Red Rose coach is still focused on county game
GLEN Chapple has urged the ECB to ensure County Championship cricket remains a priority.
There are concerns over the future of the four-day game in England following the rise of Twenty20 cricket in recent years.
That fear is growing, with more and more players missing the start of the County Championship season by playing in the IPL, England Test stars – such as Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson – regularly being made unavailable for their clubs by the ECB, declining media interest, sparse crowds and some players now shunning red ball cricket altogether to sign just white ball contracts with counties, leaving the way open for them to play in lucrative T20 tournaments around the world.
There’s a belief that a large number of younger players coming into the game are now more interested in the T20 riches than playing in the County Championship and on to Test cricket, something which is only going to be heightened when the ECB launch their new city-based T20 competition in 2020.
Lancashire are without Jos Buttler for the start of their Specsavers County Championship campaign as he plays in the IPL, and they are unlikely to see him much this season.
But Lancashire head coach Chapple, who captained the Red Rose to the 2011 County Championship title, believes winning the title is still the pinnacle of the county game.
“The challenge is to give the County Championship priority and make sure it’s not pushed to one side,” he told M.E.N. Sport. “There’s a lot of interest in red ball cricket in England and I know the players still regard it as a priority. Cricket has an issue to deal with in the fact there are various formats. It’s the only sport where that exists.
“There’s always going to be those challenges and I’m glad I’m not dealing with that.
“But as a coach and a former player, I hope the Championship remains a priority for many years to come.”
Although Buttler hasn’t talked about signing just a white ball contract with Lancashire, he seems an ideal candidate to do so having dropped well down the pecking order in terms of the England Test side. Chapple admits each individual player need to be treated differently, but says he would urge all players to think carefully about giving up on the chance of a Test career having himself been unlucky never to have won a cap during his playing days
“You have to look at the individual player – the age he’s at, the potential has,” said Chapple.
“I would really encourage someone not to throw away their chance of playing Test cricket.”