Yorkshireman and Englishman Fred Trueman was long regarded as the country’s finest fast bowler, and in his prime bowled 1,000 overs in a single summer for Yorkshire.
During this era, the only cricket available to watch, apart from Test matches, was the three-day County Championship between 17 counties. In 1964, Trueman became the first bowler to take 300 wickets in Test matches. When asked if he thought his record would ever be broken, he replied (typically), “Yes, but I’m sure whoever did it would be very tired.”
Since then, 36 bowlers have broken Trueman’s record: Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan with 800, Australia’s Shane Warne with 708 and England’s James Anderson, who will go into the final Test match of the year with 700.
Anderson’s longevity and health are truly remarkable. He has bowled almost 40,000 balls in Test matches alone, the fourth-most of any bowler with 300-plus wickets. He never admits to tiring, and some would argue he is England’s best fast bowler, not Trueman. Their achievements at different eras are both extraordinary. Trueman’s feat was accompanied by an average of 21.57 per bowl, bettered only by Malcolm Marshall (20.94) and Curtly Ambrose (20.99). Anderson’s is 26.52.
With such achievements as a backdrop, current calls from professional cricketers for a reduction in their workload are cause for reflection. Another Yorkshire talent is Joe Root, who has played 140 Test matches for England and scored 11,626 runs, ranking him 10th in the all-time Test match scorers. His workload has been gruelling for many years, especially during his 64 Test captaincy matches, but he rarely complains. But last week he called for a major overhaul of England’s congested cricket schedule.
The Professional Cricketers’ Association has also called for changes “before something disastrous happens”.
Based on a survey of professional male cricketers, the PCA cited physical health (81%), travel conditions (75%) and mental health (62%) as their main concerns. Long, late-night drives between matches and home were a particular concern. They argue that a lack of time to recover, prepare and practice is damaging players’ health and performance.
Professional cricket in England and Wales has particular problems, with four men’s competitions crammed into a period between mid-April and the end of September, with August devoted entirely to The Hundred. Last year a proposal to reduce the number of four-day county and T20 cricket matches was rejected by the counties, and the 50-over competition was effectively downgraded because so few top players were featured. According to Root, the aim should be “to bring the standard of first-class and county cricket as close as possible to that of the international game”.
Professional cricketers in England and Wales have raised the issue of packed schedules and travel pressures before. With the explosion of T20 cricket over the past two decades, this congestion has increased and become a more international issue. In India and Australia, for example, the distances between venues are much longer, making flights and the associated risks an additional factor.
During the announcement of India’s ODI squad for the series against Australia in November 2023, India captain Rohit Sharma condemned the excessive movement of injured players between teams. Narrowing the gap between the standards of first-class cricket nurseries and international cricket is in the interest of all cricket associations. Each has a different way of achieving this, reflecting their relative resources, geography and historical structure.
Reforms have been proposed for India from 2024-2025. The country’s state-based long-format game, the Ranji Trophy – the equivalent of the English County Championship – seems likely to be split into two parts, with a white-ball tournament held in between. The main purpose of this is to deal with variable winter weather in the north and to lengthen the gap between matches to make travel and recovery easier, similar to the reasons expressed by Joe Root and the PCA.
A more lenient schedule might ease the pressure on mental health, an aspect that is often overlooked in professional sport. There have been a number of high-profile cases in cricket in recent years. Azeem Rafiq’s experience of racism in Yorkshire was one. Another was Jonathan Trott, who played 52 Test matches for England between 2009 and 2015. He left England’s tour of Australia in November 2013, unable to cope with the level of demand. A man who had a high level of concentration lost it, and he spoke about the impact of social media: “People don’t look at you and have a conversation or ask how you are.”
Rohit Sharma was mentally devastated after India’s loss in the 2023 ODI World Cup final. He shunned social media and withdrew from the ODI and T20I matches against South Africa. Men’s cricket is a tough environment that doesn’t seem to understand that mental health issues are real. The growth of women’s cricket has brought about a change in the approach to mental health within the game. A webinar facilitated by the Cricket Research Network that I attended this week discussed the various physiological challenges women face progressing in the game.
One wonders what Fred Trueman thought of this – he was an intimidating and naturally fearsome fast bowler – and it’s fair to assume he would have been horrified by the idea of a woman playing professional cricket.
After he retired he became a pundit and commentator, his mantra was “I don’t know what’s going on” and in today’s world of social media and Bollywood-style cricket he would be even more lost.
