The Sunday Telegraph - 01.09.2019

8 ***^ Sunday 1 September 2019 The Sunday Telegraph

By Scyld Berry

CRICKET JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

One of the most exciting of all Ashes

series heads to Old Trafford – the score

1-1 with two to play, and England

having to avoid defeat if they are to

regain the urn – while two other Test

series have been going on in front of

two men and a dog, except the dog has

not been allowed in for health and

safety reasons.

West Indies are hosting India in the

second Test in Kingston, but nobody in

Jamaica appears to care that World

Test Championship points are at stake.

Sabina Park has been echoing emptily:

not even the sight of the heaviest Test

cricketer, the West Indian all-rounder

Rakheem Cornwall, has attracted spec-

tators. It was the same when Sri Lanka

hosted New Zealand in another two-

Test series. Administrators just do not

get it. There is nothing dramatic about

a two-Test series. Tickets, meanwhile,

for the first four days at Old Trafford

have sold out, as they were at Edgbas-

ton, Lord’s and Headingley.

Only a five-Test series allows for

drama like that which has been mount-

ing in the past month. The renewed

and paralysing grip of Steve Smith over

England, and the injury to James

Anderson, were followed by the resto-

ration in the balance of power in the

second Test when Jofra Archer floored

Smith. In the third Test England had to

make the most of Smith’s absence

through concussion, and they did, by

the narrowest possible margin, when

the disaster of 67 was followed by the

miracle of England’s highest-ever suc-

cessful run chase. As almost every

series in the new World Test Champi-

onship consists of two or three Tests,

this Ashes series would have finished

by now. Instead, Test cricket has pene-

trated the public consciousness in Brit-

ain as it has not since 2005.

Millions want to know what Smith,

and Archer, and above all Ben Stokes,

do next. These protagonists are com-

manding the stage at exactly the

moment when administrators would

Ashes dramatics highlight

Moving on up: Joe

Denly is expected to

open the batting for

England in the fourth

Test at Old Trafford

Sport Cricket

T

hanks to Jofra Archer,

England have an

African-Caribbean

star again. As if trying to

follow-up World Cup

triumph with Ashes glory

was not enough, Archer is already

being charged with trying to galvanise

interest from the African-Caribbean

community in cricket.

Yet in some ways Archer’s stunning

impact only highlights how rare

African-Caribbeans have become in

English cricket. England had nine

black Test debutants from 1981-1990,

but Archer is only the third black

cricketer to make his Test debut since

1999. Across the men’s county game,
      the number of black professional
      cricketers (excluding those classed as
      overseas players) has fallen by 75 per
      cent in the past 25 years – from 33 in
      1994 to just nine in 2019, according to
      research by Thomas Fletcher, from
      Leeds Beckett University. Fletcher also
      finds that there are just three black
      cricketers in the women’s county
      game.
      “The reasons are so complex,” says
      Ebony Rainford-Brent, who became
      the first black cricketer to play for
      England women in 2001. “There’s still
      many barriers. There’s a disconnect in
      terms of going to watch cricket.”
      A fortnight ago, Reg Scarlett passed
      away. While Scarlett played three Test
      matches for the West Indies, perhaps
      his great contribution to the sport was
      creating Haringey Cricket College, in
      Tottenham. This organised training
      and matches for local boys – many of
      whom were black – produced a
      remarkable number of first-class
      players and transformed the lives of
      many who were a part of it. But
      Haringey’s funding ran out in 2000
      and, despite attempts to revive it, it has
      essentially been defunct since.
      “That opportunity was really a
      breakthrough,” says Mark Alleyne,
      who grew up in Tottenham, played for
      Haringey and went on to play 10
      one-day internationals for England. It
      was “really difficult to get an
      opportunity” in county cricket, but
      Haringey played against county
      second XIs, who could get “a direct
      look at what you can do”.
      Today, only one per cent of players
      in the recreational game are African-
      Caribbean, according to the England
      and Wales Cricket Board; 3.4 per cent
      of the population are black. The
      percentage of coaches is said to be one
      per cent. (This is self-reported data
      only: in ECB surveys individuals are
      not required to declare their ethnicity.)
      Just 1.3 per cent of black people have
      played cricket in the past year,
      compared to 2.2 per cent of the white
      British population.
      “English cricket is still seen as
      achingly white, achingly
      establishment and thus, painfully not
      something black kids want to get into,”
      says David Lammy, the MP for
      Tottenham, the constituency in which
      Haringey Cricket College was situated.
      “In the area that I’m from, south
      London, I knew a lot of people –
      whatever colour they were – in the
      state system that didn’t have a clear
      pathway into cricket,” reflects Kent’s
      Daniel Bell-Drummond, who has
      Jamaican parents and has played for
      England Lions. “There’s a lot of issues

• a lot of them are socio-economic, and
  a lot are to do with what people see in
  front of them. They see Raheem
  Sterling or whoever playing football.”

A lack of free-to-air television

coverage since 2005 has also made the

African-Caribbean community less

likely to engage with cricket,

according to Roland Butcher, who

became England’s first black Test

cricketer in 1981. “Caribbean people

growing up in England have not

grown up with that exposure to

cricket. Most of them probably don’t

know a lot about Caribbean cricket.”

Butcher laments “a really rapid

decline” from the 1980s, when he was

one of five black players in the

Middlesex team. Alleyne suggests that

the West Indies’ decline may have

made black children less inclined to

pursue cricket. Too often, Alleyne

believes, even the most talented young

black cricketers fail to be recognised.

“It just seems to be really difficult to

get into those academy systems. A lot

of black kids aren’t going to those

schools so they’re not really getting

the opportunity to get on the bottom

rung of the ladder.”

As Gloucestershire captain, Alleyne

led the county to eight one-day

trophies in five years, including an

unprecedented one-day treble in

2000. But he is also the most recent
      member of a shockingly small club.
      There have been only three black head
      coaches in men’s county cricket.
      It is believed that there has never
      been a black head coach in either
      women’s county cricket or the Kia
      Super League. Alleyne was
      Gloucestershire head coach for four
      seasons, from 2004-07.
      Though his team performed well in
      limited-overs cricket – winning the
      Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy in
      2004, Division Two of the NatWest
      Pro 40 in 2006, and reaching the T20
      Cup final in his last season – he has not
      had a county job since. He remains the
      last black head coach in county
      cricket. Since a seven-year stint as
      head coach for the MCC, he has
      applied for six coaching jobs,
      including four in the county game, but
      only got an interview at one, which
      was outside county cricket. When he
      applied for the Gloucestershire
      assistant coach berth, he did not get
      an interview.
      “It really is difficult to get in front of
      the chief execs and sell what you can
      do,” he says. “I don’t think cricket is
      great at recruiting – too much is done
      behind closed doors.”
      Alleyne believes black coaches
      suffer from unconscious bias: they are
      deemed a risk, because of the lack of
      history of black coaches. Just as the

evidence is overwhelming that black

managers do not get the same chances

as white managers in football, so the

data suggests the same is true in

cricket. “There is a feeling that there

aren’t many black people in these

positions so no one’s got a history of

people doing well in it. Whether

subconsciously or consciously I think

some decisions are made on that

premise,” he says. Asked whether a

lack of experience is used to justify not

giving black coaches experience,

Alleyne laughs, sadly.

Butcher shares a similar belief: “I’d

question whether the establishment

has done enough to encourage

ex-black players into the profession. I

think they could have done more to

encourage those ex-players and keep

them in the game.”

Today, Fletcher finds that just two

out of 118 coaches and support staff

across the 18 first-class counties in

2019 are black. Only seven had a black

or ethnic minority background – six

per cent, compared to the 11 per cent

of the population who are BAME.

“There’s not anything you can

absolutely prove – maybe apart from

the numbers. I know people who have

resisted going into coaching because

they don’t think the opportunity will

be there,” Alleyne says. “I don’t think

people are deliberately blocking the

way, but I think other people get more

of a help up.”

He believes that plans to extend the

Rooney rule to county cricket –

mandating that all coaching positions

must interview one BAME coach – are

not sufficient. “It needs to be sorted

out from the bottom going up.”

The lack of diversity among

coaches, Alleyne says, reflects a

problem higher up. “If it is going to

change, there needs to be more

diversity on these boards to try and

understand what’s happening.”

None of the 41 members of the ECB

board are African-Caribbean. When

the ECB launched its South Asian

Action Plan last year, no African-

Caribbean plan was launched at the

same time. It is said to be a longer-term

goal. Bell-Drummond knows he was

lucky. He went to Dulwich Prep

School and then got a partial sports

scholarship to Millfield, benefiting

from the “ridiculous” facilities. Rather

than being predominantly about race,

he considers the paucity of black

cricketers today “definitely more of a

class issue”. Even from when he was

playing as a child, Bell-Drummond

believes that grassroots facilities

have declined. Today, only

one per cent of state-

educated 11-18-year-

olds regularly play

cricket, according to

the MCC

Foundation.

To give more

young boys and

girls – of all races

• a chance to play
  cricket, Bell-
  Drummond has
  created the Platform
  Initiative, which aims
  to introduce cricket to
  children in primary
  schools in the north
  Lewisham area. This summer, the
  scheme reached 600 children. His old
  school, Dulwich Prep, has said that
  platform could use some of its
  facilities in the future.
  Bell-Drummond believes English
  cricket has a chance to re-engage with
  the African-Caribbean community
  and beyond.
  Archer, who already seems poised
  to be England’s best ever African-
  Caribbean cricketer, has provided
  “such a window of opportunity”, says
  Rainford-Brent. “The most important
  thing is getting together with the
  communities. A bit like they’ve done
  with the south Asian community – sit
  down and talk to them, ask how can
  we re-engage and what you need. The
  most important thing is having the
  conversations.
  “The overall thing is there needs to
  be a strategy that the ECB put in place.
  It needs to be a joined-up vision.” If
  the moment is seized, it “could be a bit
  of a revolution for African-Caribbean
  cricket”.
  “Let the people of Caribbean
  culture know that this game is very
  much alive,” Butcher urges. “They’ve
  got to get the programmes out there,
  get to school, market the sport and
  attract people to play.”
  Yet Archer should be the catalyst for
  wider action to engage the African-
  Caribbean community, not a
  replacement for it. “There’s definitely
  a big opportunity,” Bell-Drummond
  reflects. “Hopefully, the powers at the
  ECB can take advantage.
  “I wouldn’t say I’m an optimist; I’m
  more of a realist,” he says, when asked
  if the number of African-Caribbean
  cricketers in the English game will be
  more in five years’ time. “If things
  don’t change, I don’t expect the
  number to change either.”

Tim Wigmore

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Young, gifted and black How England is failing African-Caribbean tale

Standard bearers:

(from left): Jofra

Archer, Daniel

Bell-Drummond,

Mark Alleyne and

Roland Butcher

Impact of new Test hero

only serves to highlight

shocking absence in game

of African-Caribbeans

33

African-Caribbean

cricketers

(excluding overseas

players) in men’s

county cricket

in 1994

there

are just

9

in the county

game today

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