Giles Clarke flaps over ICL

There was a fascinating interview during the luncheon break of last night's Test match when David Gower grilled Giles Clarke, the chairman of the ECB. Normally an interview from Gower is, to quote Denis Healey on Geoffrey Howe's interrogation skills, "like being savaged by a dead sheep", but Gower actually laid into Clarke over the ECB's wrangling with the Indian Cricket League (you all know the story, but click here and here for a refresher). It was all the more impressively unsubservient given that Gower owes his salary to Clarke, as the man who negotiated the sale of England TV rights to Sky.

It wasn't quite Paxmanesque, but Gower's probing, to my eye, had Clarke flapping and angry. At least Clarke admitted that the main reason for banning ICL players from the English domestic competition was out of fear that a rebel competition could be set up in this country, but he still did not explain why he feared such competition. For a man who made his millions selling wine, turning Majestic into a big force by innovative pricing and selling techniques, I am surprised that he does not relish using the dominant position of the ECB to crush any upstarts by the quality of his product rather than by threats and bans.

Despite my gibes, I think the ECB generally does a good job. They run some attractive competitions, they develop the grassroots well and, as Clarke pointed out, have overseen a 900 per cent growth in the numbers of women and girls playing cricket over the past ten years, which has led to England women becoming the best in the world. The men are some way off being that, but generally the game in England is in good health thanks to the ECB.

I just don't understand why they feel that a putative rival Twenty20 competition (which would not be able to use the leading cricket grounds in this country as a base) would be such a threat. Surely anything that introduces more people, especially children, to cricket is a good thing. When their attention is grasped, the ECB will be there to offer a more attractive form of the game to them.

For those who just want a Twenty20 fix, the ECB is taking steps to improve the attractiveness of their own product (it's a shame that, having invented the shorter game, they had to be prodded into this by the Indians), with more night games and more overseas players mooted. With that going on, I find it hard to understand how a rebel league from a low starting point could flourish.

Comments

[Ann]

Oh yes, Clarke was flapping and angry, wrong-footed and embarrassed and repeatedly all at sea. It was beautiful to watch. DG is probably the most intelligent of England's ex-captains still around, knows the game inside-out and although he looks mild, he is a lot sharper and aggressive than you might think (he proved this on They Think It's All Over, time and again). GC was pathetic, tried to bluster and failed, and got all he deserved.

I gave up after that also - well, I'd had a very long day - but had a premonition that KP would be the one to do much better than the others this time round. Someone usually does, when England are in deep shit.