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ECB Funding and Facilities | Bruce Cruse
england & wales cricket board
INTERVIEW
Cricket Club
cricket club interviews
funding and facilities manager—bruce cruse
Cricket Club Magazine speaks to
Neil Fairbairn - Pitch Vision / MiSPORT
Images courtesy of E.C.B.
Pavilion design stage
Bruce Cruse is
the Funding and
Facilities Manager
for the England
and Wales Cricket
Board (ECB)
An Australian and ex
first class cricketer
with a facilities
development background
he moved to the UK in 1993
initially working in the
finance industry until an
opportunity with
Lancashire County Cricket
Club arose.
After working for the club
for a few years he ended up
as Secretary of the Cricket
Board but it wasn’t really in
keeping with his interests.
When the opportunity to
take up his current role
came along, eleven years
ago, he jumped at the
opportunity.
Cricket Club Magazine
caught up with Bruce in
Manchester, where his
head office is based.
“When I first came into
this post… I was a single
officer with no staff and the
role was based around
writing bids for the ECB to
try and arrange finance
into the game to then
distribute out to the
respective clubs. Over
time, we started to build a
larger public funding
portfolio and this increased
from around £2.5 million to
£14 million in terms of
business.
In 2005, when we signed
our deals with SKY, the
management board were in
a position to allocate
revenue directly into club
cricket which included a
larger grant scheme and an
interest free loan scheme.
The grants were more
focused and would go to
the ‘focus club network’
whilst interest free loans
were broader based and
open to other clubs. By
then, the £14 million had
jumped to £42 million,
almost overnight, and the
scaling up of the program
required more staff and
more services. The
program moving forward is
still growing.”
“In Australia the vast
majority… of cricket takes
place outside and the way
the game is played is
different. The philosophy is
about making sure
whatever you do comes
back to the common
denominator and that there
is a reason for doing it. I
now remind my staff that it’s
not about spread sheets or
contracts, there are real
people involved. Whilst
there are certain things you
have to do, you must be
conscious that, ultimately,
it’s the people involved that
make things work or not.”
“Put simply, we have a
broad facility program…
and it’s about the allocation
and the negotiation of the
resources the game has
- put to the best effect. If you
can find other partners and
supporters to help fund
programs then that’s great.
Our national facility
strategy at the moment cost
roughly half a billion
pounds and my budget is
just over 55 million. So, it’s
crucial to find people who
share ideas if we are to
bridge the gaps.
It’s a constant balancing
act but the majority of the
investment at the top end of
cricket is done and dusted,
so the balance of power in
terms of finance now rests
more in the grass roots of
the game. We are working
towards the government’s
target of 30% of our
investment into the grass
roots.
Certainly, in these testing
financial times we are not
going to be able to write a
cheque for every cricket
club in the country but we
will definitely have finance
to support clubs moving
forward in a scale that we
perhaps have not seen
before.”
“We are part public
funded… along with being
funded by our own income.
Contracts with government
CONTINUED ON P.40
“I think most cricketers are pretty
familiar with hawkeye and ball
by ball analysis on Television”,
says Neil Fairbairn of cricket tech
company miSport. “These days the
game is constantly broken down
with pitch maps, 3D replays and
wagon wheels. It’s become part of
the culture of the game really.
The problem has been that there
was no practical manner for making
this kind of technology and
feedback available to the everyday
player, club or school.”
This is exactly where miSport’s
new “PitchVision” product comes
in. Just like a television broadcast,
PitchVision automatically tracks
every ball from release, right
through to where the batsman
places his shot providing instant
feedback on pace, line length,
bounce, deviation, stroke selection,
placement and distance - and
even scores and catches against
a ‘virtual’ field setting. All of this
information is presented straight
to a laptop which has dozens of
different reports for displaying
the player’s performance. 3D,
PitchMaps, Manhattans, integrated
Video capture and plenty more.
This is cutting edge stuff, but the
surprising thing is that it is packaged
for any club, school or player
to afford and use. It can be set up in
any net, indoor or outdoor in about
10 mintues, and can be used by up
to 6-8 players batting and bowling
simultaneously- no special balls or
bat required.
“It’s perfect for assessing performance
across an entire session,
or between sessions or according
to any training targets set by the
coach” says Fairbairn. “It doesn’t
replace a coach, but it adds a
whole new level to what a coach
and player (and parents) can see,
analyse and be guided by. The
feedback and competitive element
can be a real spur in encouraging
participation and improvement.”
“Let’s be realistic: technology is
rapidly integrating with every aspect
of life and in 4-5 years players will
probably look back at this era and
ask: “You didn’t know how fast you
bowled? You didn’t have Pitch-Maps?
It is a bit of an information revolution
we know, but we’ve been seeing this
kind of data on TV for years now. Kids
and club players are crying out for
this kind of feedback at their level.
The important thing is that PitchVision
doesn’t dictate how you coach or train
– it simply gives you the information
you need to improve.”
“Our motto is, ‘Every ball mapped,
Every shot scored, Every wicket
recorded, Every detail for every
player!’ ”
ECB Funding and Facilities | Bruce Cruse
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FEATURES:
When bowling PitchVision;
• Records every balls, pace, line,
length, bounce, deviation
• Records foot position on the
bowling crease
• Reports how often you are landing
your stock ball or wicket ball
• Provides PitchMaps and Stump
maps (in 2D and 3D) of every spell
When Batting, PitchVision:
• See whether your shots would
have pierced the field
• Identify the specific deliveries are
giving you trouble
• Compare your performance
against different bowlers
• Bat in real game scenarios,
scoring against real field settings
• See a complete wagon-wheel of
shots from the session
• Confirm whether you are getting
to the pitch of the ball
Neil Fairbairn is Marketing Director
at miSport, makers of PitchVision
Neil.Fairbairn@misport.com ph. 020
239 7543