Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Year Book 2014

9 Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society While Ashes Tests remain the pinnacle of aspiration for host venues, the unique pressures of welcoming India to Trent Bridge make for an equally exciting prospect. While it’s true that English players and supporters value the rivalry with Australia significantly higher than that with India, the clout of the 2014 visitors to Nottinghamshire’s famous venue will require a very different plan. Principally, it’s a numbers game. While millions of people watch Ashes Tests on TV, hundreds of millions watch England v India, particularly across the sub-continent where population and passion ensures that TV audiences and media values dwarf anything the Aussies can offer. To service the thirst for information, a sizable army of Indian media professionals will descend to cover the game. The press box will be over- subscribed and many will sit in the stands. The biggest emerging phenomenon is the rise of the non-rights holder. In simple terms, these are film crews who do not have the right to broadcast match footage but are granted access to film press conferences and catch glimpses of players getting on and off the team bus. To protect the interests of those who have paid millions to beam live footage around the world, arrangements are made to provide the access they are entitled to which often stops well short of the access they think they deserve. A different set of rules exists with India in town – it is common for leading writers to write copy by hand and fax it back home to be transcribed. During ICC World Twenty20, a packed Trent Bridge squash court was witness to the entire India squad taking to the stage to declare a united front amid media rumours of splits in the camp. The captain, MS Dhoni was bundled in and out of the crowd with cries of ‘Let the captain leave please, do not touch him’ as crews wrestled to get footage of him walking in and out of non- descript glass-back. The flip side of these manageable issues is the ability to put our venue and our city on a global stage with media values running to many millions – coverage which we simply couldn’t afford to buy. It is easy to construct an argument around why England-India is bigger than England-Australia from a global media exposure perspective. Our experiences of the nuances of managing media operations for Test playing nations will come to the fore and, for a few days, the Trent Bridge squash courts will be the most famous in the world. Changing Seasons... www.sheffieldcricketlovers.org.uk