9 Sep 2015 | Cricket
In the final member's Q&A forum of the season Glamorgan chief executive Hugh Morris answered supporter's questions on a wide-range of subjects.
Watch the video by clicking below or scroll down for the transcript of the Q&A...
Q) Hugh, are you pleased with the team's progress so far this season?
Hugh) As far as our Championship season is concerned, it was always going to be a challenge, because we've got quite a small squad, with only 15 full-time professionals.
We've got some really talented players in that squad and I think they performed really well in the first half of the summer winning four games on the bounce in the Championship for the first time in many years, put us in a really good position just after half way through the summer.
It's fair to say the second half of the season has been more of a challenge and at times disappointing, but that's a reflection of our best players having to play in all formats of the game and there's a certain amount of tiredness that has crept in.
But with these three games left if we can finish the season off strongly and be in the top three or four of the Championship it will certainly be progress made
The biggest challenge we have is with the seam bowlers. Michael Hogan is a really outstanding bowler and he has proved that every year here. He's a real willing workhorse that can get you 50 wickets. Graham Wagg and Craig Meschede have had good seasons and we have some young bowlers still in University and some others younger than that who are not quite ready to step up on to the first-class stage as yet. The workloads on our fast bowlers is significant and although they've coped with the task manfully but it's certainly an area we need to target in terms of recruitment over the next 12 months or so.
Q) The Club has not been shy with introducing young talented Welsh players, is that part of the strategy?
Hugh) I was lucky to play in a successful Glamorgan team that was 75- 80% young Welsh lads that had grown up supporting Glamorgan and that's my vision for the future. We want to make Wales proud and we want to give every opportunity to talented young cricketers to come through our system and into our first XI and who will hopefully go on and have international careers as well.
The important thing is that they have to be good enough. We want them to be local but they have to be able to play at the top standard and it's been really good to see Andrew Salter play a lot of cricket this summer, Ruaidhri Smith who is unfortunately injured at the moment along with Kieran Bull, have both had a taste of first team cricket and Aneurin Donald has got in the side after his international exploits.
So we do have some talent, but you've never got enough talent and we want to make it a competitive squad. With only 15 professionals we need to grow that pool and have more competition in the squad with more local talent, but they do have to be big enough.
Q) There's changes to the domestic game being discussed what's your view on the likely schedule for next year?
Hugh) The structure of our domestic game is so important in providing the right balance between the amount we play and the amount of time players prepare and rest, to make sure when they are on the field they are healthy and hungry to do well and in good form.
That balance is difficult with a long and hectic summer so it can be more of a challenge in this country than elsewhere in the world. It would seem the plans are to play less championship cricket and in the middle of the summer to play a block of Twenty20 and one-day cricket which will help the England team and our preparations for those competitions which is broadly a consensus across the Directors of Cricket and Chief Executives up and down the country, but there will be a regular diet of one-day cricket in the middle of the summer.
Q) Do you have empathy with the ECB and Andrew Strauss in dealing with and satisfying all the stakeholders with the schedule changes?
Hugh) There are a lot of stakeholders to consider. Andrew Strauss is particularly focused on the England cricket team and it's been great to see England make a resurgence and win the Test Series this summer. There is a real focus on the 50-over game, it's not a format we have done well in for many years, 1992 was the last time we got to a World Cup Final.
In 2019 we host the World Cup in England and Wales so it's a target of the England and Wales Cricket Board to ensure England perform well at that tournament.
Andrew Strauss is very keen to make a change (to the schedule) and I'm sure most people are behind him to make sure we have the right preparation for the competition.
Q) What were the circumstances around the Groundsman Keith Exton's departure?
Hugh) The Hampshire game was a bitterly disappointing episode for all of us. Subsequently we've had the entire ground surveyed and we've had some recommendations back to us in terms of what we should do next, particularly with pitch 9 which was the one we played on. We will in the next month or so be digging the pitch up and relaying it and we won't be using that pitch for first-class cricket for 2- 3 years, and we will play some second XI cricket on it before hand to make sure its re-bedded.
We had discussions with Keith and it was felt that the time was right for both parties to move on, and we have done that with a mutually agreed contract and subsequently Robin Saxton has taken over with the rest of the grounds staff to produce an International T20 pitch and obviously the one you've seen out there today.
Q) Would three day Championship cricket affect the quality of the cricket if it was reduced from 4 days?
Hugh) I've played both 3- and 4-day cricket, sometimes in the same seasons. I used to enjoy three-day cricket. It follows a similar pattern because it was a shorter game and certainly when I was captain more often than not we had to have discussions about declarations which can make the games contrived. Four-day cricket is less contrived as it's a longer game and I like the idea of how it allows spin bowlers a chance and we do have a dearth of spin bowlers in this country so that is a challenge.
I like the idea of bringing more cricketers into the game and four-day cricket is a closer form to Test Match cricket and one objective of the County Championship is to produce Test Match players.
Q) Is there reason to ditch 50-over cricket or would this be detrimental to Andrew Strauss' aim of performing at the World Cup?
Hugh) Championship cricket is the purest form of the game, it's the format I most enjoyed when I played and it's a key objective of ours is to try and get into Division 1 and challenge for the Championship. One of the proudest moments of my career was when we won the Championship in 1997 and that has to be an ambition going forwards.
I'm a huge supporter of four-day cricket of that there's no doubt. In terms of 50-over cricket, before the World Cup earlier this year there were question marks about whether it was in real danger of disappearing, but that tournament breathed new life into it. Certainly the 50-over internationals between England and New Zealand showed a new way of playing the game and scores of 300 now are the norm, so if we can do that in domestic cricket as well then its appeal will grow and it's going to be interesting to see whether playing it in the middle of the summer, rather than at the beginning when the ball seams around a lot or at the end when everyone is pretty tired to start a new competition, will also hopefully breathe new life into it too.
Q) Given the retirement of Will Owen, there seems to have been a stream of seam bowlers who break down and retire early, is it a pattern?
Hugh) It's a pattern for fast bowlers in the sport, there's been a lot of research in Australia in particular and I can remember sitting down to pick an Under 19s squad with 15 fast bowlers on our long list, and 12 of them were injured so it's not just Glamorgan that have had challenges or just in England, but it's a challenge around the world in the game.
One of the first things I wanted to do when I came back, partly because of the small squad, was make sure we had a good medical set up. We appointed Dr Rob Young, who works with the England cricket team and some professional rugby clubs as well.
Rob has been instrumental in setting down injury prevention measures along with Mark Rausa our physiotherapist, sadly injuries to fast bowlers is an occupational hazard and if you repeat the action of bowling at 80 mph over a long period is going to result in injuries. Going back to our seam bowlers all three of them have bowled a lot of overs this year and they've stayed fit touch wood.
This winter all our bowlers will have their own strength and conditioning programmes to try and mitigate any problems they may have.
Q) What are our dealings with our local Asian communities and the talent within them?
Hugh) We have a young leg spin bowler called Mujahid Ilyas who bowls for Cardiff and Prem Sisodya who plays for Cardiff too. Muji is 15 years of age and regularly this summer has bowled at our first XI and they all rate him as a bowler. It's great to see an Asian leg spinner because naturally they bowl leg spin really well. Muji has got talent and he bats as well. He's been in our Academy all year as has Prem and it's a really important we are encouraging as many people to play the game as we can.
We now have a specific BME project where we go out in to the communities of Cardiff. This started last year with a pilot involving 6 sessions in and around the Grangetown area where we took a pile of kit, our coaches and linked in with the community leaders and we had nearly 1000 kids attend those sessions. So following this success we've carried this on this summer and we're very mindful that we get as many ethnic minority groups into our programmes as we can.
Q) Congratulations on the successful Ashes and International T20 in Cardiff, but can you think about what facilities can be available for members on international days?
Hugh) I was proud of the staff here and everyone associated in delivering the Ashes Test and IT20, the feedback we've had from all kinds of stakeholders has been fantastic. We don't want to rest on our laurels we want to improve things for members, supporters and everyone who comes through the gates and we'll take the feedback on board.
We were really enthused by the support we received for international cricket this year and soon you will have the international cricket and membership renewal forms arriving with you. We've tried to price next year's internationals against Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a view to selling the ground out and I'm sure you will soon agree they are good value for money, plus there will be some options for members to upgrade their tickets.
Q) Will the T20 format change for 2016?
Hugh) Our understanding is that ECB broadcasting deal with Sky goes through to 2019 and there's not going to be a lot of fundamental change before then, thereafter who knows, but our understanding is the T20 format will be similar to this summer, 7 home games but in more of a block in the summer.
Q) Will Michael Hogan play for Western Australia this Winter?
Hugh) Yes he's contracted to WA although he will only be available for Sheffield Shield matches and they have 7 fast bowlers on their roster, so I quite expect he will miss one or two. Last year he got injured towards the end of their season which clearly we want to avoid but he will be available to WA.
Q) With the fixture schedule changes, how many championship games will be in Cardiff and are we still committed to out grounds?
Hugh) At the next Committee meeting we will be discussing some of the changes coming down from ECB. ECB have their board meeting at the end of this month, Glamorgan's committee meets in early October.
Our vision is to make Wales proud and to do that we need to play a certain amount around Wales, but clearly we need to consider playing one less Championship game and how that affects our strategy, but it will be discussed at the next committee meeting.
Q) Will ticket sales for T20 Blast be affected by being played in a block?
Hugh) It will be in quite a long block for T20. My understanding is we'll play one 50-over game, maybe midweek and then a Twenty20 on a Friday and then the Sunday, so it will extend over quite a long time starting early/mid June and going through to early mid August.
It's not yet been finalised whether two overseas players will be allowed in 50-over cricket next year but clearly there is a possibility and if we did have an option of a second overseas player then we would look at recruiting someone who could play both formats.
Q) Is there any concern of the long term future of the County Championship given the lack of media coverage for the format?
Hugh) I've said already that the championship is my favourite form of the game and I know our committee is strongly behind county championship cricket. At the time I was at ECB no one ever suggested that it was in jeopardy at all. Twenty20 cricket has taken the world by storm over the last 10-12 years and it's important for revenues into the county game, whilst providing a lot of excitement but the County Championship is the traditional form and its where my heart is, and I'd be amazed if there was going to be fundamental changes to that.
Q) What are the club's recruitment priorities after this summer?
Hugh) Its always a difficult one to comment on until deals are completed, but what we try and do is try and identify where the gaps are in the squad.
We have a small group of full time professionals at the moment and we've got a number of guys at University. Ruaidhri is going into his last year at Bristol, Aneurin Donald has finished school and comes onto our squad full time next summer after finishing his A Levels, Kieran Bull is into his last year at Cardiff Met, Jack Murphy will be in his second year there too.
We've been actively speaking to players and their agents and I mentioned earlier on our sparsity of fast bowlers. We've got three outstanding fast bowlers and one or two coming through potentially good ones, but there is a significant gap there. I always believe the counties that have been successful and you can look at who is top of the first division, they have six fast bowlers, that they can play at the right amount of times and we're nowhere near that, so we'll try and plug that gap. Those coming through our under 17s so are some way off the first team.
At the top of the order clearly in the second half of the season we've had to battle and we need to have the right level of competition for places in our squad, so if the right batter came available we would have a look in that market too but it is competitive and players are tapped up by other counties. At this stage all I can say is we want to add to our squad.
Q) Is there a headline change with Membership in terms of the use of the Premier Lounge for next year?
Hugh) We've heard from a lot of members the challenge they face, particularly when it's raining or if you wish to have a beer or a coffee and see the game at the same time. That's very difficult with current arrangements through six foot of concrete. What we'd like to do is to move the members lounge facilities up to the Premier Lounge so you will have a view of the cricket from up there and we will look to service and staff that as well as we can. The current Members Lounge would still be available for members to use, but it would also be a general public area so non-members wouldn't have to stand around under the stands.
Hopefully you've seen this year we've made some changes with menus, magazines, coffee and tea service and we want to show that at Glamorgan CCC we want your experience to be as good as it possibly can be, so hopefully the room move is a step in the right direction and something you welcome and that you might be able to watch some cricket when the weather isn't at its best through glass rather than concrete.
Q) Where will the Premier Members go?
Hugh) We've begun calling Premier Members to let them know about the change, but essentially they will still have access to the Premier Lounge, but in all intents and purposes the two membership categories will be combined so Premier Members will enjoy a price saving based on this year.
Q) Is the debt write-off finalised now?
Hugh) It's been a really challenging time but we are in a position now that following agreement with our creditors contracts have been drawn up and are with those creditors so we expect them to be executed this side of Christmas, as everyone in principle has agreed to it. When we get to the AGM we will be able to explain things further then.