clear that these rates of participation have in fact plummeted after the ECB’s disastrous decision to end free-to air TV coverage of Tests in 2005. To reinvigorate the game, the ECB should instead reverse this decision and also concentrate on building on the success of the existing T20 competition.
Richard Temple
London
• Vic Marks reports that the rain was “magically soaked up” at Lord’s (Sport, 11 August). The ground staff have hi-tech drainage, modern covers, the latest in blotter machines plus good old-fashioned elbow grease at their disposal, but sadly not sorcery. Their efforts under the circumstances were, however, magical and deserve due recognition.
Sarah Jakeman
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
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