Unwanted politics in grassroots cricket

The game of cricket, just like many other sports, has become increasingly obsessed with money and power. Whatever your opinion may be of Kerry Packer, the emergence and subsequent impact of World Series Cricket cannot be underestimated.

It revolutionised the game by offering spectators the opportunity to view a shorter and more exciting brand of cricket.

Likewise, Twenty20 cricket has given modern fans just as much excitement, but operates within an even shorter time frame.

From it, the riches of the Indian Premier League has allowed the world’s best cricketers to make millions in months.

However, whilst large sums of money continues to be spent on marketing the game and the elite professionals, those down at the bottom continue to be ignored.

Earlier this year, former state selector for South Australia, Paul Nobes, called for the improvement of facilities within grade competitions.

“The reason why we get better players dropping out of grade cricket has nothing to do with the hours of play, it sometimes is the facilities they’re using, the conditions,” he said.

It would come as a great surprise if Nobes’ statement did not refer to grade cricket right across the country. It is certainly the case in the lower Hunter Valley. Yet, there may be an even greater problem than the standard of facilities that is forcing talented players to become disillusioned with the game.

At grade level, the influence of senior figures can often prove to be detrimental to the development of younger players, as they make intentionally strange selection decisions and offer bad advice. Their insecurities and positions of power cause young cricketers to feel unwanted and unimportant.

An individual’s selection in a particular grade should be based entirely on merit, nothing else. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Some senior players choose to protect each other from criticism or from being dropped, and the younger players attempt to do likewise. This causes the club to separate into two distinct groups.

Newly appointed coach of South Australia, Darren Berry, has seemingly overlooked or is unaware of this generation division, but is at least trying to narrow the gap between grassroots and elite level cricket.

“If we say grade cricket is not good and the state players won’t play grade then we are making the standard worse,” he said. His intention to force state players to train once a week with grade players is a step in the right direction.

However, there is also the issue of a division within grade’s themselves. Many clubs, particularly in the lower Hunter Valley, have separate training sessions for their first, second and third grade teams. This restricts the learning environment for the cricketers who are not considered to be among the best.

Therefore, players in the lower grades become resentful of those at the top and their attitude and behaviour towards cricket changes.

Though naive, there is a simple solution for the political interferences at grassroots level. Players need to be selected on performance, rather than reputation. Or on ability, rather than relationship.

If this were the case, there might not be another repeat of the situation that has plagued South Australian cricket over the past decade, where they have been forced to recruit interstate players in order to fill their state team.