England and Wals Cricket Board’s (ECB) CEO Tom Harrison feels mental health is as important as physical health in the pandemic-governed world of sports.
Speaking to a group of journalists from India on Thursday, he emphasised the importance of the rest and rotation policy employed by the England men’s cricket team to manage the workload of the players.
He said, “Rest and rotation are critically important. Our learning through this experience of COVID is the absolute significance of mental well-being along with physical well-being. The two are intrinsically linked. If we are asking our players to be at their best then we better be providing an environment for them to flourish. And that is why (it is important) to look after their mental well-being not just in the environment where they are playing but also ensuring they get the right amount of rest.”
Harrison added that playing cricket in bio-bubbles in the pandemic has had a negative effect on the mental well-being of the players and the team needs to have deeper squads keeping in mind how the FTP has been designed.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes took an indefinite break to focus on his mental well being . Image credit: Twitter/@englandcricket
“It is unquestionable that it (bubbles) has had a lingering negative impact on mental health, not just for the players but actually, the management and the staff. People are completely exhausted.
“In order for us to build (on) the complex nature of the FTP, (we) needed to have deeper squads. We cannot prioritise everything all the time. It is unrealistic to do that. And it is unrealistic to expect players to be taking the field every single time certainly from the England perspective. The amount that we play is more than any other team. The key point is to put people first. To listen to people and monitor mental health in a way that perhaps the game has not done in the past,” said Harrison.
The Hundred at global stage?
Harrison is one of the brains behind The Hundred. He is among the candidates for the new ICC president’s role. One being asked whether he will push for The Hundred if and when he gets the role, he avoided giving any answer, saying, “he is too involved with commitments at ECB.”
However, the feedback he has got from players playing in The Hundred is positive and that the tournament has been able to create excitement among the fans, suggests the number of spectators at the ground as well as viewership numbers.
He said, “I have said this from the outset, The Hundred has to be world-class cricket. That is what has to be delivered. The feedback that we are getting from players is that the format is delivering those high-pressure moments that the cricket is close to (that) in IPL or any other competition that the players have played in. I think it is creating different pressure points at different times of the innings and is making captaincy a bigger part of the game.
“We brought in a very different audience. The viewing figures have been outstanding. Both on BBC and Sky. Reports tell that it working on TV internationally as well. We will have a proper review process after the end of this season on how we can improve for next year.”
The Hundred is a new format of 100 balls in an innings . Image: TheHundred/Facebook
So would he recommend The Hundred as an ideal format to push for cricket’s inclusion at the Olympics in Los Angeles? Harrison did not give a direct answer to this question but said the game of cricket needs to be packaged in a way that it goes to new territories.
He said, “It is a criticism that we have not been able to take cricket to many new territories in the last 50 years. It would be wonderful to have another European nation competing at senior levels of the game (at the Olympics). These opportunities can come through efforts, support and genuine campaign to take things forward.
“The beauty of cricket is the game itself. If we are able to package the game in a way that makes sense to people, they will come running towards it. If we provide that sense of belonging for new nations and new communities to come and play the game, the game will do the rest. That is something ICC needs to think about in the coming months and I am sure they will,” said Harrison.
How to grow Test cricket
Among the talking points in world cricket, especially when it comes to cricket, is the distribution of the matches among the Test playing nations. India, England and Australia continue to play four-match and five-match series among themselves, the others have been left with a lesser number of games.
File image of Tom Harrison. Image courtesy: ECB
Talking about the issue, Harrison said the marquee series are important for the markets but Test cricket needs to find another way to market games in different regions.
“I really do think we got think hard how to grow it. That may mean different things to different parts of the world. Over here, it is making sure we have a significant diet to Test cricket throughout our summers. I don’t believe that is the case everywhere.
To have a sense of occasion around the Test series. Rather than playing because we need to play a certain number of fixtures for WTC. We need to create a sense of occasion, market it and bring in fans thinking this is something really special. These are the conversations we need to be having at ICC level,” said Harrison.
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