London : Former England wicketkeeper-batter Jack Russell has labelled the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as “short sighted” and “reckless beyond common sense” for “doing nothing” to promote the County Championship, which began on April 7.
In a series of three tweets, the 58-year-old England legend, who played 54 Tests, 40 ODIs and a mind-boggling 465 first-class matches, has termed the ECB’s marketing department a disgrace.
So far, eight first-round County Championship matches have taken place across division one and two.
“Well @ECB_cricket #CountyChampionship has started and unless I’m mistaken you have done absolutely nothing to promote its importance. Who runs the #Marketing Dept? I hope you haven’t got the nerve to pick up your wages at the end of this month? Because this is a disgrace,” tweeted Russell, who scored nearly 2,000 runs in Tests and 16,861 runs in first-class cricket and is the Order of the British Empire awardee.
In his second tweet, he reminded the ECB of the importance of County cricket, saying, “Do you not understand it’s importance? Do you not understand that future England players are nurtured #CountyCricket Players that will hopefully go on to greatness and win #TheAshes and generate millions of pounds for you to run @englandcricket. So short sighted its beyond belief.”
England Test skipper Joe Root too had been critical of the County system following the Ashes debacle, saying, “Anyone that’s coming into this Test team at the minute is doing it in spite of county cricket, not because of county cricket. There are definitely things that need to change.”
Russell said in his third tweet that, “@ECB_cricket this is beyond reckless beyond common sense You have future success of @englandcricket under you stewardship. You don’t understand this basic #CountyCricket2022 is pivotal. Where do you think the players will come from if you choke this competition to death #Cricket.”
–IANS
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