Andrew Strauss admits cricket’s authorities are faced with huge challenges
(Picture: Getty Images)Sir Andrew Strauss has warned cricket’s authorities cannot afford to be “slow moving and have our heads in the sand” at a time of “unbelievable” change in the game.
This week, England host South Africa in the First Test at Lord’s, which will also see the fourth Red For Ruth day, in memory of Strauss’s wife Ruth, who died of a rare non-smokers’ lung cancer in 2017.
It has been a busy period since England last played Test cricket at the start of last month, with new T20 leagues launched in South Africa (with the Proteas cancelling an ODI series in Australia to accommodate it) and the UAE, Ben Stokes retiring from ODIs, Trent Boult withdrawing from his New Zealand contract, and Strauss leading a “high performance review” in English men’s cricket.
“The proliferation of T20 leagues and the shifting tectonic plates you know, that is a very live issue – the cricket world around us is changing unbelievably quickly,” said Strauss.
“Every day, every week, every month, we’re seeing a new example of how that world is changing around us. And I suppose one thing that we’re having to ask ourselves the questions of in this country is where does our game fit into all of that?
“The game of cricket has changed and evolved and developed since the beginning of time. It definitely feels like right at the moment, the rate of change is increasing. And the truth is, none of us know what’s around the corner so you can all look into the future and go ‘yeah, we’re gonna have this situation where players are signed up to franchises for 12 months of the year and there’s less international cricket’. We don’t know any of that at this point.
“I think one of the things that we need to be conscious of in the game in this country is we have to be nimble and adaptable. And we can’t afford to be slow moving and have our heads in the sand.
“I think that’s really important that we set ourselves up in this country, we set the game up in a way that allows us to be flexible and adaptable because ultimately players if they’ve got many opportunities, which some of our players have, they will always look at those opportunities side by side won’t they and decide what’s best for them and you don’t hold that against them.
“So we need to continue promoting all the brilliant things that cricket in this country offers players - we want to have a strong vibrant domestic game and we want to make sure the players are playing the right balance of formats as well so that it’s not all drifting down that white-ball short form route.
“There’s still plenty of players that want to commit and challenge themselves to be the best Test cricketers they can be.”
Strauss is confident that Test and T20 cricket can coexist in harmony, but accepted that sewing them together was tricky.
“One thing we know in other countries, Test cricket doesn’t pay the bills, like it does here,” he said. “It’s a bit of chicken and egg. If it’s costing you money to hold Test series, you don’t have a huge amount of money to invest in the marketing of it all, etc.
“So we’re very fortunate that we do have full houses here, and a significant proportion of our cricket fans would see Test cricket as their favourite format. The brilliant thing, really, if you look at the big picture, is that the game is growing very quickly – you have to look at the rise of the women’s game, both here and abroad, to see that. And of course the T20 format is the way that a lot of people get introduced to the game in the first place.
“I still maintain that they can sit together comfortably, Test cricket and T20 cricket. But the challenges we have is can we produce a manageable scheduled that allows players to do both. That is really complicated. It’s multi-dimensional. It’s like a big Rubik’s cube. And everyone wants their little piece of the jigsaw to be in place.
“That is complicated. For the most part, cricketers have it as good as they’ve ever had it at the moment, in terms of financial opportunities, but also opportunities to do great things, and be remembered for what you do, which is equally important.”
