Appointing Andrew Strauss was key to fixing English cricket, says ECB chief Tom Harrison

Fix it: Tom Harrison says he always believed in the decisions he made to overhaul English cricket
Andrew Redington/Getty Images
By Tom Collomosse21 August 2015

England cricket chief Tom Harrison believes this summer’s Ashes triumph has vindicated his plan to "fix" the sport in this country.

Harrison was appointed earlier this year and was central to a number of key decisions. Paul Downton was sacked as managing director and replaced by Andrew Strauss, who quickly dismissed Peter Moores as coach.

Strauss and Harrison then closed the door on Kevin Pietersen’s international future. At the time, England were in disarray and the new men were under pressure but Harrison never doubted he had made the right calls.

"People have reconnected with cricket and the players have to take the credit for that," Harrison said.

"They have been absolutely fantastic. At the start of the summer, there was a determination to have a plan and it was all about being confident in what we were trying to achieve.

"England’s results inform the sentiment of the nation, so it was important to get it right. Those were difficult moments but I don’t think I was worried. We knew what we were trying to do. We needed to get the right people on the bus to go in the right direction.

"When you’re given the job of fixing something and putting plans in place, you have to be sure about what you are doing, and we were. The appointment of Andrew Strauss was key, as it was to grasp a couple of nettles Andrew Strauss and I felt were important.

"They were uncomfortable times but at no point did we think this wasn’t the right thing to do. It was necessary and it had the right motivation behind it."

When Pietersen was denied a recall on the day he made a triple-century for Surrey, England had a job on their hands to regain the trust of many of their supporters.

That was only three months ago but Harrison believes the turnaround is complete.

With away series against Pakistan and South Africa to come, it is a bold claim. Yet Harrison insists that even if England do not win, these players will become folk heroes because they play with "personality and passion".

Ashes triumph: Tom Harrison says the Ashes victory has helped fans reconnect with English cricket

Harrison told the BBC: "Winning an Ashes series at home is No1 on the wish list to reconnect with the public but the players have gone a long way further than doing just that.

"They have been human and accessible, in a way the England teams of the past have not done.

"We have a team of personalities. If you play with personality and passion, and you are breaking every sinew to bring victory, then you can be forgiven if you do not win.

"As a board, we need to think about how we earn the trust of the England cricket following, and we’re doing that now. How do we create a domestic structure that improves what we have?"

Harrison’s plan is to reduce the number of County Championship matches per season from 16 to 14. This is the structure that has produced five Ashes-winning teams this century, and it remains to be seen whether it is a wise move to adjust it.

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