The Wicked Cricket Column

I am not clear whether this is a prank front page feature or whether it's for real. But "if" real many congrats Tom Rose for your 
early success as the Marketing Manager at Lingfield Park Racecourse.

s&f I found your interview with Richard Barrow one of the most revealing I have read about Sussex. Fascinating he was prepared to say who has been the best Chairman, and imply the chairman has a significant influence, which I agree with. And most revealing about the dilemma over Archer. Well done.

Interesting piece of info from Adrian Harms this week as he tweets: "Temporary stands in place at Hove for NatWestT20Blast..."

Is this an experiment or because ticket sales have been high? Or is it a way of overriding the complaints from some supporters
concerning the space taken up in the North East part of the ground by the offices?

I can't remember seeing temporary seating at Hove since the Australian touring match in July, 2013. I hope the experiment is
successful. "If" and this is a BIG "If", when the City-Based Tournament begins in 2020, there is a present suggestion that matches
may be hosted not just by one TMG in a designated area ie. in the South, the Ageas Bowl, but spread around the region's non-TMG
grounds.

Therefore, Sussex CCC could hold a match but to achieve this, it is important the venue can hold at least 10,000 people and for Hove
this can only be achieved via temporary seating.

OR, perhaps, this is all a smokescreen and the seating is to be used for the Olly Murs concert on Sunday. 

A cricket story is presently flying around Essex CCC and beyond, where certain tabloid newspapers are furnacing the growing opposing political views in Britain.


(pic credit: cricket.com.au)

The Bangladesh Daily Star kicked off late last night with a web story that suggested the wife of Bangladeshi cricketer, Tamim Iqbal, playing for Essex CCC in the T20 Blast, was the target of an attempted hate crime in the UK on the night of July 10th leading the cricketer to cut short his stint with The Eagles and return home with his wife. In the UK, The Sun then picked up on the story alongside the Daily Mail.

Tamim had only arrived at Essex on Saturday and played just one of the T20 seven games he had signed up for. It has been learnt that the left-hander departed England last night and is expected to fly in to Dhaka this evening. According to the, as of yet, anonymous source (an alleged BCB official), Tamim’s wife Ayesha Siddiqa - who wears a hijab - and their one-year-old son were dining out when some miscreants chased them and attempted to throw acid at her.

www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/bangladesh-cricket-tamim-iqbal-pulls-out-county-1431763

Journalists like Lizzy Ammon from The Times and David Hopps from ESPNCricinfo have jumped on the story, tweeting about it today where their followers have responded with cries of 'extreme right wing immigrant-haters' etc..

Yet, late this morning Essex CCC released a press statement saying Tamim Iqbal had flatly denied the story and said he was returning home "for personal reasons". Iqbal wrote on his Facebook page, “Some media reported that we were the target of attempted hate crime. This is really not true. England is one of my favourite places to play cricket and Essex have been entirely gracious even though I had to leave early.” He continues, "I thank all my fans and well wishers for their concern and messages, and look forward to going back to England for future matches.”

indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/tamim-iqbal-family-harassed-while-out-for-dinner-claims-bangladesh-cricket-board-official-4747486/
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/40579989

Lizzy Ammon in response then tweeted, “Essex won't expand on their original statement. I don't think that's ok if there's any implication of racial harrassment.” And then, “Yes Tamim denied last nights reports. But further digging and it seems there was something triggering his hurried departure.” Cricinfo editor, David Hopps, then tweeted, “No doubt @essexcricket acted well on Tamim's behalf. But misguided in their lack of transparency over the player's report of an incident.”

This, of course, then led to a twitter war between the political right and left. Examples from the so-called right on Hopps Twitter include, “It’s all fake news!” and “How dare they! Just as you were salivating at the prospect of a 'Brexit thugs shatter Tamim's dream' headline.”

Moral of the story: Should cricket journalism venture into the present highly twitchy, highly charged and contentious cauldren of twitter-driven politics? Perhaps, it’s best to stick with cricket.

Finally, here is an article published in Cricinfo a few hours ago where it concludes, “Whatever the cause of Tamim's hurried departure, it appears that it will remain officially unreported.” On the other hand, the story could be little more than "a nuffin' burger".

www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh/content/story/1110632.html

El Classico
__________________

The first Hove T20 match of the season always has a frisson of expectation. There is a vibrancy and zing rarely experienced at a Championship game.

Miles



Live music is now a strong theme and as the crowd poured through the front gate they were met with a performance from the pianist and crooning young voice of Miles Goodall. Originating from Southport, he recently moved to Brighton where, surprisingly, jazz-rock band Steely Dan, famous during the 1970s, is his favourite music. He has released 5 singles of his own compositions on i-tunes. Miles has a Facebook page at: en-gb.facebook.com/milesgoodallmusic/

Bowman-on-the-Road



Finally, I met Colin Bowman in person and what a lovely fellow. First, and let’s get this out of the way, he is a “Kent Man” but came to live in Sussex during 1991. Today, his writing interest has led to the Bowman-on-the-Road exploits. Not only for cricket, where he is travelling to all 14 of the Sharks T20 games this season and tweeting about them, but for football too where he follows Burgess-Hill and Haywards Heath FC matches.

unofficialsussexccc.freeforums.net/post/25704/thread

Colin is becoming a well-known figure on the sporting road where he also writes about the Sussex Colts U10s-18s for the club as well as articles for the Mid-Sussex Times. His trusty Peugeot 206 with 92,000 miles has only broken down once. On the way home to Burgess Hill after the abandoned Arundel T20 when two Surrey fielders collided.

Colin is travelling to Cheltenham on Sunday for the T20 against Gloucestershire but is a little worried. He doesn’t have a ticket yet and the game is close to selling out. If anyone can help out please contact him via his Twitter. twitter.com/bowmanontheroad?lang=en

The Boys are Back in Town



Meanwhile, the SKY trucks were parked behind the Media Centre which means one thing: "The Boys are Back in Town". I love their swagger. A cross between arrogance and “We own yer”, which, of course, they do. The SKY celebs last night were Mark Butcher and new kid on the block Marcus Trescothick. But the third was a little riling given it was the £1.3m man, Tymal Mills. Injured, not playing for Sussex, so he gets the glam job of preening himself in front of the camera. TV already has one eye on his post-retirement, so please Tymal, get yourself fit. Sussex desperately need you after two T20 losses where the bowlers, in the words of Mark Davis, “Are not executing their plans!”

Adams and Cowdrey wrestle over the headphones



Kevin Howells interviews Club Chairman Bob Warren



Due to SKY taking over the commentary area, the journo section was sprawling with radio comms including my favourite BBC commentator Chris Adams. I really enjoyed his astute and insightful comments during the Arundel Championship match. When asked which present Sussex players he would have in his golden decade winning team, without hesitation, Chris said Jordan and Archer. "Class cricketers, through and through."

It was also fun having a chat with Fabian Cowdrey. He is “giving radio a go” (how fortunate) and seems to be doing a decent job. What must it be like hailing from such a famous cricketing family? Become successful through your own merit or via a distinctive surname?

The Latest Marketing Drive from '1st Central' - FREE Shark Fin Hats!



As for the disappointing on-field performance, it was a repeat of Arundel on Sunday. The bowlers were not tight enough. Please, Ross Taylor, the next time you win the toss... BAT FIRST!

When I heard "The Bowler" played at the match last night, I thought 'hello, that sounds remarkably like 'The Gambler', so it's good to have that confirmed. Is there a copyright issue here? You say it's 'based on' The Gambler, but could this be plagiarism?

Interesting. So, does the normal copyright law not apply to charitable copying?  I recollect cases of songwriters suing someone who has allegedly 'copied' the original work without permission. 

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36022876

Is there a lawyer in the house?!