County cricket takes place before a tiny sprinkling of mainly elderly spectators Cricket is in danger of not adapting fast

County cricket “takes place before a tiny sprinkling of mainly elderly spectators Cricket is in danger of not adapting fast enough” Was the game sustainable, he asked himself. “Only if we change it,” he replied.Richards then reeled off his own ideas for modernising the game, which he stressed were designed to provoke thought They went something like this:1. Selectors should give players greater security, to encourage them to play with more freedom.2. There should be a “bonus element” for good fielding, perhaps even a bonus for entertainment value.3.

There should be a points system, as in boxing, with TV commentators as judges, to rule that one team or the other was ahead on points at lunch or tea.4 The game should be speeded up: over-rates are too slow.5 The importance of averages and stats should be downgraded “I feel very strongly about this. The record books should not give equal weight to a hundred by Adam Gilchrist and another hundred that has taken three or four times as long.”6. Players must put the image of the game before their own self-interest. Richards cited the way England played on the last day of the Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka, when, having made the game safe, they made no attempt to steal a win, “and nobody watched”.

But he also praised them for their mini run-chase at Old Trafford – 50 in five overs.7 Bowlers must attack the stumps.8 Boundaries could be shortened. “Ally Brown made 268 in a one-day game, there were 800 runs in the day, and people muttered about short boundaries Let’s have shorter boundaries!”9. All the technology available must be put at the disposal of the umpires. “Young people bred on technology can’t understand why injustices are tolerated They think, what kind of a game is this?”10. As well as full-time umpires and referees, there should be a panel of centrally-contracted groundsmen.Richards finished with pleas for unity among the world’s administrators (possibly a dig at Jagmohan Dalmiya of India), for more imagination in scheduling – Bangladesh, who were crashing to their customary innings defeat as he spoke, should have been nursed along for a few years in a league with, say, their neighbours’ A teams – and for International Cricket Council to be given greater authority by its constituent boards. He closed, more straightforwardly, by saying it’s a great game, “so let’s fight to save it”.You couldn’t agree with every word. The slow hundred has its place alongside Gilchrist’s thunderbolts.