English Chess Forum

Matthew Engel, one of the best cricket writers around (Gideon Haigh & Mike Atherton are others), has penned THIS THOUGHTFUL PIECE in today's Financial Times. I know there are many cricket-lovers in our community. Cricket has been described as 'chess on grass'; hence, this post. And the parallels to be drawn between Engel's forebodings and our own will strike a number of us perhaps. Is something ancient but good being lost - for good?

David Robertson wrote:Matthew Engel, one of the best cricket writers around (Gideon Haigh & Mike Atherton are others)...

I'd also suggest Mike Selvey at the Guardian.

AustinElliott wrote:

David Robertson wrote:Matthew Engel, one of the best cricket writers around (Gideon Haigh & Mike Atherton are others)...

I'd also suggest Mike Selvey at the Guardian.

Or go back to the wonderful stories published in the Observer by Raymond Robertson (Crusoe)-Glasgow. As the young autograph hunter at the Oval said looking at the signature in his book “Robertson, of Glasgow? Never ‘eard of ‘im.”

David Robertson wrote:Matthew Engel, one of the best cricket writers around (Gideon Haigh & Mike Atherton are others), has penned THIS THOUGHTFUL PIECE in today's Financial Times. I know there are many cricket-lovers in our community. Cricket has been described as 'chess on grass'; hence, this post. And the parallels to be drawn between Engel's forebodings and our own will strike a number of us perhaps. Is something ancient but good being lost - for good?

There was also a piece in the Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 95905.html


about the disproportionate number of privately education kids going on to become professional cricketers. This was a subject that Ed Smith covered in his book Luck a couple of years back.

Whether it's a reflection of the decline in English cricket or a causal factor (or a bit of both) I'm not sure, but I find it hard to believe that there's no connection.

Smith wrote that the private school/state school imbalance had progressively more marked in recent years in cricket as well as other years. I wonder if it's a similar story for chess.

David Gilbert wrote:As the young autograph hunter at the Oval said looking at the signature in his book “Robertson, of Glasgow? Never ‘eard of ‘im.”

Whereas everyone has heard of Robertson of Liverpool

Jonathan Bryant wrote:

David Robertson wrote:Matthew Engel, one of the best cricket writers around (Gideon Haigh & Mike Atherton are others), has penned THIS THOUGHTFUL PIECE in today's Financial Times. I know there are many cricket-lovers in our community. Cricket has been described as 'chess on grass'; hence, this post. And the parallels to be drawn between Engel's forebodings and our own will strike a number of us perhaps. Is something ancient but good being lost - for good?

There was also a piece in the Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 95905.html


about the disproportionate number of privately education kids going on to become professional cricketers. This was a subject that Ed Smith covered in his book Luck a couple of years back.

Whether it's a reflection of the decline in English cricket or a causal factor (or a bit of both) I'm not sure, but I find it hard to believe that there's no connection.

Smith wrote that the private school/state school imbalance had progressively more marked in recent years in cricket as well as other years. I wonder if it's a similar story for chess.

Wasim Khan MBE, a former opening bat for Warwickshire, Derbyshire and Sussex amongst others, is now the CEO of Chance to Shine. Its aim is to bring cricket to state schools, which means both playing the game, and the Spirit of Cricket. This was based on Khan's previous life experiences as a state-school-educated professional cricketer, which was rare. According to the presentation he gave the Warwickshire Cricket Umpires & Scorers Association's last meeting, it has been a success; so much so, Khan has been awarded an MBE this year. It was a 10-year project that's scheduled to end soon, so I don't know what the plans are to keep the initiative going.

You can see more about the project here: http://www.chancetoshine.org/

"Wasim Khan MBE, a former opening bat for Warwickshire, Derbyshire and Sussex amongst others, is now the CEO of Chance to Shine. Its aim is to bring cricket to state schools, which means both playing the game, and the Spirit of Cricket."

Good news - especially the bit at the end. Sadly, my main memory of competitive sport against other schools is the appalling amount of cheating which went on by the teachers who umpired or refereed games.