MCC Members

It is difficult to remember a period of so much controversy and upheaval on the cricket fields of England. The unregulated commercialization of our national sport in the hands of the English Cricket Board (ECB) is in danger of destroying more than two centuries of traditional customs and practice. A stark clash in cultures is creating a serious schism that has to be resolved before lasting damage is done. The determination of the ECB to carry on regardless is causing very great public concern. Personal agendas are bringing the national game into disrepute and the fact that the ECB is a private company accountable to nobody is totally unacceptable. The ECB is unregulated, unchecked and out of control. What is happening today amounts to a commercial Heist of traditional cricketing values and the conversion of cricket into a commercial commodity marketed purely for cash. The great amateurs filled with the buccaneering spirit of those inspired by national pride to perform epic feats with bat and ball are being debauched by a culture of Mammon.

It is time for the MCC Members to stand up and be counted alongside a large number of English fans who consider that the traditional game of Test Match Cricket is in danger of extinction. The amateurs nurtured for several centuries within the grass roots game are in danger of being suffocated as profit and loss snuffs out the spirit of a great national game. A civilizing sport becomes just another commercial activity. The game is being hijacked by the marketeers and those who would be better employed as turf accountants.

The time has arrived for an investigation into the activities of the ECB and the future of what Jim Swanton aptly described as "Pyjama Cricket" in order to prevent the traditional game of cricket from being debauched. There is a serious issue of whether the hybrid commercial activities are worthy of classifying as a national game or a sport at all .