Keith Graham: Regional matches just the thing
Keith Graham welcomes the introduction of the Regional Series of representative matches that aim to bridge the gap between club and country...
I must applaud Cricket Scotland for their bold initiative in creating three regional teams to play a season of games at a higher altitude than that seen in the SNCL. The new Regional Series is a determined effort to provide a much-needed layer of competitive cricket for players from every part of the country that has been glaringly absent in recent years. I do not, however, see this as a revival of the old District competition. Scottish cricket has moved on from that… big time.
However, the need for a brand of cricket more relevant to the new shape of cricket at international level has been increasingly evident over recent seasons. As Scottish ambitions at international level have grown, I’m afraid that the standard of domestic cricket has not. Indeed I believe we have reached a defining crossroads.
For years, players who have been fired by real ambition to move up the ladder and challenge for places in international squads have found themselves sharing dressing rooms with others who, no matter how talented, play the game essentially for enjoyment. The arrival of professional cricket here has inevitably shown that there is a well-defined divide that separates those who have real ambition from those who may fairly be described as recreational cricketers.
The new regional competition might well be called elitist, for its aims are to provide a real opportunity for that select band of cricketers who have travelled beyond the boundaries of recreational cricket. So be it. There is nothing wrong with elitism if, at the end of the day, it produces a better, more sharply-honed national squad - as long as there is still opportunity for those who play cricket for enjoyment to continue to play at domestic level.
The fact is that, as a nation, from being the most successful of the Associate Members of the ICC, as we were in 2005, we have lost ground. Ireland, possibly Holland and even Afghanistan, have passed us. It is my belief that this decline has its roots firmly in our own domestic game, which has simply not been challenging enough to sustain our internationalists. We have lived in a world in which the stock phrase has been, ‘never mind the quality feel the width’. The gap our players have to bridge - when they play against SNCL opposition, say, on a Saturday and then a day later may find themselves up against the Flintoffs, Harmisons, Steyns and Swanns of this world - is colossal.
The old District competitions were seen by many players as optional extras, so much so that I recall one season when Edinburgh, for instance, fielded something in the region of sixty players during what turned out to be a rather erratic season of mass call-offs. What is different now is the reality that most players, I believe, now understand. If they harbour any kind of ambition for international honours, they know that they have not only to play when selected but they have also to perform.
It will be competitive, make no mistake about it. And Pete Steindl and the selectors will be optimistic that these games will be played so competitively as to stretch all the participants. Even in top SNCL games, the truth is that international players are always playing in a kind of comfort zone. Almost every team, frankly, carries passengers. Thus internationalists are simply not sufficiently stretched, not challenged and thus when the big international games come around, they increasingly and consistently underperform.
The time has come to re-establish ourselves at the top of the Associate Members league. The new regional set-up may just provide the launching platform we need - providing, as Western Warriors captain Qasim Sheikh said so clearly, everybody involved takes each game seriously and plays it hard. After all, that’s how it is when the real stuff at international level comes along.
