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NOW the Ashes are, in effect, over, we are not hearing so much about cricket from this country’s political class.

They were all over the sport after the World Cup and Ben Stokes’ heroics at Headingley yet, despite recent disappointments, this has still been a memorable, wonderful summer.

Sadly, though, it goes nowhere, whatever the politicians wish to say, because for cricket to thrive it needs reviving in schools. And that costs money. And this country hasn’t got any. Not sloshing about spare in the education system, at least.

Boris Johnson may be able to conjure up a fantasy £15billion as a sop to Northern Ireland for when he stiffs them over the backstop but a cricket team is finite, not some vain campaign promise. And there are not the resources for the type of programme that would capitalise on recent events because that would require equipment, proper playing fields and a commitment to resolving health and safety issues.

Things are different now. Nobody is going to be sharing a box these days, nobody is batting without a helmet.

‘There is no better time to seize the opportunity after an incredible summer of cricket,’ said the sports minister, Nigel Adams, but he’s wrong. There was a better time and it was when schools had the money to invest in sport; before playing fields became a one- off revenue stream and wickets could be prepared that were not dangerous and could be played on with equipment that came from giant, dusty bags used by the whole class.

With odd exceptions, cricket is the preserve of independent educators now. Whites are part of their school kit, as is the equipment, which often comes from homes where the child is also a member of a club. The majority of Inspirational: Ben Stokes England’s starting XI against Australia yesterday were privately educated. The majority of those turning out for England in the last calendar year, including those schooled abroad, were, too.

So when sports ministers talk about reintroducing cricket into state schools they always do so in the vaguest possible terms.

‘It’s my desire to see sport, PE, however you want to call it, in the school curriculum, inside the schools’ day and outside on a mandatory basis,’ Adams said.

‘I know the Prime Minister is very passionate about cricket. I’ve spoken to him about it.’

So let’s get passionate. Let’s get real and talk about money and practicality, because a school cricket team isn’t simply a first XI.

If we’re going back to what might be termed the halcyon era of school sport, the aim would be to produce a team in every year group. Nor can we presume the presence of club cricketers with equipment.

The school will have to provide, considering practice nets will be required: so four sets of pads for each year group, four sets of gloves, four helmets, four bats. A ballpark 20 pieces of kit to get cricket off the ground, plus five sets of wicketkeeping apparatus.

At a rough estimate the cost of getting cricket up and running is £4,800. And we haven’t got a ball, we haven’t got stumps, we haven’t got thigh pads, arm protectors, flannels, even a box — and we’re close to five grand down.

You may have noticed we’ve forgotten something else, too. Girls. Cricket in schools was a boys’ game. Not any more. There is no way a modern headteacher could not offer girls the same opportunity. So let’s just say there is a state school with a spare 10 grand or so lying around? Who is taking the school cricket team at the weekend, given this is a particularly time-consuming game?

The goodwill between teachers and their employers seems rather strained of late. One can only imagine the joy at being told a sport so long it actually has a lunch hour is being revived.

IN October, Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, and Tom Harrison, his chief executive, will be quizzed by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, on how they plan to build the sport. Expect a load of old rubbish from the MPs about freeto-air television and nothing else, because there is nothing else.

Local clubs could perhaps donate equipment, and a groundsman to prepare a wicket, in return for pointing the kids their way, but these are flimsy, local schemes. Some might take off, others won’t. Depends on the club, depends on the parents, depends on the area.

As for an organised, national process that takes advantage of one glorious summer, as the sports minister implies, forget it.

Putting cricket back in schools would cost millions and this government hasn’t got millions. What it does have in abundance is empty rhetoric. And it’s cheaper.