Writing from Abu Dhabi for today's Observer,correspondent Ali Martin has no doubt that 'The English cricket summer officially begins...today'. Even amongst those who would describe themselves as cricket followers there will be some who will not be aware that the traditional season curtain raiser between MCC and the previous season's championship winners for the fifth time is being played thousands of miles away under floodlights and with a pink ball. As I type (11:37) drinks are being taken with MCC 65 for 2 after 16 overs, Compton (more of whom later) is nursing a golden duck and Cook has gone for three, an event which may well gain the match some coverage in tomorrow's papers.
The Yorkshire website has no doubt that the match has first class status for in a posting made yesterday it declared 'Rhodes set to make first-class debut for Yorkshire' and sure enough there is the former England under 19 skipper in the Yorkshire line up. With six Yorkshire players on England duty and skipper Gale suspended from the championship opener at New Road in a little over three weeks Rhodes will have to do very badly in Abu Dhabi not to be part of the Yorkshire XI that begins its defence of the title against The Pears on April 12th. Who might be with Rhodes that day engaged a number of us watching Harrogate Town against Colwyn Bay yesterday for in the game's less compelling moments, and there was no shortage of those, we tried to come up with a Yorkshire top six without Root, Lyth, Bairstow, Ballance, Rashid and Gale. Try it for yourself and bear in mind that the situation will not just affect the game at Worcester but also the trip to Trent Bridge the following week and the visit of Warwickshire to Headingley on April 26th. Furthermore the third test in Bridgetown is not scheduled to finish until five days before Hampshire come to town on May 10th.
The Observer column very quickly moves on from the MCC v Yorkshire game for the rest of the article, which occupies two columns, centres on what I fear is going to be a much discussed topic in the media this summer, namely that Colin Graves and new ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, both of whom are in Abu Dhabi, are 'steadfast in their determination to reboot cricket' at which point my heart sinks into my size tens. Martin says that this reboot will begin 'with the domestic structure...which they believe has become too bloated' and you all know what is coming, some cricket that will not be contested by the 18 county sides. He (Martin) suggests this will take the form of an 'English Premier League tournament for T20 with 8 or 10 teams competing'. The journalist claims that 'the players at least are crying out for it' and to support his case he has interviewed two of them who are out in the desert, Messrs Compton and Carberry. Compton, who has proved adept at changing sides, seems unconcerned that such a competition might cut the number of players, 'If you're not good enough, you're not good enough'. He will have time today to consider those remarks in more detail and whether all his fellow professionals, especially those who will not be in the 8 or 10 teams in the 'high-intensity competition that gets the tills ringing and the broadcasters willing to shell out more', will agree with him is another matter.
The other of Martin's interviewees is Michael Carberry who apparently has been 'an advocate of it for years'. Carberry who may have some justification in feeling he was not well treated by England after last winter's tour in Australia and as recently as December talked about quitting the game, can now add Big Bash winner to his cv and should the Graves Harrison duo get their way in 2016 then the Hampshire opener would probably not be short of suitors when it came to 'pick up time' for the EPL.
The new regime is to mount a full review of English cricket with a minimum six month consultation period but in the meantime this season will be similar to last year's, creeping up on us fairly quietly by playing the opener in Abu Dhabi rather than St John's Wood, putting on a few mismatches between county sides and the universities with none of the first week played further north than Cambridge and when what many of us still regard as the jewel in the summer's crown begins on April 12th the country's best players, at least as judged by the selectors, will be in the Caribbean.
By way of contrast the major league baseball season begins this year on April 6th with just one game played the day before and has an almost religious significance throughout the nation. You might not like the game but they sure know how to put a show on the road.
More about this lovely book next time
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