With the 2017 season not too far away, counties will be looking at any late big signings they can make, or who they will be bringing through the academy and giving pro deals to. What we won’t be seeing much of is players plucked from clubs and Minor Counties ready to be thrown straight into the first team.
And that is despite the success of Richard Gleeson (pictured), who made a huge impact for Northants following an impressive stint in Minor Counties cricket for Cumberland. He signed full-time at the County Ground at 27.
Coaches have to do the right thing for the player and not for their own ego.
You’ll often see it at schoolboy level. A coach will pick the lad who’s been under his wing and he has been coaching all his life and guided through the system, rather than another youngster who is a better player but just hasn’t got the experience.
The coach will pick the one who’s been in the game all his life because it’s easier to speak to parents, and just easier in general. That’s not right, though, you need to be selecting players for the right reason.
Every county has a pathway system from the age-group squads, to the emerging players programme, then it’s about the academies. Quite a few of the counties also help with education but it’s crucial that counties still have trials and still have fresh players coming in to challenge the ones who are already set.
There are trials going on throughout the year for anybody that wants to try to impress, but if the player is approaching 30, counties are unlikely to go for them. There’s not as much hand-picking from clubs as there is in other sports.
There’s not as much scouting in cricket as there is in other sports because it is all about the pathways. The ECB have made it harder for later developers by giving counties financial incentives for playing players under certain ages – they get paid more for every U19, U21 and U23 they pick.
That means counties would rather pluck lads from their academies than go and sign a mid-20s player from club cricket or Minor Counties, even if they might be slightly better. You’re unlikely to see any Jamie Vardy-style story at cricket, with older players rising up through the ranks.
Counties don’t use the Premier Leagues and Minor Counties as much as they could. There are some good players, playing week-in, week-out, who won’t get a look in now because they are past their early-20s.
These guys doing the club rounds will have been in the game for ten years or so, that’s a long time. They’ve got experience but only at club level and not the wear and tear of county cricketers.
But some counties will not go near them because of the financial incentives on offer for playing younger lads.
And there are so many opportunities for existing players to stay in the county system, too. They don’t see the need to move down the ladder. They can play 2nd XI matches, keep their hands in and hope to impress, and be picked somewhere down the line.
Hopefully, the Unicorns can help this, they need the later developers and good league players, and can almost be used as a stepping stone to that next level.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, January 13 2017
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