Opinion

Opinion Category Archive

County chief's vision of Championship games in Ireland is misplaced, if well-meaning

DAVID SHARMAN argues Sean Jarvis would be better off focusing on ideas based in Leicester, rather than Leinster

Will Smeed stays true to his word at Somerset

NICK FRIEND: When Smeed moved onto a white-ball contract in 2023 to focus his energy on his far stronger format, he always insisted that the door to red-ball cricket remained open; two years on, he has taken the plunge

Cricket's part in Oasis going supersonic

HUW TURBERVILL: With a reunion confirmed, here's how cricket played a part in Liam and Noel Gallagher's Oasis split

Jarrod Kimber: T20 and Test Cricket should be divided into separate codes

HUW TURBERVILL meets cricket journalist Jarrod Kimber and discusses the future of cricket, WG Grace and Robocop 2 amongst a wide array of topics

A hurried process and a flawed document: Inside the ECB's tier one invitation to tender

ANDY FROMBOLTON looks at the benefits of becoming one of eight proposed 'tier one' women's cricket counties and whether the market can support the change of structure

08/02/2024 | Andy Frombolton | Opinion |

Colin Graves' return to Yorkshire was the only option

THE CRICKETER'S VIEW: Despite strenuous efforts to find a buyer who would repay the debt and invest further in the club, there was no realistic alternative to Graves, which the ECB appears to have accepted

09/01/2024 | The Cricketer | Opinion |

This report can be a turning point if everyone recognises its home truths

GEORGE DOBELL: Azeem Rafiq has done the game a service in forcing us to have these uncomfortable conversations. At this stage, anyone who denies the problem is the problem

Springtime and the tears of a clown

PAUL EDWARDS: As Neville Cardus wrote at the end of his great essay about Tom Richardson: "Cricketers like Richardson ought never to know old age. Every springtime should find them newborn, like the green world they live in"

CDC verdicts give cricket community an opportunity to move forward together

GEORGE DOBELL - ANALYSIS: It's not naive to believe the game can be better - more inclusive and more aware - at the end of this process. It's not naive to think that, in time, the sport will reflect with gratitude at Azeem Rafiq's bravery

The proliferation of T20 cricket does not offer the variety the game craves... and deserves

PAUL EDWARDS: Democracy, in other words, is the exercise of power, not the loss of it. It is not concomitant with "disruption and chaos" and nor does it grant franchises, however popular, the right to do what they want

26/02/2023 | Paul Edwards | Opinion | News |

Cricket offers the Afghan people a chance to present their best face to the world

PAUL EDWARDS: By playing against Rashid Khan and his colleagues, Pat Cummins would be supporting those who have publicly opposed the Taliban's evil. Maybe it is a shame the Aussies have passed up the chance

Far from today's packed schedules, the best cricket is driven by context and allowed to breathe

PAUL EDWARDS: One would hope that the International Cricket Council might offer some wise advice to governing bodies and possibly some regulation, but then one remembers that the ICC is complicit in the mess.

David English was not just a friend of cricket, he was an entertaining, inspirational force

HUW TURBERVILL: It's so sad that English, the father of the Bunbury Festival, missed the 2022 T20 World Cup final as he would have loved seeing his Bunbarians – Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali and co – on that magnificent MCG stage

An open letter to the chairs and CEOs of the 18 first-class counties - "It's important that you hang together"

PAUL EDWARDS addresses the key figures at the top of county cricket, thanking them for their service, appealing for unity amid the high-performance reviews and asking for the concerns of players to be accounted for

18/10/2022 | Paul Edwards | Opinion | News |

If cricket really is trying to root out racism, it is failing

GEORGE DOBELL: This is what institutional racism looks like. It isn't people in white cloaks and hoods burning crosses, it's the institutions of power finding reasons not to investigate and punish those who have transgressed