Headingley Stands to Lose Test Status - a reprieve in sight?

Reprieve for Headingley in sight?

Nick Hoult.

London Daily Telegraph.

Wednesday, 29 March 2017.

PTG 2089-10580.

Headingley’s future as an international venue looks to have been rescued after Yorkshire agreed a funding package with Leeds City Council (LCC) for the building of a new stand (PTG 2081-10539 22 March 2017).  The council’s decision earlier this month to withdraw a £UK4 million ($A6.5 m) grant towards Yorkshire’s £17 m ($A27.6 m) share of the costs for renovating a stand used by both the cricket and rugby league clubs, left Headingley facing the prospect of no international cricket after 2019.

Without the redevelopment of the stand, Headingley will fail to meet the basic standards to host international cricket and faced losing four games at the 2019 World Cup as well as being part of the new Twenty20 league.   But after weeks of talks with the club the LCC has agreed a £35 m ($A56.8 m) investment from a London finance group to pay for the new stand.

The investors have agreed to build the new stands and rent them back to the cricket and rugby clubs. “There is still a way to go, however, it is a significant step in securing the future of international cricket at Headingley”, said Mark Arthur, the Yorkshire chief executive. “Yorkshire County Cricket Club will continue to work hard to ensure that all remaining funds are in place to ensure that the redevelopment is completed in time for the World Cup in 2019”.

The LCC had withdrawn support under huge political pressure within the local authority, which is faced with having to make massive cost saving cuts.  The LCC said in a statement: “Subject to final approval by [LCC’s] executive board, an agreement has been brokered which will provide the funds that are required to redevelop Headingley Carnegie Stadium.  If given the go-ahead, this funding which will be provided from a private financial services company, will be at no cost to the council taxpayer”.

Yorkshire are almost £25 m ($A40.6 m) in debt, mostly owed to a trust fund set up by ECB chairman, Colin Graves. But the club made a profit last year for the first time since 2009 and has refinanced some of its debts. 

Headingley on the brink of losing major cricket ground status.

Nick Hoult.

London Daily Telegraph.

Wednesday, 22 March 2017.

PTG 2081-10539.

Headingley will lose its place as one of the major cricket grounds of the world unless delicate talks between the Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Leeds City Council can resolve a funding row that threatens the ground’s international status.  Headingley has hosted Test cricket since 1899 but unless the club can finance the rebuilding of the stand at the Football End it will no longer meet modern requirements and will lose the four matches it is due to host in the 2019 World Cup.

Headingley will also lose Test status from 2020, when its staging agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) expires, and will not be able to compete with other grounds to host a team in the ECB’s new Twenty20 tournament unless the deadlock over ground improvements is solved before the end of this cricket season.  The club has to find £UK17 million ($A27.6 m) to finance its half of the work on the stand which is shared with Leeds Rhinos rugby league club. 

Yorkshire had been awarded a £4 m ($A6.5 m) grant from the city council and were looking to borrow money for the rest of the project. However, the council offer was withdrawn recently under political pressure within the local authority, which is facing massive cuts and around 2,000 job losses over the next four years. 

Yorkshire are already saddled with almost £25 m ($A40.6 m) of debt, with most owed to a trust fund set up by ECB chairman Colin Graves, and Steve Denison, the club’s chairman, has ruled out financing the entire building work through new loans. It is a possible a solution may be found by the end of this week as talks continue with the council but Yorkshire look set to start the new county season with major doubts over the club’s future place at the top table of English cricket.

“Discussions are ongoing all the time formally and informally [with the council] to try and find a solution because it is bonkers if the city, county and the club are running the risk of losing international status”, said Denison. “There is no guarantee we would be able to host one of the new T20 teams as we haven’t got a stadium up to scratch. It does look quite gloomy but nobody is giving up. We are going to keep going but it is hard work". 

“The Ashes Test at Headingley will happen at 2019 anyway as it is not predicated on anything. But the World Cup games are predicated on us finishing that stand, so if we want to get it done by then we have to be cracking on by the end of [the 2017] season. That is only a matter of weeks away in construction terms plus there will be a substantial amount of preparatory work that has to be done before bulldozers move in and knock down the existing stand. It is why everybody is working really hard to find a solution".

“The last thing we want to do is mortgage the future at all costs. Having a club that can sustain itself is the most important thing. We are not going to risk that because of the situation we find ourselves in right now. We don’t want to say ‘don’t worry let’s just borrow up to £40 m ($A64.9 m) and pay it off over 40 years.’ It is an unimaginably long period and who knows what will happen in the next four years let alone 40”. 

The ECB has written to Yorkshire to confirm the ground does not meet international requirements so will not be considered for matches after its current staging agreement runs out after the 2019 Ashes series. The ground does not have a big enough capacity unless the new stand is built.  The club cannot appeal to the ECB for funds as the board has warned counties it will not be a lender of last resort (PTG 1625-7930, 22 August 2015), and Durham discovered last year the price of a bailout from the governing body (PTG 1938-9747, 5 October 2016). 

Durham were stripped of Test status and if Headingley goes the same way it will leave Lancashire as the only Test ground in the north of England. Lancashire would also be in the strongest position to host one of the eight new Twenty20 teams.

Funding from local authorities is controversial, particularly in an age of austerity when cuts to services are biting. But Warwickshire, Hampshire and Glamorgan are counties that have been helped by their local council after being able to prove the value international cricket brings to local businesses. Only last year Yorkshire paid back a £7 m ($A11.4 m) loan from the city council to help with previous rebuilding work. 

With Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, this week confirming the London Stadium as a possible World Cup venue (PTG 2080-10535, 21 March 2017), there is an alternative if Headingley cannot host its four matches.  It would be a huge blow to the self esteem of a club steeped in cricket’s history and the beating heart of the recreational game’s club scene.

“The council officers get it and quite a lot of the politicians get it as well but they are for whatever reason not in a position where they feel they can give the £4 m to Yorkshire”, said Denison. “We sit at the heart of an enormously passionate cricket population and when you add in the five million people in and around Leeds that is a pretty powerful combo”.

Who made Tom Harrison Lord of all Cricket?

ECB chief speaks in favour of four-day Tests.
Mike Atherton.

The Times.

Saturday, 18 March 2017.

PTG 2079-10524.

Where does Test cricket fit into England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Tom Harrison’s vision for the future? As more of a niche offering is the answer; played less frequently, but with more meaning and context and, ultimately, in all likelihood and in the right conditions, over four days.  The pros and cons of that concept were summarised by the Marylebone Cricket Club’s World Cricket Committee late last year, and it is to revisit the issue at its next meeting scheduled for Lord’s in early July (PTG 1998-10088, 8 December 2016).

Initially, Harrison was not a supporter of four-day Tests but has been convinced of their merits, bringing his thinking into line with that of his chairman, Colin Graves. Answering a question about whether England and Australia are “pushing hard” for four-day Tests, he said: “We’re pushing the benefits of it, without saying we’re pushing hard and it has to happen”.

What are the benefits? Is it simply about creating space in the calendar for more T20 cricket? “It creates space in the calendar but it’s not just about that and not just so we can schedule more. It’s about understanding the benefits from a consumer perspective. Can we create a better product by introducing a four-day format in certain conditions? My personal view is that I don’t think it works everywhere; like day-night Test cricket, it has to be the right time, right place, right conditions” (PTG 1972-9937, 9 November 2016).

“We have to take a look at the pressure on boards to keep Test cricket at the heart of their proposition. We’ve seen a lot of amazing Tests over five days but we haven’t really tested the theory as to whether the players’ mindset changes over four — if we increase the over rates, which is a thorny topic. I don’t believe it’s impossible to bowl more overs in a day” (PTG 1894-9494, 7 August 2016).

“Four-day Test cricket is a really interesting debate and will evolve and I’m sure we will get there in the end. I had to be convinced because when I started out I was massively against it, but I am for it because with Test cricket there is a risk of us loving it to death. We have to adapt".

“I am absolutely convinced the game can flourish over three forms. The balance between international and domestic cricket will change. We have to be careful about that and that is my fear about private ownership. Controlling private ownership will be difficult and controlling the ambition of very successful tournaments will be difficult".

“We have to retain the focus that the thing that has floated cricket for so many generations has been international cricket. That balance is being challenged but I’m hugely optimistic about the ability of international cricket to win through, even if it dominates a smaller part of the international calendar than it does now” (PTG 1890-9475, 3 August 2016).

But if cricket continues to pitch different forms of the game against each other, won’t that marginalise the longer form? An example will be the new ECB T20 competition in 2020, which will take place at the same time as Tests so that England players will not be available. “We will need to be more flexible”, he said. “Players will become more specialist in one format or another. That’s already happening in Australia and it might not be to everyone’s taste".

“Test cricket will become special and unique. It’s there and healthy and there will be less volume, which should be seen through the context of it being more positive. In England Test cricket will be special, an occasion rather than a diet to serve the appetite of the grounds.  Test cricket remains absolutely central to the diet that we put out to our fans every year. We are still filling grounds for Tests and we are still the team that everyone wants to come and play against. A Test series in England is still regarded as the pinnacle for many players from overseas.

“The objectives of our new [T20] tournament are about creating a new audience for the game, future-proofing our game and being relevant to communities that at the moment can’t see cricket. Test cricket is the audience we are good at marketing to. If we have a plan that is reliant entirely on managing that, then we will be managing decline. They can live together and they won’t overlap. Test cricket still has to be at the pinnacle of our sport and will remain so”.

“The objectives of our new [T20] tournament are about creating a new audience for the game, future-proofing our game and being relevant to communities that at the moment can’t see cricket. 

How is flogging the new competition to the highest bidder going to reach an audience than doesn't catch cricket currently on Sky?

Sky is the problem. Swapping Sky for BT isn't going to make cricket more accessible either.

Cricket isn't going to be shown on CBBC or CITV so you have to get teatime coverage on BBC1 or 2, ITV or Ch4 in order to catch the eye of the "new audience" and that ain't gonna happen.