With apologies to any fans of ITV’s, now abandoned, On the Ball football highlights programme, what follows is a consideration of the ideal cricket ball.
The post comprises a series of thought experiments, with little (no) actual research or science to support them…but there might be some hypotheses that could be worth further investigation.
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In the continuing debate about the future of professional cricket in England, there is an iconoclastic strand that would see the end of the “First Class” system — a big “no” to the elitist, closed shop of the MCC and the Counties.
One repeated theme has been the need for an “FA Cup of cricket”, open to all teams, whether (old-style) County or club or, presumably, franchise.
As if the model of professional football is somehow more equitable than the (admittedly flawed) First Class cricket and County system we have in England and Wales.
So it was very interesting to read Richard Sanders’ Beastly Fury: The Strange Birth of English Football, to find out a bit more about the early years of the professional game in England.
And it might appear that a little caution would be advisable!
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This week, I visited† the Ilford Cricket School, for the first time since I left school in 1980.
Where I, and countless numbers of local school children, have been introduced to the game since the facility opened more than 70 years ago.
The telephone number on the board by the front door has not updated since the “Big Number Change” in 2000, and some of the decor inside is possibly of the same vintage…
But it’s an indoor facility where otherwise there was none back then.
Where State schools and local clubs got to practice.
It demonstrates perfectly, for me, the importance of a local hub, no matter how humble, in promoting and supporting the game.
Would the London Borough of Redbridge be host to 7 Essex “Premier” clubs, each running three or more Saturday XIs and numerous junior sides, if the Cricket School had never found a home in Ilford?
I rather doubt it.
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