The End is Nigh for Universities' First Class Status

End is near for first-class universities in England and Wales.
Elizabeth Ammon.

The Times.

Monday, 16 December 2019.

PTG 2975-14766.

University cricket in England and Wales is to undergo a shake-up that will signal the end of the six centres of excellence and finish the first-class university fixtures. Six universities — Oxford, Durham, Loughborough, Cambridge, Cardiff and Leeds-Bradford — receive funding at present from the England and Wales Cricket Board (EWCB) and run men’s elite cricket programs, playing first-class matches either against themselves or the 18 first-class counties. But they are set to lose their funding and first-class status after January 2021 (PTG 2459-12445, 20 May 2018).

This month the EWCB wrote to the six university centres (formerly known as MCC Universities) to say that their funding will end in 13 months’ time after a review of university cricket and its part in the pathway of developing players, which has been led by Steve Elworthy, the former South Africa bowler. First-class cricket was once the sole privilege of Oxford and Cambridge University cricket clubs but since 2000 six regional MCC university (MCCU) centres of excellence have been involved in matches of this status. About a quarter of English professional cricketers were produced through the MCC universities scheme.

The MCCU first-class cricket program was set up by Graeme Fowler, the former England opening batsman, and from 2004 has been funded by MCC with the aim of giving talented young players the chance to receive top-level coaching and playing opportunities without having to sacrifice furthering their education. Since 2004, 18 cricketers from the MCCU programme have represented their countries and more than 120 have secured first-class county contracts.

Last year it was announced that the EWCB would take over the management and funding of the programme from 2020, but the governing body believes that the annual funding of about £UK500,000 ($A968,420) which goes to these six universities for men’s cricket would be better spread around more universities and with a focus on increasing participation across both genders.

A sub-committee has been set up to decide how the new model will look but one option is to allocate the funding regionally, with a cluster of universities under one umbrella.

There are implications for the counties, who have annual first-class fixtures against the universities in the build-up to the County Championship. Next year will bring an end to these fixtures and it is likely that from 2021 counties will either play against the regional university team or, if they are deemed not to be of sufficient quality, not play against a university at all. The Varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge lays claim to being the oldest first-class fixture but next year the 179th first-class meeting will be the last. They will still face one another but it will not be a first-class fixture.

Fowler believes that the centres of excellence are hugely important for the health of the professional game. “The evidence is plain — 23 per cent of English county players have been through one of the six university centres and if you’re supplying a quarter of English first-class players, why would you mess around with that?” he said.

Fowler ran Durham University cricket for more than 20 years, producing a slew of first-class cricketers and a handful of internationals, including Andrew Strauss, the former England captain, Nick Compton and James Foster. He believes that it is vital to have centres of excellence to prevent young players being forced to choose between cricket and taking a degree.

“Andrew Strauss, a very intelligent man, was always going to go to university and Durham provided an opportunity for him to do that and continue with high-level cricket”, Fowler said. “Focusing on participation rather than elite cricket is all well and good but I don’t think many people take up cricket for the first time at university. The lads who play cricket at university already play club cricket at whatever level. What do you gain from these changes? You aren’t going to increase the number of players because I guarantee they’re all mostly playing. The system produces intelligent cricketers, lots go on to be county captains. It’s a valuable resource".