Search for a hero

In modern Britain, a society where the media plays a huge role in deciding what's hot and what's not, how well has the ECB moved cricket into the new age? More importantly perhaps, if any sport is to compete in the celebrity crazed showbiz world, has it become necessary for England to have 'superstar' cricketing personalities as well as players who play the game well?

At a time when the England football captain and his wife jet off to Los Angeles, rub shoulders with A-list American celebrities and attempt to 'break' Hollywood, England's cricketers, despite a successful beginning on the pitch, could hardly have made a more low key start to the domestic season. When looking at the life of David Beckham, his fame constantly being reinforced by intense media coverage, the fact remains that English cricket still cannot claim to have produced a genuine superstar since Ian Botham hung up his boots. Botham created a juggernaut of publicity and certainly a case could be made that at the end of 1981 he was the most famous person in the country. He was and still is the most famous English cricketer of the media age and the benefits to the game of having such a popular figure where immense. Increased gate receipts and interest in the game flared up all over the country. However the problem is since Botham, there has been no one else to really take on his mantle. Few have come close, Darren Gough burst onto the scene, exciting the crowds, both at home and abroad, although injury has meant he was never able to live up to the promise he showed. Taking 7/43 on his debut at Lords also suggested that Dominic Cork may be prepared to follow in Botham's footsteps, and yet the pressures of life in the fast lane took his toll and Cork faded away.

Currently the powers at the ECB are facing a more difficult task in attracting support for the game at all levels. In an age where computers and other interests compete for the minds of the young, along with a host of other sports, most notably football, the need to create heroes and personalities has never been more real. As usual the end of an Ashes series offers English cricketing followers the opportunity to ponder the faults of a system which is not helping us catch the undoubted world's best Australia. However the archaic nature of the first class forum means that the chances of generating interest through county cricket looks minimal. Therefore the best way of converting the new generation towards cricket is to develop genuine celebrity cricketing superstars. This would have a double advantage of not only of convincing the casual observer to take an interest in the game but may also tempt the countries elite sportsmen into a career in cricket. Often at the moment too many are being persuaded to pursue other sports with the promise of greater fame and wealth than cricket can currently offer them.

Within the current set-up there are players who have more than held there own on a world stage in recent years. The obvious recent example is Michael Vaughan, who after a superb summer, and even better winter against the best bowling attack in the world, shot to the top of the world rankings. However despites Vaughan's obvious star quality on the cricket field is persona off it is still decidedly low-key. Whilst followers of the game would no doubt be able to recite gleefully the way he put the Aussie bowlers to the sword the sad fact remains that casual observers of the game are still only vaguely aware of his achievements. It is these people who the game needs to be most enticing and yet his efforts have still not created a massive following. The 2002 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards perhaps a case in point, Vaughan was nowhere in the awards, admittedly they took place before hundreds in Melbourne and Sydney but without those he had still had an unprecedented year. Yet not only did he not make the top three, he wasn't included in the shortlist of ten for the award, perhaps a clear indication that his efforts hadn't registered with the sporting public at large.

Of Vaughan's team-mates within the England camp there are also no obvious candidates to become the next cricketing celebrity. Before the series against India, Marcus Trescothwick was arguably England's most exciting cricketer. He had developed after making one of the most eagerly anticipated test debuts against the West Indies in 2000. Despite the runs however again here was someone who shunned the limelight, and never rose to become a household name. Captain Nasser Hussain has never attracted a huge popular support, aside from pre-Ashes talk of him being one of England's best post-war captains. Of the rest only possibly Lancashire duo James Anderson and Andy Flintoff would seem to have the potential to dominate the headlines and get cricket noticed again. Flintoff with his big hitting style may have potential to put 'bums on seats' and Anderson with model good looks and a classic away swing action may have the potential of a future superstar. Both however have a long to go before they could claim this status.

It seems that the ECB has realised this lack of genuine high profile cricketer they can use to sell the game and have started to resort to increasingly desperate tactics. During his appearance on the reality TV show. I'm a celebrity get me out of here, Phil Tufnell was supposed to have raised the profile of cricket in this country to such an extent it prompted ECB vice chief and Surrey Chairman, Mike Soper to say that Tufnell was doing more for crickets profile than anyone else in a long time. Perhaps it says much for the profile of the current players when an appearance on a non-cricket game show by a retired spin bowler is the best thing happening to cricket. No disrespect to Tufnell who many felt possessed more ability than he showed at Test level, but when a guy who hasn't played test cricket for 5 years is the most high profile cricketer in the country you know there is a problem.

The next question therefore is where can English cricket go from here? Well the obvious answer is that a winning team is a start. One win in six series is hardly a great record. Dominated series against India and New Zealand especially should have been won with minimum of fuss and yet were only drawn. Evidence suggests that simply being the 'best of the rest' is not enough to generate a lot of interest outside the hardcore support of the game. Beating the West Indies in 2000 did go someway to arousing interest although in a four series winning run, wins against Zimbabwe and then away against Pakistan and Sri Lanka hardly registered on the national consciousness. Frankly I doubt whether national cricketers can hope to become true national celebrities unless they are beating the best and being the best, which means winning the Ashes. Even the World Cup here hardly gained a following, despite there being plenty to envy in Sky's coverage (with Charles Colville's contribution something to regret), the fact there was nothing on terrestrial channels made the games showpiece occasion barely register with a lot of people. Even the newspapers on the whole had it tucked away on the inside, with only the win against Pakistan given any decent coverage. Perhaps the attitudes of those at Lords and people running the game are also not helping. It has often been argued about Botham that he was often treated so harshly by those inside the game because they felt that he was having to great an influence on the game. Compare that to the attitudes towards modern sportsmen, David Beckham and Michael Owen for example who have high profiles boosted by the FA and there clubs, as they see the advantages of promoting figureheads and giving youngsters role models. This is not to say that English cricket doesn't have its potential role models just at the moment the public at large are unaware of them. Until a true brand of superstar cricketers are around in this country it may be a while before the domestic game becomes strong enough in terms of support and quality of players to ever be considered the worlds best.

Posted by ChrisS