The extent to which county cricket is clearly ignored by pundits and decision-makers is damning, says Isabelle Westbury.
“Archer’s incisions give Essex reason to grumble”. “Archer sharpens Sussex ambition”. “Magoffin, Archer blow Leicestershire away”. You don’t have to look far to work out when Jofra Archer started making an impression in county cricket. Recent heroics in the BBL, which have turned the Sussex seamer into a “cult hero” and led one former England captain to call for him to be given “English residency ASAP please”, suggest that this transformation is both sudden and unexpected. Yet these three headlines didn’t come from last season; they’re from the season before that, in 2016.
Archer made his first class debut in July 2016, in a tour match against Pakistan the week before they beat England in the first Test and during a summer in which Pakistan were crowned the world’s number one Test. Archer’s match figures were the best of any bowler. His four-for in the first innings included Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq. His rhythm and guile drew comparisons to another bowler present, but not playing that day – Mohammad Amir, rested before the impending Test series. Eighteen months on, with a full county season under his belt, Archer is also now more mature and physically stronger – and yes, he’s doing very well, thanks.
Can someone help get @craig_arch a English residency ASAP please …. Much appreciated ….
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) January 4, 2018
In January 2016 Andrew Tye made his T20I debut for Australia on the back of some stunning death-over spells for the Perth Scorchers in the preceding two BBL seasons. The Channel 9 commentators didn’t appear to know where he had come from. They were rightly ridiculed; the lesson was clear – do your domestic homework.
County cricket provides experience. Most international cricketers need experience to thrive. County cricket must therefore be made into a more effective vehicle to provide that experience. Change will not come overnight and there are risks involved, but as one supermarket chain so often reminds us, “every little helps”. Review the 18-county system, the standards of domestic pitches, the dearth of free-to-air coverage as well, but why not consider some different suggestions too.
It is a quirk of England’s legal system that much of its law on the tort of negligence has developed through legal cases involving cricket (how many cricket balls must a club hit over a garden fence for it to be deemed a negligent act?). In failing to consider that county cricket may be the answer to, and not the reason for, England’s international troubles, we are in danger of letting our domestic structure become another case of unnecessary neglect. Let’s make county cricket a structure worth paying attention to.
