Richard Freeston-Clough

Cricket is no longer a sedate game played in whites during the day. The gentle crack of leather on willow has been replaced by the crash bang wallop, blaring music and dazzling lights complete with cheerleaders and franchise-style nicknames. Seduced by the lure of TV money, those who run the game have remarkably made cricket less accessible to ordinary people. In ‘It’s just not cricket (anymore)’ I look back on my childhood memories of the game I grew up watching and describe the revolution that has unfolded before our eyes and the influence some of these changes has had on other sports trying to compete in an ever crowded marketplace with spectators’ attention spans getting shorter than ever and the fundamental need to increase TV and advertising revenue.