Give me the school of hard knocks

Lord MacLaurin - the erstwhile Gerald Ratner of county cricket © Getty Images

The former ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin, that erstwhile Gerald Ratner of county cricket, trumpets as one of his most gratifying achievements the establishment of an academy for Englishmen even if, in his time, the students had to be transported as winter boarders to the academy in Adelaide pioneered and built by the Australian Institute of Sport. Apart from paid winters for promising "probables" and a staging post for replacements for the inevitable walking wounded of an Ashes tour, did those semesters in the sun really profit English cricket?

Anyway we now have our very own crème de la crème college in the heart of England and, for good measure, the ECB nicked the Aussie academy's director Rodney Marsh to run it.

The chunky old stumper they used to call Bacchus possibly realises his switch was a timely one. Could the reputation of his Australian academy be faltering? It was the envy of cricket when it produced on its sleek conveyor belt such luminous treasures as McGrath, Warne, Ponting, Langer, Gillespie, Gilchrist, Martyn and Lee. But have those riches run out? Was it only a one-generation trove? Where are the new regal rookies striding out of Adelaide to challenge and usurp those present monarchs? As former Australian coach Bobby Simpson rued in October: "While there is much talk about the depth of Australian cricket, the reality is that there are very few youngsters good enough to take over."

When it comes to a single elite academy, scepticism rules. Three instances explain. Perhaps the Football Association asked me to too many prize-giving days at its residential centre of excellence at Lilleshall but down the years not one of the top prizewinners, lovely, well-mannered boys, has gone on to play more than a handful of games in the top league, let alone for England. In my own line, newspapers, in all of 48 years easily 85% of the most outstanding talents have been those who learned as apprentices in the rough and tumble of a newspaper office, not with an honours degree in media studies.

Thirdly, a couple of winters ago I watched a charming Sky documentary featuring nice Alex Tudor on life at the Adelaide academy. It may have been the producer's fault but Tudor seemed to be spending his winter chilling out, changing tunes on his walkman and playing ping-pong. (Sky did not, alas, film when Marsh presented his, presumably nightly, lectures on the art and glories of sledging.)

In the first two winters of the scheme, the ECB sent 30 to Adelaide. Only one, Anderson, has a central contract - for promise, although the Academy obviously forgot to tell him to look where he is bowling. Key, Kabir Ali, Dawson, Troughton and Schofield did get to wear England sweaters but already, cruelly, these must taunt them when they notice them in their wardrobes. Where are Bell, Peng, Swann and Wallace in any pecking order now? Will Strauss, Kirby, Hogg, Wagh or Wood ever get the summons they must have presumed imminent once they were nominated as elite scholars? Nearly half that first 30 seem to have vanished without trace. So what was the point? And will a home-based academy fare any better?

England has 18 academies in place - the good old put-upon counties. The ECB should sort out the fixture lists and get these shining talents batting and bowling out in the middle where it matters.

Frank Keating is a columnist for the Guardian.

This article was first published in the December 2003 issue of The Wisden Cricketer. Click here for further details.