Do people really describe international cricket as "sexy"? I understand the idea that cricket seduces spectators and that once you fall in love with cricket you never leave it and rarely cheat on it. Under the summer sun and panama hats the game captures you, not able to look away, you watch every swing, every sweep, every turn and every spin. It is a passionate love affair with a sport so deeply English that you're proud to be a countryman (or woman!). So why, in a country so in love with cricket, have very few of us been seduced by the domestic game?
For me it's Surrey. A side with young players, it's a perfect place to go looking for cricket romance. Rory Hamilton-Brown, the youngest Surrey captain for 138 years, is just one of their 'Stuart Broads's'. The astonishing thing is that Hamilton-Brown has never had a first class England cap, no opportunity to seduce the widest audience of International cricket. It is up to the media, the journalists and the bloggers to bring the domestic teams out of their hard-to-get days, to put them out there to allow the cricket and the cricketers to sell their game. Money isn't needed for advertising, a subtle injection of romance is all that's required to allow Hamilton-Brown and his peers to begin their romance, a romance that would bring in more spectators, sell more seats and provide more income. This is the England of the future, lets allow ourselves to fall in love now and we all know, once a player and their team have seduced us - we never leave.
To be seduced by the county game one has to go looking for it. County sides are playing hard-to-get and they're getting even harder. Domestic cricket isn't the 'big hitter' for online reporting and county sides don't sell newspapers, so naturally their achievements are slowly becoming less and less significant with many games in empty grounds with no atmosphere. How hard must that be for young English players, who dream of one day playing for their country to the roar of the Barmy-Army. The economic troubles of county sides contribute to this, making the situation appear worse, clubs can't pour money into advertising and media and must instead rely on die-hard cricket fan's passing their love for a domestic club down to the next generation. This isn't working.
International cricket has drawn in so many new lovers over the past few years, me being one of them. Individual brilliance and team effort has seduced me and so many others into a love affair with cricket. It's now part of my summer and a part I look forward too. How has the England team succeeded in romance where the domestic clubs have failed? Exposure. International cricket sells, particularly the development and achievement of young players, given the chance to be followed, to seduce and to enthrall. The greatest example is the rise of Stuart Broad. Entering the scene in 2006 at the age of 20, the youngster never left and has risen to become one of the finest cricketers of his generation. Stuart Broad being exposed at 20 and becoming a semi-regular appearance in the England T20, ODI and test squads allowed spectators and media to follow and fall in love with this player. This is what domestic cricket lacks, the opportunity for us to fall in love with players whilst they develop and expand, whilst they seduce us.
There are so many 'Stuart Broad's' out there, every county team has one, but with such a strong England squad there's no opportunity to captivate. A player like Jonny Bairstow, wowed in his 'out-of-the-park' style innings during the first ODI against India last summer, could be the next great romantic, but a space in the England side so hard to come by, players must now rely on love at first sight. This is difficult and though so memorable to watch, Bairstow hasn't made me fall in love, hasn't seduced me to his playing, hasn't made me turn to Yorkshire to watch more. Cricket writers, both amateur and professional, need to identify the 'Stuart Broads' and give them a platform to make us fall in love with the game all over again.
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| Surrey's ground the Kia Oval during England v India 2011 test series. All five days of this test match were sold out. |
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| Surrey's ground, the Kia Oval showing large numbers of empty seats for a domestic match. |
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