Swann bemoans lack of terrestrial TV coverage
GRAEME SWANN fears England’s big-hitters may never enjoy the fame he discovered – as a dancer.
The off-spinner was a member of the only England team ever to win a global limited-overs tournament at the World
T20 in the Caribbean nine years ago. The side, captained by Paul Collingwood and with Kevin Pietersen named player of the tournament, never gained superstar status despite their achievement because the game disappeared from free-to-air TV in Britain 14 years ago.
But Swann, an ambassador for the ICC World Cup in England this summer, finally enjoyed celebrity recognition as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing last year.
And he admits English cricket’s current crop of buccaneers like Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy face an uphill battle to command vast audiences like the waltz, foxtrot and tango of the Saturday night primetime dance competition.
Swann, who took 255 Test wickets before an elbow injury forced him to retire midway through the 2013-14 Ashes whitewash in Australia, said: “For me, public recognition was 10fold when I did Strictly.
“Even when I nipped to the shop on a Sunday morning, there would be two families waiting outside wanting to take photos and it hit home how far terrestrial TV can reach. When there are 12 million people watching you dance, you’re far more famous than you are for playing cricket – which is a shame, because I was really good at cricket.
“I was the best in the world at one point... and then they slated my chacha-cha.”
Asked if Buttler, scorer of England’s fastest one-day hundred in 2015, would enjoy superstar fame like Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff, Swann admitted: “Probably not – because cricket is not as wide-reaching as it used to be with satellite television and things like that.
“You never know what’s going to happen, and with the BBC getting involved in The Hundred hopefully these players will get into more households.
“I think there was a survey a few years ago which said nobody would know if Alastair Cook was walking down the street. But I hope these players do get superstar status like Botham had when I was growing up.
“For the first time in a long while, I feel confident about England’s chances going into a World Cup – and I’m not just saying that.
“During my playing days, there was a propensity to pick Test players who could do an OK job in one-day cricket rather than the crop of young players we’ve got now for whom the sky’s the limit.”