Bumble's Blog: My message for Kohli and Smith, plus T20 reaction
Tuesday 24 October 2017 09:20, UK
David Lloyd blogs about his 70th birthday, has a strong message for Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, plus reacts to the ECB's T20 proposals...
Since my last blog I've turned the grand old age of 70. I went to Cheltenham Races on Gold Cup day to celebrate which was fantastic, though I wasn't hugely successful.
That reminds me though; I'm going to be a National Hunt jockey, like Victoria Pendleton made the switch from cycling.
I've been keeping it quiet for a while, but I've already lost two stone and started schooling over fences.
Look out for my nag, Start the Jumps, a seven-year-old bay chestnut. He was initially reluctant to have me on board but is now settling to the situation.
And talking of birthdays, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton have recently celebrated theirs too, while David Gower is 60 on Saturday.
He could have fooled me, I thought Lord Gower was turning 70 too! And Nasser, of course, has just turned 60! I think…. I could be wrong.
It's the start of the IPL and the county cricket season this week, which I'm looking forward to.
And though it's not proposed till the year 2020, the ECB's recently revealed plans for a new domestic T20 tournament are very exciting. The template is the Big Bash - an uncomplicated, short, sharp tournament played over a four week period in the kids' summer holidays.
It's the era of 'fake news' right now, and so to suggest these new T20 plans are to involve franchises is wrong, that's a fake word.
In the IPL, teams are run by individual private companies who get the returns, whereas in England the cash will stay with the clubs and in the game.
The objection has often been that city teams won't work because not everyone in the north west would want to support a Manchester team, for example.
But there's nothing to say that will be the case, maybe there will just be a team called Lightning, called Thunder, North West Warriors, whatever, to represent the whole region.
I despair with the fallout surrounding the India and Australia Test series. What a fantastic series on the field, but the stuff going on between the captains has been a nonsense.
You cannot accuse a team of doing something that you're guilty of doing yourself. Players have a responsibility to the game.
It just adds fuel to my thoughts that there has to be a massive clampdown on player behaviour. The umpires during the series were doing their level-best to keep a lid on the unsavoury aspects going on, but they don't have any clout.
There's no deterrent. That's why I've been a long-time supporter of yellow and red cards being introduced in the game.
The other thing that has had me wound up: did you see during the New Zealand and South Africa Test the players just chilling out during the drinks break, pulling up two chairs on the outfield?
'Here you are lads, have a sit down.' They might as well have brought their sofa, or a sleeping bag to have a lie down. Is this what the punters are paying good money to watch?
It's like they're working on the motorway rather than they're in the middle of a Test match! 'Right, time for a break now. I'll be back on it in a minute Charlie, I'm just finishing me brew.' Unbelievable!
It's also sad to see the plight of the West Indies currently, constantly losing games. It's Pakistan that are having their way with them currently, after their ODI whitewash defeat to England.
Their system, their philosophy - that the players have to play in their domestic tournaments in order to play for the West Indies - is unworkable.
The players are not that well paid, and so are quite rightly looking to supplement their income elsewhere. The board then penalise the players for doing that.
It leaves them playing their third XI. That's unsustainable, and there has to be some sort of working compromise, otherwise it won't just be this summer's Champions Trophy they'll be missing out on.
You talk to people like Michael Holding and Ian Bishop and they say a massive sort out is needed.
Talking of Mikey, I'm thrilled that he is taking up the role of President at Derbyshire. It's a wonderful appointment and a great honour for him.
Mikey talks about his time as a player at Derbyshire with great fondness, he made so many friends there, on and off the field.
That's all from me for now. But just finally, on my jockeying ambitions...Happy April Fools!
