PAUL EDWARDS: In the wake of the end of the men's international summer one of England's brightest talents is subject to a social media 'pile-in' thanks to the silver tongue of John Cleese
I first visited Old Trafford in 1968, three years before the United Arab Emirates gained their independence from the United Kingdom. But in those days no one had the least clue grounds might ever be sponsored anyway. It was the second day of the first Ashes Test. England took early wickets and then Geoff Boycott and John Edrich put on 60 before the rain closed in.
John Snow was playing, as were Colin Cowdrey, Alan Knott and Ian Chappell. Seen through a young child’s eyes, the famous red-brick pavilion seemed to stretch into the heavens. “If paradise is half as nice,” sang Amen Corner’s Andy Fairweather Low a few months later.
Since that grey Friday watching a Test England eventually lost, I’ve visited the ground hundreds of times. I’ve seen stands go up and be pulled down. I’ve seen the club make massive profits and then nearly go bust. Born in Sussex and possessing a great fondness for all 18 counties, I’ve never pledged my loyalty to Lancashire in the manner of a supporter, yet I possess a deep attachment to Old Trafford and an even deeper liking for the people who work there.
Yet, I’ve never seen it as it was on Thursday evening when the international cricketers had left but all the trappings of biosecurity remained. The car park was laid out with so many barriers and bollards that it might have been designed to test the skills of a rally driver; there was one marquee in which temperatures were taken and another in which a health check was conducted. (On a lighter note there have been two occasions in the last month when I have had to confirm I was not pregnant).
Old Trafford has been one of two venues used for bio-secure international matches this summer
Notices had been placed on every wall: Do this, do not do that, stay safe. Masks were de rigueur. In the large lifts, diagrams on the floor indicated that the four occupants should face away from each other.
Our excellent meals prior to Lancashire’s T20 game against Yorkshire were brought to us and we worked in the hospitality suites on the fourth floor of the pavilion recently been vacated by journalists working at the international games. But I returned to my hotel filled not with resentment at these restrictions but pride at what my game has achieved in around 10 weeks.
It is becoming clear that this has been one of the greatest summers in the ECB’s short history. Even journalists who frequently give the governing body heaps are acknowledging that. We have had a full international programme of matches and while 62 redundancies were announced this week, one wonders how many would have been required had the Test series against and one-day internationals not taken place.
This is the season of awards so let me hand out a couple now: My team of the year is shared between West Indies and Pakistan and my cricketer of the year is Steve Elworthy, the ECB’s Director of Special Projects. I do not give a shrivelled fig that Elworthy last played a first-class game in May 2003 or that he might be looking after The Hundred next year.
Projects do not come any more special than that with which he was presented a couple of months ago. We have had a safe cricket season in a time of mortal danger. Take a bow, Steve, but share the virtual champagne with your team.
So it is strange that a week of pride has also been one in which the word ‘shame’ has been bandied about. In the view of John Cleese the shame should be felt by Tom Banton, who has decided to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League rather than Somerset in the final of the Bob Willis Trophy.
I've always loved Somerset County Cricket Club for their team spirit, their decency and their loyalty to the Club
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) September 15, 2020
So I am appalled that Tom Banton cannot find the time to play for his county in the most important match in their history
Shame on you, Tom
Presumably, Cleese means that he’s loved Somerset’s players for their team spirit, decency, and loyalty. If so, I think many neutrals would agree with him.
The vast majority of county cricketers possess those virtues but one has only to visit Taunton and talk to the players a few times to realise that Somerset’s staff are the last people to trade on their status or think themselves somehow superior to those that support them.
My impression is that players leave Taunton with regret and often hanker to return. One or two journalists feel exactly the same way.
But there is surely a strong argument that the Bob Willis final is not the most important match in Somerset’s history. The five one-day trophies carried back to the West Country by Brian Rose’s side in five glorious seasons between 1979 and 1983 marked the Club’s emergence as a strong county, plainly capable of winning things.
Folk in Taunton knew that it had not always been so. Four of those trophies were won in Lord’s finals and the first of them, the Gillette Cup victory over Northamptonshire in 1979, has a far greater claim to be the most important game in Somerset’s history.
This will be so regardless of what happens in St John’s Wood next week when, let us remember, the County Championship is not at stake. The Bob Willis Trophy, for all its delights, has been a five-game stop-gap competition in which bad weather has often played as significant a role as good cricket. That said, I hope the five-day final is a wonderful exhibition of the skills of county cricketers.
John Cleese took to Twitter to criticise Somerset's young star
But the real dust-up in the Twittersphere was caused by Cleese suggesting Banton should feel shame that he was choosing KKR above SCCC. It even led to me discovering a new word, ‘pile-in’, which is, so I understand, what happens on social media when a large number of people express support for, or opposition to, a particular view.
As far as I could gather, many people felt that Banton was a very talented young batsman and a white-ball specialist who was perfectly free to practise his trade wherever he wished. Others pointed out that Banton had a contract with Somerset and that without the help of his county he would not have secured an IPL contract in the first place.
I tend to agree with the second view and I wonder what Banton might lose by missing KKR’s first two games and staying another week in England to play in the Bob Willis Final. But while I think it is a shame he is not doing so, it is surely going too far to say that he should be ashamed of himself for choosing Abu Dhabi over Lord’s.
I would, I’m afraid, be rather more critical of Adil Rashid, who chose not to play for Yorkshire against Lancashire on a Thursday evening when Joe Root turned out for his county and pulled his tripes out in a vain effort to help them secure a vital win. Root has had a busier summer than Rashid and he has a family, too.
But the decisions made by Banton and Rashid will be seven-day wonders if that. Far more significant in this season which – Boris permitting – still has a fortnight to run is the cricket played by junior club teams and the number of games that have been squeezed in to barely a couple of months.
The benefits accruing from those matches may be rich indeed. When the pile-ins are forgotten, the pride will remain.
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