ECB ADD HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR TO WORLD CUP BOARD BY RECRUITING SAM MENDES

Tinseltown director is onboard to help organisers in their pursuit of spectacular event

If 2017 was about laying the foundations for the ECB’s brand-new T20 edifice – principally winning over the counties – then 2018 will be focused on building the profile of the game so that the 2019 World Cup raises the roof.

The ECB have recently added a fourth floor to the offices at Lord’s, which will shortly be filled by more than 100 personnel working on making the 2019 World Cup the best cricketing event this country has staged.

The man behind it all is Steve Elworthy, who ran this year’s Champions Trophy and Women’s World Cup, and is the tournament director of the 2019 World Cup. He played for South Africa in the 1999 event – the last 50-over World Cup on these shores – and well remembers the rather pitiful opening ceremony, with its £9.99 box of fireworks and the World Cup song by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics which was only released the day after England had been knocked out of the tournament.

“The Cricket World Cup is the next really big event in the UK and we just want to raise awareness and make it the biggest, best cricket tournament we have ever had here,” Elworthy told The Cricketer.

^{Sam Mendes is on the World Cup directorial board}

“There will be 48 matches in the competition – from May 30 to July 14 2019. It’s going to be an amazing summer with the Ashes as well, and with the success of the Women’s World Cup here we have learnt a lot and are confident of being able to create something really special in 2019. We are leaving no stone unturned.

“There is a growing realisation that women (i.e. mothers and wives/partners) make the majority of the ‘business’ decisions in households so there will be a major campaign to make them feel more involved in cricket’s mysterious world.”

One of the most interesting developments is the recruitment of the British film director Sam Mendes on to the World Cup directorial board. Mendes – an Oscar-winning director (for American Beauty) who has also directed the last two James Bond movies – is a lifelong cricket lover who still plays for his Oxfordshire village team Shipton-under-Wychwood (and appeared in the 1997 National Village Cup final). His role will be to create major artistic events around World Cup venues to maximise the buzz and increase engagement.

The idea will be to stage blocks of World Cup matches at the same ground, so that that the city or venue becomes a major focus for a week, with a carnival-like atmosphere.

There are inevitable logistical problems with this, including ensuring there are enough good, central pitches available at the venue to stage several matches in a row, and that the local population can sustain their support for such intense activity.

But Elworthy is confident from the experience of this year’s Champions Trophy and the rapid expansion of the women’s game that the demand will be there. Trial matches with drop-in pitches will also be staged next summer at London’s Olympic Stadium.

^{The ECB doesn't have much to live up to when the 1999 World Cup is taken into mind}

This all adds up to an ideal launchpad for the ECB’s major new construction, the city T20 tournament in 2020. The board are not deterred by the aborting of the South African’s swanky-sounding T20 Global League for this year, declaring that their own concept is based on far more solid and painstakingly dug foundations and much more rigorous research.

Far from the new tournament destroying the fabric of county cricket, the ECB believe it will enhance it. Their chief executive Tom Harrison actually wants to see the expansion of the first-class county structure, perhaps to 20 or 21 counties, rather than any shrinkage. Provided, of course, that they can stand on their own two feet.

The board, while admitting that the £200m debt in the county game is partly the ECB’s own fault for recommending so much ground redevelopment, do not want another Durham on their hands.

So the counties’ support for the ECB’s vision for the future has been secured. Now comes the hard bit: winning the support of the public.

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