Hussain lashes out against the ECB

London—Former England cricket captain Nasser Hussain has said the England and Wales Cricket board are guilty of adopting a “jobs for the boys” policy in the wake of a report set up to examine how the sport can be improved.
Hussain, writing in his Daily Mail column on Thursday, said he was hugely disappointed by the appointment of former England batsman Mike Gatting and ex-Glamorgan batsman and national administrator Hugh Morris as the board’s managing directors. In new roles created by the ECB, Gatting’s job will be to oversee the first-class and recreational game while Morris becomes managing director of the England team.
But Hussain said in his column: “It smacks of jobs for the boys, I am disappointed. Of the ECB being desperate not to rock the boat nor bring in anyone who might question how they do things. They just want to retain the status quo.” Hussain was a member of the Schofield review group which has recommended 19 steps to improve the state of English cricket following the Ashes whitewash by Australia and the national team’s failure in the World Cup earlier this year.
Hussain said the ECB had shown a lack of imagination in appointing Gatting and Morris. “Before anyone suggests I’m saying this because I’ve had my ups and downs with Gatting over the years, I must stress this is not personal. “I really do hope the ECB have got this right and they will take our game forward. Morris, in particular is a lovely man and I have always got on well with him. But how can you appoint someone to the top job who was on the Schofield Committee?”
Hussain said the ECB should have made an outside appointment and embraced exciting new ideas.
He suggested former England batsman Mark Ramprakash as a better choice for filling the role Gatting will now take, even though he still has ambitions to play for England again and reach a hundred centuries.
“He is someone who knows all about the domestic and international games and the difficulty in bridging the gap between one and the other,” Hussain added.
“He is also young enough to be in touch with how the game is evolving. He should have been sounded out.”—Agencies