Mark Davidson is standing down shortly as secretary of the new Cumbria Cricket League champions Carlisle. He’s been an excellent contact for Cumbria Crack, promoting his club very well.
He’s also been involved in hockey for a long time so across the two sports he was an obvious candidate to sit down and answer questions on his involvement and thoughts on the two sports.
Just to start with Mark can you give me an insight into your sporting introduction to both hockey and cricket, or any other sports?
Around the same time for both, as it happens. I can recall the 1974/5 Ashes series down under which captured certainly my imagination when a young, rapid Jeff Thomson, who, along with Dennis Lillee ripped the heart out of the England batting that winter. The 1976 series vs the West Indies is also a prominent memory, following Tony Greig’s infamous comments prior to the First Test match. Their battery of fast bowlers gave Greig’s side a torrid time throughout that long hot summer!
Hockey was slightly later, around 1977/8 at St Aidan’s School, where we had a geography teacher/hockey coach called John Beddow. He had the uncanny knack of coaching us in a way that got us the basic skills of the game to a good level very quickly. No easy task, especially given some of the technical skills involved. We had a Redgra pitch in those days and I still have the scars!
You have had nine years as secretary of Carlisle cricket club. What have been the main changes you’ve witnessed in that time?
The club has implemented and embraced the changes that have happened within the junior pathway structure, something that is extremely important in so many ways. Two Premier Division championships have been won at Carlisle with teams that have contained players coached and developed through the junior ranks.
More recently it has been good to see the rise of Women and Girls cricket here at Edenside and sessions this year have been extremely well attended as we look to move this forward in future years.
Off the field, the club is now recognised as a major venue for functions and parties within the city. Most weekends throughout the year, the club is booked out for a variety of functions and Edenside is now well established as a venue on the social map of Carlisle.
It is now hoped that developments on the new club pavilion will make progress following the recent excavation activity near to Eden Bridge, and the exhibition that has been touring north Cumbria which is now in situ at Edenside.
The club has established a vibrant family atmosphere with the emphasis very much focussed on making the club and its facilities accessible to everyone. I think we’re getting there!
The Carlisle club seems to be in a healthy state then but how vibrant is cricket in the county and in the Cumbria League?
I feel to a large extent we’ve bucked the trend at Carlisle as numbers of players, including juniors has declined post-COVID. Clubs must make things work and provide an attractive environment for juniors and their families or, with so many other activities available, they will vote with their feet.
Cricket clubs, generally, go out of their way and do offer excellent facilities and environments, but we can’t sit back and just expect it to happen, we must be proactive both here at Edenside and throughout Cumbria.
The Cumbria Cricket League (formerly the North Lancashire & Cumbria Cricket League) reverted to a three-division structure in 2018 following an EGM and it’s fair to say that we have lost teams and the odd club. We must try to ensure that we do everything we can to make what we offer as attractive as possible. The league has implemented variable start times for example, and this does allow more players to put their availability in more often.
It’s a competitive market out there and we have so many other activities to contend with, but if we try and get it right from the bottom up then hopefully, we’re on the right track.
Do you think the Cumbria League format needs changed in any way, particularly with regards to points distributions?
The Management Committee (via the clubs) have tried a few options in recent years and the Premier League could be more competitive if we reduced the number of teams to maybe ten or eight, leaving blocks for T20 and the other cups. This could potentially free up more Sundays for National Counties and age group programme county cricket plus club junior activity.
The move to win/loss cricket was excellent and taking out the draw scenario for me works well. Currently we have ten points for a win (no bonus points), seven for a tie, four each for a rain-off and I’m fine on the bonus points for the losing team. We could possibly increase the points for a win; however, I speculate.
You’ve a local lad as professional. Do you think it’s something other clubs should look at or do you feel overseas players can enhance the League?
We are extremely fortunate at Carlisle to have Michael Slack as our professional, though it still amazes me that he doesn’t have a first-class contract somewhere. I get the argument for bringing in an overseas, but quite often this comes with some risk.
Derval Green (Jamaica) came over a few years ago for example, an excellent cricketer but left us halfway through the season to play in a global T20 competition. That gave us a major headache in trying to find a sub-professional every week to the season end.
Hard for me to comment on other clubs but it’s becoming increasingly problematic to obtain the services of overseas professionals and are some of them worth it? However, Keswick had fantastic service from Geeth Kumara, as we did from Saliya Saman a few years ago, and if you obtain the right pro then they can be a real bonus for your club.
Hockey seems to slip under the media’s radar for the most part. How healthy is the game in Cumbria?
I don’t see much of it these days John if I’m honest, but using Carlisle as an example, they seem to be on the up. Problems of distances to league games will always be an issue but they do seem to have excellent junior numbers and both the men’s and ladies’ teams are enjoying success.
Keswick’s mens’ 1st XI is now playing in the NW Premier Division which is a tasty standard and the ladies clubs in the county seem to be doing well.
As with cricket, it’s about making it enjoyable, safe, and accessible to all. Get that bit right and things go from there.
Are there any improvements you would like to see introduced into the structure of hockey in the county and beyond?
The structure of the game in England has recently gone through some significant changes with a move from five regions, including county associations, to eight areas across the country. This has meant that county associations have been dissolved with clubs joining larger area structures.
We have the National League at the top of the pyramid, the eight area Premier Divisions and under that all the adjoining area leagues. I think we need to see how things settle over the next few years.
The main objective must be player retention and to re-establish the numbers of players playing the game at club level in England.
Clubs within Cumbria have moved into this new structure without too many issues, however, finding officials to umpire matches is an ongoing problem.
You’re umpiring at National League level. Tell us how you moved into officiating and how far can that take you, both physically and literally?
I stopped playing the game in 2000 after 20-plus years but was still involved to some degree, particularly with the county side. I started umpiring around 2005 and was keen to put something back into the game, so I’ve been at it quite a few years now.
The National Conferences are regionalised to an extent but still involve quite a bit of travelling, Leeds, Doncaster, Beeston, Brooklands, Durham University, Preston, and Wakefield for example.
I’m fortunate to be operating on the National Men’s B panel and privileged to umpire some very high-quality matches. It would be brilliant to progress further, though I’m now too old to move on to international games.
Have we now, or in the past, players close to international hockey honours, and like other sports is it about having to move away to optimise selection opportunities?
We have Fiona Crackles from Kirkby Lonsdale who this year won gold at the Commonwealth Games for England. Fiona is at Durham University and has about twenty caps for ENG and GB.
Going back to my day I remember Peter Nicholson who played for Cumbria. Pete was an outstanding player, great skills, who captained the England Indoor side, and went on to play for Preston, Firebrands, and the Lancashire County side.
I think these days players must be playing National League hockey to be considered for the England squad, so yes, some movement south would be a requirement.
Finally Mark a rich benefactor is prepared to leave a shed load of money to Cumbria cricket and Cumbria hockey. How should it be spent?
Facilities in a word John! A couple of indoor cricket centres and top spec hockey pitches. I would also like to see an increase in quality coaching staff countywide.