The Schofield Report

As had been leaked before the publication of the the Schofield report, one of the recommendations made was to bring in a Managing Director to sit above the Head Coach and oversee things. I don't disagree that it's a role that can help a great deal but I find it interesting how it has come about, when comparing the situation in cricket with that of rugby.

When Clive Woodward was employed by the English Rugby Football Union as their first professional full-time coach, he soon realised that an overseeing role was required, as well as the hands on coaches. While his job title may well have been Head Coach (I think!), he assumed a lot of the responsibilities that the potential Managing Director of England cricket would take on. One of the roles that he took upon himself was to ensure that the players had literally nothing to worry about other than playing to the best of their abilities. Can you imagine the England rugby team under Woodward handling in an issue similar to the Zimbabwe cricket issue? It certainly would have been dealt with quickly and as quietly as possible, with minimal involvement from the players - i.e. the complete opposite of how the ECB handled things in 2003.

There's still lots of time for people to digest the report as it won't be fully considered until the Autumn, so it will be interesting to see what action the report brings about. But it's headline grabbing recommendation of creating a Managing Director is a good one, in my view.

You can view all 19 recommendations listed on Cricinfo here.