How MCCUs help with that cricket/life balance
Alison Mitchell looks at the development of players and pathways open to those who want a future in the game
In the shadow of Galle Fort, four university and college cricket teams will tomorrow be vying for a place in Sunday’s final of the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals. The tournament is effectively a T20 World Cup for university cricket and is now in its fourth year.
Business Management School. Colombo, representing the host nation Sri Lanka, are one of eight who have come through national qualifiers in a bid to represent their country at the international event. England (Loughborough MCCU), Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and UAE are all represented.
Why are tournaments like this important? According to young players involved, it provides vital international experience under pressure and even a platform for those who desire to take their cricket further. Current India opener KL Rahul had already been part of India’s U19 World Cup squad in 2010 but he believes the 2013 edition of the Campus Cricket National Finals, when he represented Jain University Bangalore, helped revive his own ambitions when he became the tournament’s leading scorer following a dip in his game.
“It was a very tricky time in my career,” he says.“I was even contemplating dropping out of the game. I was out of the state team and my Campus Cricket performance helped me get my confidence back. The selectors noticed this and gave me the chance in the team. Through this tournament I found my way up. I have never looked back.”
There is a broader welfare and development issue at stake, though, and that is the importance of countries to be able to offer high calibre university cricket as an option to those who might want to go on to play professionally.
There are several pathways a young cricketer may take in the UK if he or she is seeking to make the sport their career. Some may be faced with the question of whether to pursue further education or take an early opportunity to join a county academy and be offered a professional contract straight away.
There is no right or wrong route, but given the oft precarious nature of professional sport, if a youngster has the chance to continue further education without feeling that they are harming their future cricketing ambitions – even better if they feel they might augment them – then the opportunity to go to a university which offers a strong cricket programme is of immense life value.
Since 2005, the MCC has funded six cricket academies around the country as part of their MCCU scheme. In total, 13 institutions are involved in Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Leeds, Cardiff and Loughborough. The aim has always been to ensure that talented, intelligent cricketers don’t have to sacrifice further education for cricket, or vice versa.
Former England captain Andrew Strauss, now director of England cricket, is the most famous graduate of the scheme having attended Durham MCCU. The MCC says 20 per cent of current England qualified male cricketers have benefited from the scheme, while the proportion of England women cricketers is far higher with the likes of Heather Knight (Cardiff), Kate Cross (Leeds-Bradford), Anya Shrubsole, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Winfield, Georgia Elwiss and Nat Sciver (Loughborough) all studying for degrees while advancing their cricket.
The programme had been dealt a blow though as the MCC is nearly halving its funding from 2017, cutting each centre’s budget from £96k per year to £46.5k.With no guarantee of two Tests per summer in the future (plus a hefty renovation bill) Lord’s has had to re-evaluate how it spends its money.
It would be easy to cast MCC as villains but you could argue they never had to introduce such a scheme in the first place. Having invested £6.5m since 2005 there is no desire to see the scheme suffer unduly and MCC have already found a two-year sponsor in accountancy firm Deloitte, which will make up some, but not all, of the shortfall in the medium term. MCC have confirmed they aren’t actively seeking a further sponsor at this stage, but they are encouraging each MCCU to seek extra funding themselves.
This leads to the question of who SHOULD take responsibility to fund such a scheme? Former England batsman Graeme Fowler, who set up the initial pilot at Durham University and ran the MCCU successfully until leaving his post last year, has long held the belief that the ECB should pick up some of the responsibility; that they should have a duty of care when it comes to providing opportunity for cricketers to pursue further education alongside the game they want to try make their first career.
The ECB maintain that they see education as an important part of a rounded cricketer’s life and there have recently been discussions between the ECB and MCC regarding university cricket and player pathways. The MCC insists excellence is still the priority, but centres now have a much broader scope, including community involvement and schools coaching. Fowler left his position at Durham because he felt this compromised the delivery of individual excellence.
Collaboration is likely to be the best way forward when it comes to funding the MCCUs in the longer term. Given the importance the PCA places on its personal development programme and the excellent support they provide for players making the often difficult transition into life after cricket, it could be assumed that it is in the PCA’s interests to help ensure talented cricketers have the chance to get a qualification behind them before they embark on their playing career.
The PCA is not a wealthy organisation, though, and while it is highly supportive of the concept of combining cricket with life experience at university, it can be argued that until players become professional, they do not fall under the PCA’s remit, so its priorities, in terms of funding, are likely to be elsewhere. There is also a pervading feeling that the standard of cricket at the MCCUs is no longer as strong as it was in terms of first class cricket.
Some county coaches, also, like to retain control, and if they want to work with a student player, they would rather encourage them to study near the county ground and continue working directly with the club, rather than go off to be coached by different personnel at an MCCU, only to join up with the county for the last few months of the season.
Despite the difference in philosophy on how centres should be run, Fowler remains a staunch advocate of taking the educational opportunity wherever possible.
“It may well be that they (the students) don’t get as much individual attention with their cricket that they once would have,” he says.“But there is something in me that hopes people will still go to university, get a degree and leave the cricket a bit up to chance, rather than go straight into county cricket and leave their life up to chance.”
Sound advice for those considering their options.
The ECB maintain that they see education as an important part of a rounded cricketer’s life