Kieran Holly

I said they wouldn't be able to handle us and everybody laughed. Up the Mariners! #GTFC

In this thread I will explain why the person most responsible for Italy's World Cup qualification is a journeyman Italian-Australian cricketer from the 80s/90s called Joe Scuderi. (1/12)

21/ Is sustaining the game, never mind growing it, going to be productive if we exclude fans from the outset?

20/ domestic cricket because from it’s early inception it didn’t try to gatekeep the game. We can either accept that this is the way it will be forever or we have to work collectively to undo the structures that have made it this way.

19/ regularly invest in outside of international cricket, which there currently isn’t. As long as people advocate for everything to just stay the same, cricket will remain stagnant at best or continue declining. Cricket in Aus generates scenes like this and interest in

18/ T20, but there is still a vilification of fans drinking too much and behaving inappropriatey. If you want domestic cricket to be of interest to the wider public and grow the game, it needs to be visible, which it currently isn’t, and there needs to be something to

17/ was formed as a fan group that performs in opposition to the established values within English cricket, but this is focused entirely towards the national team. The only level of domestic cricket that generates an alternative performance in domestic cricket is

16/ That’s not to say that fans of domestic cricket don’t have passion, but it’s exhibited in a different way because of how cricket fandom in England has been established and the social class of people that watch domestic cricket. The Barmy Army

15/ English cricket is not set up to grow the fanbase but instead to extract from the existing fanbase. Circling back to my question of why is Australia the exception, cricket is not supported by anyone who would behave like the scenes we've all enjoyed viewing.

14/ it's because of the strong club scene and the strength of the pyramid. In the absence of free-to-air cricket, fans outside the FCCs have nothing to invest in and inevitably drop away between international fixtures. The way to sustain fandom is regularity in investment.

13/ is essentially geared towards this fetishisation of the Ashes because of the money it brings in and the interest generated from non-traditional cricket fans. It's essentially a brand. When you think about the strength of football in Eng, it’s not because of the national team,

12/ Thirdly is the general sport culture within Eng. I don’t think the way English cricket is set up is adequate in growing the game here. English domestic cricket is essentially for members of the counties and a vehicle for the national team, and the national team

11/ existing fanbase. There are TV programmes showing football and rugby highlights, is there any effort from either the counties or ECB to get a county cricket highlights show on BBC/ITV etc? It seems like domestic cricket is just happy to exist in a vacuum.

10/ If cricket isn’t visible, then it’s not going to generate a wider interest. It’s great that many of the county teams now have free livestreams, but unless there’s any effort to promote them among non-traditional cricket fans, they’re only really there to service the

9/ These examples were at a time when cricket was free on TV and was much more prevalent in the public consciousness. It’s no coincidence that cricket hasn’t generated the same level of interest among the wider public since it moved to Sky and other subscription services.

8/ Instruments had been banned from venues in an effort to curb their method of support. There is an acceptable way to spectate cricket, and these examples do not fall into that remit. Secondly, there just isn’t the same level of access to cricket in Eng that there once was.

7/ community following. A lot of people have said the scenes in Aus remind them of scenes here in the 70s and 80s. I also want to highlight that whilst many people reminisce about the West Indies support in England during the 70s and 80s, they were often vilified at the time.

6/ just being a bit loud and having a laugh. I’ve also spent a lot of time in Huddersfield which has a strong cricket culture where class isn’t as relevant compared to other parts of the country. The same sort of behaviour isn’t uncommon and the clubs have much more of a

5/ a decent midweek cricket league. A couple of people I went to school with play for team of essentially footy lads who play cricket in the summer and one was telling me that they often piss off other teams because of their behaviour which is basically

4/ Whilst we had scenes of MCC members hurling abuse at Aus, Strauss was on comms saying the atmosphere was down to cheaper tickets attracting 'people who don’t usually come to lords'. This also goes down to grassroots level. Grimsby is a very working-class town but has

3/ loutish and ill-mannered and called for vocal young men to be caned. This pretty much demonstrates the dynamics of how cricket culture has developed in Eng and how cricket should be supported. You can see the repercussions of this today. Think back to the last Ashes at Lords.

2/ the whole of the country. Urban and rural areas, and regardless of social class, going back to the 19th century. This is in stark contrast to the cricket culture in England. Plum Warner, who led England in the 1903-04 Ashes series, called the Australian supporters

🧵 on cricket fandom and culture. 1/ Why is Australia the exception within cricket in that it’s domestic game has a wider appeal among a large number of the cricket fanbase in a way that doesn’t exist in Eng? Firstly, cricket in Australia has a wide level of support across

Not too long before the ICC go "fuck it, we'll do it on rankings".

Can I ask what this was in reference to? I'm at work so not watching the game

Sadly I couldn't make the CRN this year but will look for the podcast. Similarly with international cricket a lot of the associates have targeted the women's team as the vehicle for growth because the ceiling is far higher than in the men's. Just look at the progress made by Thailand Brazil etc

It's not about sustaining a professional setup they already play the games in the NCCA it's about integrating it. Lincoln are never gonna win the Premier League but they're in a system where they can build towards it. If we can't build a fully representative T20 league then there is no hope

I can't help but feel you've missed the point. If I was born in Sheffield I would support Yorkshire. Cricket fans outside FCCs take day trips to Scarborough, Headingley, Trent Bridge etc. Everyone needs to be represented so fans can turn sporadic engagement into a long term and sustained investment.

I do refer to men's cricket as the women's regional system has been reformed with the three tier system and knockout comp. I would advocate for promotion and relegation in a nation-wide T20 Blast but understand why this isn't being considered in the women's structure until 2028

As someone who advocates for the expansion of Test cricket, the bit in this criticising the "18 counties forever" slogan speaks loudly to me. Just as "Test is best" can only be true if all nations can be involved, county cricket can only be great if it stops being a closed shop.