The Twelfth Man 2019

IT’S TIME FOR CRICKET LOVERS TO FIND THEIR VOICE George Dobell, Senior Cricket Correspond- ent with ESPN Cricinfo, columnist with The Cricketer and winner of the Society’s J M Kilburn Cricket Writer of the Year Award for 2017 argues that we cricket lovers are too accepting of what those who run the game throw at us... 12 13 T he problem with cricket is that it’s run by peo- ple who have forgotten what it’s like to pay to watch it. It’s run by people who have forgotten what it’s like to save their money and their holiday entitlement, to sit on a bucket seat for seven or eight hours. Forgotten what it’s like to stand in a long queue to buy over-priced (and often poor-quality) food and drink. Forgotten what it’s like to pack waterproofs, thermals and sun cream to get through the day. When you combine such issues with mounting ticket prices – you pretty much will have taken out a second mortgage if you had taken your family to an Ashes Test this summer – and a schedule that re- quires an Enigma machine to understand and it’s not especially surprising that retaining supporters remains a challenge. It’s not just administrators, either. The game is commented upon and written about by people in air conditioned boxes who benefit from free tickets, free parking and a free lunch. They, too, have often forgotten what it’s like to shiver through rain delays or roast in the sun. All these things change your perspective consider- ably. When the ECB talks - in its usual management-speak - of consulting the game’s ‘stakeholders,’ they invaria- bly mean the players, the broadcasters and the spon- sors. Spectators – the ones who actually fund (whether through ticket sales, subscription TV packages or coun- ty membership) everyone who works in the game – are rarely consulted. And it’s meant to be a spectator sport. The Hundred is a great example. It will result in some of the most radical changes made to the game in decades.