Above
Sam Cook has led
the line for Essex
while also studying
at Loughborough
we can achieve a balance between T
and the three-day game.”
Crucially, Graveney said that both the
MCCUs and the 18 first-class counties
wanted the early-season three-day
fixtures to continue – the only debate was
about first-class status.
Graveney said: “First-class status wasn’t
part of our original brief. Graeme Fowler,
who I’ve consulted with, always says that
he never intended for the centres to have
first-class status when he set up Durham
MCCU. But, I must stress, it’s a matter still
to be debated.
“The university players still want
those fixtures as an opportunity to put
themselves in the shop window. The first-
class tag is important for them.
“I watched a session of Loughborough
MCCU v Lancashire early in the season.
It was a typical low, seaming wicket, and
the Lancashire players had to bat a long
time to make runs at the start of their first
innings. It’s what they want early in the
season. The counties think these games
still have worth.”
Some MCCUs have recently embarked
on pre-season tours, self-funded by
students. Graveney said the ECB would
consider partly funding an overseas
tournament between the universities.
Perhaps most intriguing is the ECB’s
plan to tie the universities into their
Cricket Unleashed strategy, which places
emphasis on participation and inner-city
environments.
Graveney said: “Cricket Unleashed
makes it very clear that education is a
crucial part of the strategy. And, actually,
it is my opinion that cricket has been
really good about intertwining cricket and
studies. It’s never been either/or.”
He and his line manager, ECB national
talent manager Alun Powell, who
previously held a similar role at the Rugby
Football Union, have been looking at
what cricket can learn from rugby.
Graveney said: “One part of the
RFU structure that interests me is the
educational officer – it’s almost like a
careers advisor. It’s an important position
for a young person coming out of school
to come into contact with.”
Some active county players also at
MCCUs include Sam Cook (Loughborough
and Essex), Kiran Carlson (Cardiff
and Glamorgan) and James Bracey
(Loughborough and Gloucestershire).ECB step in to fund
universities
More T20 on the cards, David Graveney
tells James Coyne, as ECB prepare to
replace MCC as the main funder of
university cricketA wider geographical spread and more
white-ball cricket are likely to be two
reforms introduced by the ECB when it
takes over the funding of elite university
cricket from MCC in 2020.
MCC has provided funding and
administration for the six MCC
Universities centres since 2004, to the
tune of £7.5m, but they are withdrawing
in order to redirect funds towards the
ongoing redevelopment of Lord’s.
David Graveney, the ECB national
performance manager, was asked last
year by Andrew Strauss – a Durham
University graduate and the director of
England cricket – to oversee a review into
the structure of university cricket. Somecounty officials say privately they do not
believe MCCUs, which produce roughly
a fifth of English first-class cricketers, are
deserving of ECB money.
Graveney told The Cricketer that a
tender process will open for new cities to
join the existing six MCCUs – who draw
on students from both traditional and
newer universities in Oxford, Cambridge,
Durham, Loughborough, Leeds/Bradford
and Cardiff. The south-west and north-
west are at the moment unrepresented.
He said: “One thing we have seen is
that some cricketers – and this applied
as much to women as men – have had to
compromise their degree choice to be
at a centre of excellence. It was having
an effect on their degree choices. So we
need a little better geographical spread so
students do not have to compromise on
academic aspirations.
“There won’t suddenly be 30
universities in the running, but we will
have an open and transparent tender
process. This will be a joint partnership
between the ECB and universities.
“Exeter, Bristol, Southampton Solent
and Manchester have all shown interest in
becoming an MCCU in the past. We need
to see whether they are still interested. It
will be great to talk to them and others,
because we need to keep young people
playing the game. We are committed to
working with all existing partners.”
Graveney said that striking the right
balance between red and white-ball
formats will be crucial from 2020, when
the English game passes through a wider
overhaul.
The six MCCUs play three three-day
games against the counties. They also
compete against each other in the two-
day MCC Universities Championship, and
alongside other universities in the 50-over
BUCS league. But the combined MCC
Universities XI have already withdrawn
from the 2nd XI Championship. Separate
to the MCCU scheme are the traditional
Varsity games between Oxford University
and Cambridge University.
Graveney said: “There is a wider trend
to play more white-ball cricket. So fitting
some T20 around exams might not be
the worst idea in the world – good for a
student’s headspace. It’s a bit tougher
to fit in a three-day match. All the
universities have different exam blocks,
which makes it tricky to schedule. I hope16 | thecricketer.com