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Andrew Cornish on Middlesex’s need for a strategic realignment given their lack of bricks and mortar

Andrew Miller21-Apr-2024Middlesex are weighing up their options for a future away from Lord’s, their county home for the past 160 years, amid growing concerns about the club’s lack of first-class infrastructure. However, chief executive Andrew Cornish believes that the ground would still have a duty to serve the needs of North London’s cricket community, and should even be open to the prospect of hosting two Hundred teams in the future.Middlesex has been MCC’s primary tenant at Lord’s since 1864, with the grandeur of the venue contributing to the club’s status as one of English cricket’s most successful counties. Middlesex’s total of 13 outright County Championship titles, most recently in 2016, place them third on the all-time list, behind only Yorkshire and Surrey.However, that absence of bricks and mortar has been a mounting issue for the club in recent months, particularly since the advent of the Hundred, a tournament for which host-venue clubs are expected – under plans currently being finalised by the ECB – to be gifted 51% equity shares of their respective teams.That situation has left MCC, rather than Middlesex, as the primary drivers of the Lord’s-based London Spirit, while Middlesex’s fellow London-based county, Surrey, who recorded an £8 million profit last year, have similarly expressed plans to incorporate the Oval Invincibles into their own club branding.And while Cornish, Middlesex’s chief executive, insists that Middlesex’s “nomadic” status does come with benefits – most particularly none of the debt that contributed to Gloucestershire’s £1.19 million losses last year – he recognises a strategic re-evaluation could be required for the club to retain its status within the English game.”It’s likely that MCC will probably want to run London Spirit on their own, but that opens us up to some very constructive conversations,” Cornish told ESPNcricinfo. “It frees us up to explore more ambitious medium- to longer-term opportunities for Middlesex.”Middlesex has had a history of a slightly nomadic lifestyle. We’ve successfully done that for 160 years and had a lot of success. We are a tenant with a strategic relationship with MCC, and it’s not all bad, because when MCC redevelop the Tavern and Allen Stands, they are the ones redeveloping it, not us. But the trade-off is we play at Lord’s. When we attract new players, like Mark Stoneman or Leus du Plooy, one of the reasons they come is to call this home.”That relationship came under intense scrutiny last year, however, when Middlesex were placed under special measures by the ECB, following a series of financial irregularities, including a mismanagement of the pension fund, and a rancorous and ongoing dispute with their former chief executive Richard Goatley.Though Middlesex did manage to record a small profit of £131,000 in 2023-24, their first since 2016, they have opted this year to forego overseas players in a bid to mitigate their costs, and have also chosen to host two “home” T20 Blast matches at Essex’s home ground in Chelmsford, rather than go through the expense of erecting temporary facilities at their outgrounds in Merchant Taylor’s School or Radlett.”The questions we were asked were legitimate, and some of the answers were very hard to have to give,” Cornish said. “I accept it will take time to build back that confidence, even internally with players and staff in the office. But I would argue now that we are the most compliant, most scrutinised county in the country.”They are not, however, a club with much leverage in the game’s febrile current climate – a fact that became apparent once again last week when Essex pipped Middlesex’s bid to host a Tier 1 women’s team from 2025. Though the award was made partly on the strength of the club’s ties with East London’s cricket community, Cornish described the situation as “disappointing” and “surprising”, given that his county’s 4.5 million population offers a potential playing pool that is second only to Yorkshire’s.”With the best will in the world, Chelmsford isn’t in London,” Cornish said. “London has two Hundred teams, but only one women’s elite cricket team, and I struggle to fathom that one out. If you’re coming from the big cricketing communities of Middlesex – Harrow, Ealing, Hounslow, Brentford – which have very large African Caribbean and Southeast Asian populations, Chelmsford is a long way from there.”T20 Blast matches at Lord’s have been a highlight of Middlesex’s recent seasons, but they are hosting two games at Chelmsford this year•Getty Images

The club has continued to invest in those communities – not least in Brentford where the pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline gifted the club a ground that will predominantly be used as a training base for the county’s women’s teams. Last week, Andrew Strauss opened a new facility at Merchant Taylor’s school that features a wicket block on the same gradient as the slope at Lord’s, and an indoor school that Strauss described as the best of its kind he had ever seen.There have been moves to promote the Middlesex brand overseas as well, including the signing of a recent Memorandum of Understanding with the Pakistan Cricket Board. “Middlesex isn’t going to go bust,” Cornish said. “We have a very robust two-year plan. Of course, you can never say never after the pandemic, but within our control, we are on a very strong financial footing now. And it’s only going to get stronger.”That said, there’s no escaping the importance of Lord’s to the county’s existing business model, but Cornish was bullish about the need for the ground to meet its obligations to the wider London community that Middlesex represents.”The majority of elite cricket that’s put on here is put on by Middlesex. I think the majority of MCC members do care passionately about Middlesex and how Middlesex do,” Cornish said. “All of the financial modelling that’s been done by Deloitte shows that, if there’s an expansion of the Hundred, London should have three or maybe even four teams. We’ve got to get away from the romance of certain things, and run this as a business.”Why could Lord’s not become like the San Siro in Milan, and have AC Milan and Inter Milan both playing here? We will focus on that as our ambition right now.”

The first International League T20, to be played in the UAE, is scheduled to begin in January 2023

Nagraj Gollapudi19-Dec-2022Former India batter Robin Uthappa, who retired from international and Indian cricket in September, will turn up for Dubai Capitals in the inaugural season of the International League T20 (ILT20) starting in the UAE in January. He will be joined by Yusuf Pathan, another former India player who made his name in T20 cricket.Uthappa is a direct signing by Capitals, who are one of the six franchises in ILT20, which is sanctioned by the Emirates Cricket Board. The 37-year old is one of the first high-profile India players to retire from Indian cricket to take up the opportunity to play in in overseas T20 leagues. Uthappa said he had wanted to play in overseas T20 leagues even as an active player in Indian domestic cricket and the IPL, but BCCI rules hadn’t allowed him to do so. The retirement from international and Indian cricket will allow Uthappa to fulfil that desire now and he is keen to feature in other tournaments like The Hundred, the Caribbean Premier League and the Big Bash League in the future.Related

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“It is something I wanted to do [play in overseas T20 leagues]. Now that I have retired it gives me the opportunity,” Uthappa told ESPNcricinfo. “I consider myself a student of the game. So I will only be enriching my own knowledge and experience and information about the game when I go and play in different conditions in the world. Tomorrow if I want to be a coach, I should have some kind of stand when I am having a conversation with the lads. I believe all these experiences will add value to that.”Basically, it has got to do with growing a lot more as a cricketer. Since I haven’t had the opportunities in the last few years to go outside of India and play in different conditions. I am hoping I will [now] to be able to go to different parts of the world and play the leagues, not just Dubai, even outside the subcontinent – hopefully South Africa next year, England (The Hundred), Australia (BBL) and the Caribbean (CPL). It gives me the access to improve myself, even try to grow my horizons as a human being as well, experience different cultures, places and people. All that will only add to my values as far as cricket is concerned irrespective of what I decide to do later on.”Uthappa, who played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is in an international career that stretched from 2006 to 2015, also played 205 IPL games, turning out for six different franchises over 15 seasons. He enjoyed a late-career flourish with Chennai Super Kings, playing a key role in their march to the 2021 title with a 44-ball 63 in the first qualifier and a 15-ball 31 in the final. He began the 2022 season with two fifties in his first five innings, but his form tailed away thereafter, as he got into double figures just once in what were to be his last six IPL innings.Yusuf, 40, played 57 ODIs and 22 T20Is for India between 2007 and 2012. He was a big part of the Rajasthan Royals team that became the first ever IPL champions, excelling in the role of finisher. He was Man of the Match in the final in 2008 and still retains the record for the fastest IPL century by an Indian, getting there in only 37 balls. Yusuf won the IPL twice more, with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 and 2014, and retired in 2021 with 4852 T20 runs and 99 T20 wickets.The BCCI has not permitted active Indian players to take part in franchise leagues other than the IPL. The handful that have done so – Virender Sehwag in the T10 League, Yuvraj Singh in the Global T20 in Canada – have only been able to do so after announcing their retirements. Players have spoken about their desire to take part in overseas leagues; Suresh Raina, for instance, had suggested in 2020 that the BCCI allow players without central contracts to be able to explore overseas options, but the board has made no such move.The topic became hotly debated recently after India’s semi-final loss at the T20 World Cup in Australia, with ESPNcricinfo experts Anil Kumble and Tom Moody suggesting that overseas exposure would help India’s players improve their skills in the format, but other noted names have disagreed. Current India head coach Rahul Dravid said allowing Indian players to play in overseas leagues would hurt India’s domestic cricket, since a number of tournaments including the BBL, the SA20 and the ILT20 clash with India’s home season. Former India coach Ravi Shastri and former India left-arm quick Zaheer Khan echoed Dravid’s views, with Shastri suggesting that young Indian players already get plenty of overseas exposure via India A tours.

The WI-Aus ODIs were rescheduled after a non-playing member from the WI camp had tested positive

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2021The BCB is prepared to handle a delay for their home T20I series against Australia after the West Indies-Australia ODIs were rescheduled. The second ODI between West Indies and Australia was postponed moments before the first ball after a positive Covid test emerged from a non-playing member of the West Indies squad.The second ODI will now restart on Saturday with the final match taking place on Monday. Australia are then scheduled to arrive in Bangladesh on July 29, with the first of the five T20Is to be played on August 3.”We haven’t discussed the matter with Cricket Australia yet but a delay wouldn’t be a problem,” BCB’s chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury told . “We are hopeful about the Australia series. Neither of the teams have anything after this series. It will be okay if there’s a delay of a few days.”Related

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The delay might pave the way for Mushfiqur Rahim’s return after the batter missed entering the Dhaka bio-bubble on the due date. The quarantine was originally set to begin on July 22 and later it was brought up to July 20. Neither team would have been able to arrive in Dhaka by that date because Bangladesh were on tour in Zimbabwe and Australia were on tour in the West Indies. So the BCB and CA agreed that so long as their players remained inside a secure bio-bubble – Bangladesh in Harare and Australia in Gros Islet and Bridgetown – it could count towards their quarantine time in Dhaka.As a result, the BCB contacted Rahim and asked him to stay back in Zimbabwe for the entire duration of the tour. Initially, he was meant to return home after the end of the ODI leg. But, complications arose when Rahim’s parents fell sick and he had to fly home early.Chowdhury, however, did not rule out renegotiating with CA about Rahim’s inclusion.”It is worrying not to have someone like Mushfiq in the team,” he said. “We will keep trying in that regard. We are still in touch about this, and not just because there might be a delay in the tour. We are waiting for their reply.”The two boards have agreed on stringent safety measures for the tour, including quarantine for ten days before Australia’s arrival in Bangladesh. The visitors will have their passports processed separately, the team hotel more tightly secured and the five matches played in one venue within seven days.

He was among the rare sportsmen who played both cricket and football at the highest levels

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2020Former Bengal captain Subimal “Chuni” Goswami died in Kolkata on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 82 and had been suffering from underlying ailments, including sugar, prostate and nerve problems. He is survived by his wife Basanti and son Sudipto.Goswami was one of those sportsmen who played more than one sport at the top level; not only did he captain Bengal to the final of the Ranji Trophy in 1971-72, he was also among India’s greatest ever footballers.Goswami was an allrounder on the cricket field: a right-hand batsman who bowled right-arm medium and, apparently, was known for his fast inswingers. Though he failed to shine in the Ranji final, where he captained Bengal, he played another, in 1968-69, and scored 96 and 84. In all, he played 46 matches for Bengal, taking 57 wickets and scoring 1592 runs with one century. In December 1966, he claimed a match haul of eight wickets for Combined East & Central XI to topple a West Indian touring side that included greats like Rohan Kanhai and Wes Hall.Goswami played 50 matches for India as a footballer from 1956-64 and represented Bengal in 46 first-class games between 1962-73. He was part of the Indian team that participated in their fourth successive Olympics campaign in Rome in 1960 – they would hold France to a scored draw – and the same team, under coach Syed Abdul Rahim, won their second and final Asian Games football gold in Jakarta in 1962.Goswami’s death comes soon after that of PK Banerjee, fellow forward in the Indian football team of the 1950s and 60s that is acknowledged as the best to have represented the country. He played in the inside left position and, according to his profile in the official Mohun Bagan website, was known for his ball control and dribbling skills.

The feature of their 81-run stand that brought Ireland within sniffing distance of their target was the manner in which they negotiated Afghanistan’s spinners

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Mar-2019Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie made superb half-centuries to drive Ireland to a five-wicket win in the fifth and final ODI against Afghanistan, a result that ensured the series was shared 2-2 with one match having been washed out.Ireland had crumbled for 114 in the fourth match while chasing 224, so when Afghanistan ended up with 216 for 6 after being put in to bat, the visiting team knew it would have to show a lot more application and nous than it had in the last game. Stirling and Balbirnie delivered that in style. Stirling’s 70 off 88 helmed the first half of the chase and Balbirnie’s 68 took over for the second half. Stirling, in fact, had looked good for a lot more until an umpiring error cut his stay short. Caught in his crease to a Rashid Khan legbreak, Stirling was struck on the pads, but outside the line of off stump with the turn taking the ball further away when Rashid’s appeal for leg before was upheld.That broke an 81-run stand for the second wicket, and though Ireland were favourably placed at 138 for 2, there was the possibility of Afghanistan’s trio of spinners running through the side. Balbirnie stood firm though, and even though he was bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman with the target ten runs away, by then he had done enough. Even a mini-wobble – Ireland went from 207 for 3 to 215 for 5 – didn’t affect the final result.The feature of Stirling and Balbirnie’s batting was how well they negotiated Afghanistan’s spinners. While Rashid and Mujeeb both posed questions and bowled their share of unplayable deliveries, a combination of hawk-eyed watching the ball and judiciously using their feet, and the sweep shot meant both batsmen were safe even when they erred. Rashid, in fact, ended with just five wickets in the series – the fewest he has ever got in a series of three or more matches. Debutant left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan was good in patches, but strayed in line and length too often and was taken for runs.Earlier, Afghanistan’s total was built on Asghar Afghan’s 82 off 111, before he retired hurt midway through the 50th over, limping off clutching his hamstring. Asghar had begun slowly – he was on 8 off 43 at one point – but he hung in and started to open out more in the latter part of his stay. He had hurt his left shoulder in the fourth ODI and was visibly in pain while batting, often holding his shoulder after attempting any shot that required power on the leg side, but he soldiered through.Tight bowling by Ireland had reduced Afghanistan to 50 for 4 in the 15th over when Asghar was joined by Mohammad Nabi. The two stabilised, and then revived Afghanistan with a 76-run stand. Towards the end, some clean hitting by Rashid (35* off 28) ensured Afghanistan would comfortably pass the 200-run mark.At the halfway stage, with the ball already taking sharp turn, Afghanistan might have thought that was enough. But they had reckoned without Stirling and Balbirnie’s application and skill.