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The Intersection of Cricket and Climate Change: A Discussion with Chris Britt-Searle
The conversation with Chris Britt-Searle from the nonprofit organization Next Test delves profoundly into the ongoing ramifications of climate change within the realm of cricket. Chris articulates the pressing nature of this issue, underscoring how extreme weather conditions, such as heightened temperatures and intensified rainfall, are increasingly disrupting the sport. The dialogue elucidates the urgent need for the cricket community to unite in addressing these challenges, as they threaten not only the integrity of the game but also the health and safety of its players. We explore various initiatives aimed at raising awareness and fostering sustainability within cricket, emphasizing the collective responsibility we share in mitigating climate impacts. This episode serves as a clarion call for action, inviting listeners to consider their role in this critical discourse.
Links
Hit for Six Report: Cricket Heading into Climate Danger Zone
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Last Wicket.
Speaker A:I'm your host, Benny.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining us for today's episode.
Speaker A:I'm joined, as always, by my co host, Mike.
Speaker A:Hey, Mike.
Speaker B:Hey, Benny.
Speaker A:Our special guest today is Chris Brit Serle from the Next Test, which is a nonprofit organization that provides climate education and resources and just working on climate solutions within the world of cricket.
Speaker A:So, Chris, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker C:Thank you very much for having me, guys.
Speaker C:Great to be here.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for spending some time out of your busy schedule and watching over a toddler who is sleeping.
Speaker A:And hopefully we'll sleep through this episode as we recorded.
Speaker C:Fingers crossed.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now, Chris, like I was just saying just before we started recording, this is a very interesting topic and I'm really glad Mike reached out to you because climate change is something that I think if anyone with some level of knowledge or understanding of the world today, be it political or otherwise, know or.
Speaker A:I've heard about climate change.
Speaker A:Now, I've seen articles being written about climate change, how it affects sports, and I think I even saw one about cricket but didn't really get into it.
Speaker A:So I'm really glad you're here because obviously we live in a time where I think everything can be viewed through a political lens, which means there's always extreme reactions and it's really hard to parse through it and find the truth or the actual facts about it.
Speaker A:So I'm really glad you came on.
Speaker A:And I just want to start with the question of why is this so important to you personally?
Speaker B:I guess.
Speaker C:The next Test connecting cricket and climate change, they're kind of the two, two things that are most important to me in my life.
Speaker C:I've always been like a massive cricket lover ever since my, my granddad, like, he's, he kind of introduced me to it, like, Test match.
Speaker C:Test matches were always on the TV when I was a kid.
Speaker C:It used to take me, like, to watch matches.
Speaker C:Used to take me to watch, like this, like, celebrity team that would, like, come visit once a year and like our little village and, you know, they'd have like, X players and like some quite big names, like, playing in our little, like, little village and yeah, just always, absolutely loved, particularly playing cricket, particularly Test cricket.
Speaker C:And I guess, like, yeah, climate change, to me, I mean, at least for the last decade, just, it just seems like the most, the most pressing, the most important issue that our planet faces, that we face as a, as a species.
Speaker C:And it's something that I've always, I've always wanted to, to work on and yeah, I, I love the fact that what we're doing is, is kind of connecting the dots and connecting those two things.
Speaker B:And Chris, as we get into it, let's talk a little bit more about the next test itself.
Speaker B:Could you share some of the organization's goals, what are you all doing and what is your role?
Speaker B:Of course.
Speaker C:So I'd say primarily our role at the moment is just raising the awareness, keeping this part of the conversation and just, yeah like keeping it on the agenda.
Speaker C:And second, secondly, like create, creating a community, you know, bringing together cricket players, cricket fans, administrators, everyone who is involved in the game, who loves the game and is concerned about climate change, the effects it's going to have on cricket and the effect it's going to have on our world.
Speaker C:So kind of just building a community of those like minded people and yeah, building some momentum around making some changes within the game.
Speaker C:Mean in terms of like making actual like concrete changes.
Speaker C:I don't think we're, we're quite there yet, but that's like, that is an aspiration we have and we're, we're about to go through a process of yeah, kind of looking at the, the long term, the long term goal, like what it is like we're, we're aiming to do.
Speaker C:But yeah, it'd be great to actually.
Speaker C:Yeah, gets like, if you look at like what cricket for climate are doing in Australia, like actually physically getting solar panels on cricket clubs and getting, getting money out of the government to fund those kind of things, that's the sort of long term ambition of the type of thing we might, might look at in the future.
Speaker A:So can you, can you lay it out for us when you talk about climate change affecting cricket, like specifically, like what are you talking about?
Speaker A:Are you talking about like, like extreme heat, like you know, global warming for instance, or are you talking about like and for me when it comes to cricket, like one of the biggest issues is like how many games today are affected by rain and it's how, how is that tight or is that tied to climate change?
Speaker A:So can you give like specific examples that you know, you're working on?
Speaker C:Sure, absolutely.
Speaker C:So I mean like you said it yourself, like cricket is, is so dependent on the, on the conditions, on the weather, on the state of the pitch and it's, it's one of the, one of the sports that is most sensitive to, most vulnerable to the changes that we are already seeing from our changing climate and that predominantly is things getting more extreme.
Speaker C:So we are seeing for instance in India Significantly more days of extreme heat each year.
Speaker C:And at the same time you're seeing more extreme rainfall.
Speaker C:And that's everywhere.
Speaker C:Like in the uk, for instance, Worcestershire, their ground is flooded, I think it was eight times last winter.
Speaker C:And those extreme rainfall events are just getting more and more frequent and more and more extreme.
Speaker C:And, you know, the, their ground is, they're looking at moving, having to move ground because it's just no longer viable.
Speaker C:The cost of recovering from these sorts of events is just unsustainable and.
Speaker A:We'Re.
Speaker C:Only going to see more and more of this as our climate gets more chaotic and more extreme.
Speaker C:So, yeah, it's the extreme heat, the, the extreme rainfall and then conversely, the drought.
Speaker C:You look at in South Africa, for instance, Cape Town has been close to running out of water at times.
Speaker C:How do you maintain cricket in those conditions?
Speaker C:You know, you can't really.
Speaker C:And that.
Speaker C:We're seeing it all over the world.
Speaker C:You know, like I was reading the other day, like Tehran in Iran, the capital of Iran, the government is literally saying they may have to evacuate the city because the city's running out of water.
Speaker C:I know Iran isn't currently a big cricketing nation, but it's, it's adjacent to some.
Speaker C:And, you know, we're only, we're only going to see more and more of this.
Speaker C:Even in the, here in the uk, we, you know, we've just had one of the driest summers ever.
Speaker C:And, you know, they officially, parts of the UK have been in drought, which means you can't use hose pipes, you can't water pitches, and that even becomes dangerous.
Speaker C:You know, we had an article recently on our, on our website from a guy who, I think he's a commentator down in Somerset, but like playing for his local team, you know, like, he got smashed in the face with the ball just fielding, because the pitches are, you know, they're so dry and full of cracks and bumps and gets to the point that it's even like becoming dangerous to play on these, these kinds of surfaces.
Speaker C:And you see in Australia, there was the example of the guy of, Let me just check his name.
Speaker C:I don't want to get it wrong, Junaid Zafar Khan, the guy in Australia who died quite recently, I think it was like 40, 41 degree heat and he collapsed on the pitch.
Speaker C:So it is, you know, these extreme conditions.
Speaker C:At one end of the scale, it means you, you just can't play cricket.
Speaker C:It's, it's.
Speaker C:There's going to be more cancellations, there's going to be, it's Going to be harder and harder to get cricket.
Speaker C:And at the other end of the scale is dangerous.
Speaker C:You know, it's genuinely dangerous.
Speaker C:I mean, I don't want to like kind of overemphasize that too much or feel like I'm kind of.
Speaker C:What's the word?
Speaker C:Like catastrophizing or sensationalizing.
Speaker C:But, like, that is.
Speaker C:That is a possibility.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:It can actually become dangerous to play.
Speaker B:And what's your.
Speaker B:I mean, you've laid out some great examples and we've seen even not related to cricket, like, some drastic climate impacts.
Speaker B:You know, we in here in the us, on the east coast in particular, we hear about once in a century hurricane every season.
Speaker B:Nowadays, every season there's at least a couple of those once in a century type hurricanes.
Speaker B:Pakistan has had flooding, so we're seeing that.
Speaker B:But I guess even for somebody like myself who's conscious about making the right decisions, whether it's taking public transport or driving a hybrid, whatever it might be, even I have not really connected the two.
Speaker B:So what is your assessment of the awareness, the sense of awareness in cricket fans and cricket clubs on the impact of climate change?
Speaker B:Have you seen a lot of that?
Speaker B:I know obviously there's some international stars like Pat Cummins, who have been pretty vocal about this.
Speaker B:You know, I recently read that the conservative media in Australia started calling him Captain Vogue and then changed that to Captain Planet, which I found pretty funny.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But nonetheless.
Speaker B:Yeah, but nonetheless, like, apart from one or two stars, I don't know if there's been a lot about it.
Speaker B:But even before we get to the international level, have you seen that awareness amongst clubs?
Speaker C:I think it's like, it's certainly something that the awareness is rising and you see now, like in the ipl, like rcb, like, do stuff.
Speaker C:They had like a, like, Go Green game.
Speaker C:I don't know if you come across the Desert Vipers over in the UAE, they play in the ILT20, they're like all about sustainability and like, it's like, yeah, big on their agenda and like, in terms of, in terms of like individual players, yeah, I mean, you got Pat Cummins, but this is a guy who's almost like untouchable, right?
Speaker C:Like, he's, he's such a.
Speaker C:He's a such.
Speaker C:He's such a legend that I think he can, you know, he's.
Speaker C:And he's got that kind of the gravitas and the stature to, to, to kind of carry that off.
Speaker C:I know for a fact that players worry about coming across as hypocritical they, you know, they fly a lot.
Speaker C:They feel like they don't.
Speaker C:They, you know, they're not necessarily experts on climate change and there's like, you know, this is their, their livelihood, right?
Speaker C:They're, they're hesitant to, to do anything that might compromise that.
Speaker C:They, you know, they, lots of them are on social media.
Speaker C:They don't want to get hammered on social media.
Speaker C:They don't want to jeopardize sponsorship deals.
Speaker C:They, you know, some of them literally, you know, they, they have contractual obligations that they can't go against.
Speaker C:So something, something that's occurred to me with the like, players speaking out thing is, is kind of analogous to like the like personal carbon footprint.
Speaker C:Right, Mike, you just like touched on it there.
Speaker C:Like, we will try and all those of us who, you know, have the privilege to do so, like, you know, try our best to do all the right things, you know, like reduce our carbon footprint.
Speaker C:But like, I feel like more and more that's something of a red herring and the change that needs to happen is huge and systemic and focusing on individuals and the impact we can make as individuals is not counterproductive, but I don't think that's not going to make the change that we need.
Speaker C:But yeah, in terms of awareness, like, we, we ran a survey a little while ago and like 94% of, of respondents said they were concerned or extremely concerned about the effects of climate change.
Speaker C:The, the top things that they were concerned about with regards to cricket were the health of the players, extreme heat flooding and yeah, reduction in the amount of cricket being played.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker C:I think the, like, in terms of awareness, like, I think you said it earlier, Benny, like, pretty much everyone has some level of awareness of climate change and what's happening.
Speaker C:And I think the, the disconnect comes where maybe you're not seeing those direct impacts on your own life and then also where, like, people aren't really sure, you know, what, what can we do, what can we do about it as individuals?
Speaker C:So I think the awareness is there, but then there's those dual kind of disconnects where maybe you're not seeing direct impacts on your own life right now and, you know, what do we do about it as individuals?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that's a great point.
Speaker B:I mean, you know, as you said, like, we're starting to see impacts, maybe some in personal life, maybe some just around us in, you know, the place we stay in the country we stay and so on.
Speaker B:But yeah, directly correct, connecting that to cricket and essentially what action you can take, because I Always think of it from that terms.
Speaker B:If I see, hey, there's a problem, is there something I can do to help?
Speaker B:And that's the part that still is very, very unclear with regards to cricket.
Speaker B:To your point, I think you talked about an Australian organization, I think briefly, where you said they're doing solar panels and things like that for cricket clubs.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it would be amazing to learn more about what they're doing and at least at that grassroots level starting to bring that awareness.
Speaker B:Because then, you know, 20 years on, when you have all these cricketers who have come up, watching all these actions being taken, the whole team, and there's Pat Cummins might be an anomaly right now, but that's not going to be the case going forward.
Speaker B:So they'll have a better chance to speak up and, you know, talk about this and spread awareness and hopefully also get some actions in.
Speaker C:And there's, you know, there's this strength in unity.
Speaker C:The more people that, the more people that do speak up and the more that we can build those connections, the more power we have.
Speaker C:We're greater than the sum of our parts.
Speaker C:For example, in the uk, one of the highest profile players that's spoken up about it is Maya Bouchier from the England women's team.
Speaker C:She's an ECO athletes champion and, and is like, really quite outspoken about these kind of issues, particularly like her own personal experience.
Speaker C:And I know now that like, she's involved in, like, the Players Cricket association now have a, like, sustainability committee and, and like, the players, like, you know, they are behind the scenes, they are talking about this stuff a lot and, and it is like, it is a point of concern, but, yeah, it's that.
Speaker C:So the big question of, like, what.
Speaker C:What can we, what can we do as individuals?
Speaker C:The best, you know, the best we can do is, Is, yeah, form these connections.
Speaker A:So, Chris, do you see any kind of cultural disconnect on this issue?
Speaker A:Because some of the examples you've given, you know, from England and Australia, have you had any opportunities to interact with people like, you know, Asian countries, for instance?
Speaker A:And if you have, like, what is that discussion like?
Speaker A:Or do they consider it something notable that they have to address?
Speaker C:So, like, from our point of view, we haven't had much direct contact.
Speaker C:We have contact with some journalists, like in India and Pakistan, for instance.
Speaker C:But, like, if you look at the latest Hit for Six report that we were involved in producing, we weren't directly involved with the work in India, but there was quite a big, like, focus on India in the report and that Involved speaking to yeah cricketers on the ground in India and like gathering those kind of like grassroots voices and what's like abundantly clear is like it is, it is a serious area concern.
Speaker C:Like let me see if I can pick out a couple of quotes for you.
Speaker C:Like people in India are seeing games cancelled or shortened all the time.
Speaker C:People are worried that people will just start drifting away from the game.
Speaker C:It's becoming really concerning.
Speaker C:There's more and more days of extreme heat.
Speaker C:Like there are lots of examples in, in the report of.
Speaker C:Yeah, people in India are like experiencing the effects and they understand why and like it is like a serious concern.
Speaker B:One other piece on the report that I was reading about is just, you know, obviously what you're mentioning is just grassroot level or smaller clubs, you know, people or people who are playing just amateur leagues.
Speaker B:They are concerned about it getting more and more unbearable.
Speaker B:But obviously this is not impacting just those people.
Speaker B: % of the: Speaker B:You've already talked about England and the long summer that was there.
Speaker B:This time around the extreme heat.
Speaker B:Pakistan has had some crazy flooding in their, I believe their western or northwestern portions.
Speaker B:So it is starting to impact even at the higher level.
Speaker B:Considering that we've.
Speaker B:I don't believe so, but correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think we've seen any major initiatives by any of the boards, you know, bcci, ECB Cricket Australia.
Speaker B:Are you seeing any major movements from board's perspective?
Speaker C:I know that the, the Australians, I think they, they have brought in a heat policy.
Speaker C:I think the ecb, that's something they, they are looking at.
Speaker C:But yeah, aside from that I've yeah, not seen much.
Speaker B:So at this point it seems more of sort of speculation rather than, or starting to, starting to gain that awareness rather than any concrete actions or anything of that matter.
Speaker C:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker C:I mean the ICC don't seem to have taken any concrete steps at all.
Speaker C:They seem to be making some kind of noises about it.
Speaker C:I know they invited Cricket for Climate Pat Cummins organization to come and speak at one of their conferences.
Speaker C:So they are, you know, they are paying attention, they are aware.
Speaker C:But yeah, in terms of concrete actions we're not seeing very much.
Speaker C:The ecb, they, you know, they do have a sustainability strategy.
Speaker C:They have a full time sustainability manager, Kathy Gibbs who's like know she's amazing.
Speaker C:But yeah, on a, on a global level.
Speaker C:Yeah, is Sorely lacking and lagging behind other sports, I'd say.
Speaker A:So Most organizations, you know, are reactionary, right.
Speaker A:They wait till something really catastrophic happens and then they kind of wring their hands and they're like, okay, we need to do something about this.
Speaker A:Like after that's happened, what, what kind of event do you see could be like that kind of event?
Speaker A:You know, the catalytic event that forces people to sit up and take notice.
Speaker C:It's, I mean it's hard to say because we have already seen, you know, kind of the, the effects happening on, on the international level.
Speaker C:Like you've seen the example that springs to mind is Joe Root collapsing from.
Speaker C:Well, maybe not collapsing but you know, like suffering with the, the heat in Australia, I think it was.
Speaker C:You've seen the like, is it the Sri Lankans in India, like having to wear masks onto the pitch?
Speaker C:That was the, like in the ipl there was the, you know, like you've seen players like really suffering with the heat.
Speaker C:There was the, the, the owner of one of the franchises got hospitalized for.
Speaker C:With sunstroke.
Speaker C:But yeah, I think it would, it would have to be like a really high profile, know kind of effects on a, on a game.
Speaker C:Like, I mean, I hate to like say, but like players being hospitalized or you know, like how having serious ill health effects.
Speaker C:Yeah, like games being cancelled.
Speaker C:There was the, the game, I think it was this year or last year it was Afghanistan was supposed to play New Zealand in India and it was completely washed out.
Speaker C:Like all five days washed out.
Speaker C:Now like imagine if that was like an, a really high profile test, you know, like an India test or, or like the Ashes, like something like that, like people might actually start to pay attention.
Speaker B:I think it's also the venues, I think the other.
Speaker B:As you were asking that Benny, I was thinking it's, it has got to do with venues.
Speaker B:So you have many venues which are, you know, like Chennai for example is pretty close to the water.
Speaker B:Kolkata is probably not too far either.
Speaker B:There's probably other venues around, around the world which, just the way they're located, have a lot of, you know, history related to them, but at the same time have the potential of being impacted by these climate events.
Speaker B:And I think when that happens, more and more people are going to definitely start to notice.
Speaker B:I remember seeing, you know, Chris mentioned the ground in England which got flooded during the winter.
Speaker B:I saw one of those for one of the grounds.
Speaker B:I don't know if it was the same one, but you know, completely covered in snow and you know, unusable for Months.
Speaker B:So those sort of events as they happen more and more, especially to these iconic venues, whether you know, it's the Lords and MCGs and Kolkatas of the world, then that is going to definitely be something that people are going to worry about.
Speaker B:Because even if climate change is not something they think about when they think about cricket, they do care about these venues and you know, they've grown up watching cricket there.
Speaker B:So I do think that might be a way to, a reason to start paying attention.
Speaker B:But obviously it's hard to predict when that's going to happen.
Speaker C:Yeah, a lot of it's the same with so much of this with climate change.
Speaker C:It's hypothetical and it's based on models and yeah, we're starting to see some of the effects now, but it's hard to kind of join up all these isolated events and form a cohesive global picture.
Speaker C:But it's interesting you touched on the coastal venues because that's something I'm looking at at the moment is you know, you can get mapping of like projected sea level rise and therefore projected flooding.
Speaker C:And I'm looking at like which particularly international venues are going to be at risk in, in the coming decades.
Speaker C:And I like Kolkata is definitely one of them, probably Chennai.
Speaker C:There's, there's at least like five or six in India.
Speaker C:And yeah, there's yeah, venues all around the world.
Speaker C:You know, if the sea levels rise as projected, like they're going to be at risk of repeated flooding if not just, just completely underwater.
Speaker B:I think the one other piece that I've been thinking of as I've been reading more about this topic is I know it's not in the report that you mentioned, Chris, but just the manufacturing of bats and balls so that, that I recently read that English willow, the specific type of tree that is required for making these bats, they've had a couple of bad seasons and so the number of, you know, the amount of wood available has been decreasing and, and that's again an impact of climate change.
Speaker B:Recently I read, or maybe I heard Jason Gillespie mention that, you know, having balls of leather is not something sustainable.
Speaker B:And it was, I think one of the first high profile Crick was you know, talking about it and his, I don't know if he had a solution to it but it was more of hey, we need to start thinking about alternative materials.
Speaker B:Are you aware of any other research, anything like that?
Speaker B:Conversations that have been happening in this direction?
Speaker C:So yeah, I mean like with the, with the willow, I think I, I think they were talking about on the wisdom podcast recently and I think like climate change is definitely a factor and it will undoubtedly continue to be a factor.
Speaker C:You know, it is going to affect the, the, the growing seasons and the, the ability to, to grow that willow.
Speaker C:But it's not, you know, it's not the only factor.
Speaker C:I think the, the massive increase in demand for bats has, has, you know, that that's what's putting the major pressure on it.
Speaker C:You know, you've seen the explosion of T20 and, and not only has that led to high demand, it's also mean, it also means that the bats are, you know, they're not built to last and you know, they're almost like single use sometimes.
Speaker C:So you know, they, the way they put it on the, on the Wisdom podcast is like they should have anticipated this huge increase in demand like 30, 40 years ago and planted like five times as many willow trees.
Speaker C:So I think that's like, I don't want to overplay the climate part of it too much, but I think it's inevitable that that is, is going to have some impact on, on the supply.
Speaker C:And I know that they are, there are moves to look at alternatives in terms of cricket bats.
Speaker C:You know, they've looked at, there's people looking at bamboo.
Speaker C:I don't know how viable that is.
Speaker C:I saw recently that there these new like composite bats, but we had, we had a heads up recently from a guy who works in that kind of material space that they're not so great in terms of being recyclable.
Speaker C:So I don't know how sustainable an option that is.
Speaker C:But yeah, like bats, like it is going to be an issue.
Speaker C:I don't know how big an issue in terms of the balls.
Speaker C:I am personally a vegan, so I really struggle using leather cricket balls.
Speaker C:But right now I don't think there's a viable alternative.
Speaker C:I think that material science is advancing rapidly and you know, they are trying to, to come up with you know, like alternative leathers, but it's, it's clearly not there just yet.
Speaker C:But I think, you know, Jason Gillespie is absolutely right.
Speaker C:I think using particularly cow leather, it's just not, it's not sustainable.
Speaker C:We know that animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly cows.
Speaker C:And yeah, it's from a, from a climate perspective, it's, it's not great and it's not sustainable.
Speaker C:So there will have to be a wrecking at some point.
Speaker C:And that may well just come from the, you know, it may just be like sheer economics in that.
Speaker C:I think it's at some point in the near future going to become more and more expensive and more difficult to justify keeping cattle basically.
Speaker C:So it's going to be, you know, making cricket balls is from cow leather is going to, it's just going to be unaffordable.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I find, what I find interesting about that is there's only so much you can do to reduce the number of balls needed because I think even club level teams, you know, they'll obviously not be buying hundreds of balls if they didn't need to.
Speaker B:You just run out of over a season, you just need X number of balls.
Speaker B:And that's just the truth of it.
Speaker B:Every game you need a couple of new balls and all of that.
Speaker B:So reducing that is not as straightforward.
Speaker B:Obviously we'll have to think about alternative materials as you were mentioning.
Speaker B:But the bat aspect is interesting because I personally, you know, having been a cricket fan all my life, just like you are, had one good English willow bat growing up because that is what we could afford and, and you know, I savored it.
Speaker B:I kept it close to myself and made sure nobody else could borrow it.
Speaker B:And now that I'm, you know, a little more comfortable in life, I have three sitting right there.
Speaker B:And I feel like such a waste as we're having this conversation because to your point, it's become so affordable and of course as the, you know, India, Pakistan in particular, where there's so much hunger and passion for cricket have become more and more, you know, economies where people can buy, buy these products, I feel like this, I'm not the exception.
Speaker B:Like I know so many, you know, people around the world, cricket fans around the world who will use one bat for this, for their season and have a couple extra which they're knocking for the season after, which is obviously unneeded.
Speaker B:But, but I mean I think it's conversations like these which make you realize that, you know, these are definitely things that we can do better.
Speaker C:It's like classic, you know, luxuries become necessities.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:You remind me, reminded me though like the point I wanted to make about yeah like repairing bats and looking after bats and reconditioning bats I think is something I could certainly do better.
Speaker C:And we could all, you know, we could all be doing that.
Speaker C:I saw a great thing on Harry Brook on, on his Instagram, like he takes his bats to like a 10 year old kid to like this 10 year old kid just like set up his own little like cricket bat like refurb thing in like his dad's garage.
Speaker C:And Harry Brooks saw this and then, like, took him a bunch of bats to like, get him to, to do them up for him.
Speaker C:So, like, if, if it's, if it, you know, if it's good enough for Harry Brooke, like, I think we could all be looking after our cricket bats a bit better.
Speaker B:One of the other things that I want to talk about was sponsorships related to cricket.
Speaker B:But before we jump into that, is there any other part of the report, Chris, that we've not touched upon that you want to throw light on?
Speaker C:One thing I found really interesting was the Simon Katic in Australia, you know, talking about, like, his own children being affected by.
Speaker C:Yeah, lots of cancellations, particularly from rain.
Speaker C:It's just not something you associate from with Australia.
Speaker C:And anyway, it made me think of a report I saw recently that talked about how, how players, how athletes can kind of talk about this stuff with, with credibility and it's all about, like, relating it to, to their own experience.
Speaker C:And yeah, I just wanted to like, highlight that story from Simon Katic about, like, you know, he's, he's worried about his kids losing cricket and.
Speaker C:Yeah, I just, I'd say to like, any cricketers anywhere that are, like, kind of concerned about this kind of thing or conflicted, like, just like.
Speaker C:Yeah, think about your, your own experience and your, your own life and like, how this is impacting or could impact on it.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:I think, you know, the home of US Cricket, since two of us are sitting here in the US is often considered North Carolina.
Speaker B:And the Raleigh Cricket Ground, which has hosted multiple major league finals and, and all of that.
Speaker B:And I know not too far from there there was a major flooding that happened which destroyed parts of, you know, North Carolina, which are actually pretty inland.
Speaker B:They're not even very close to the coast, but there were just storms that flooded that.
Speaker B:So, yeah, it's definitely coming to our neighborhoods and our cities and things that we need to keep in mind.
Speaker C:The huge flood in Texas not so long ago as well.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:I want to talk a little bit about sponsorships.
Speaker B:We've kind of touched on what the boards are doing.
Speaker B:ICC seems to have some level of awareness, but probably not action yet.
Speaker B: tion with certain targets for: Speaker B:But as I look at the sponsorships around ICC, I still see Aramco as a key ICC sponsor.
Speaker B:You see their logo in the background on the ground every World cup game.
Speaker C:Or every not sponsored by Aramco.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:We also see league sponsored by ExxonMobil for example, the Caribbean Premier League, which has that as one of their key sponsors.
Speaker B:And they've spent a lot of money trying to debunk the whole thing about climate change and trying to spread other theories around all of this.
Speaker B:I think we've also seen in general there's a lot more Saudi Arabia influence in cricket and that's just not just cricket.
Speaker B:I think they've been trying to invest in all sports to just help with their, the marketing that the country has.
Speaker B:But considering all of that, do you think ICC is headed in the right direction or do you think like the overall the cultural change that Benny touched on is not going to come until some of these sponsors are sort of pushed out the door and replaced by some more forward looking, you know, future thinking sponsors?
Speaker C:Oh, I mean, I mean the first thing to say is like you know cricket like any sport needs money, right?
Speaker C:Like they need this one, they need sponsorship in order to, to function in, in the way that they do.
Speaker C:And you know, like that's, that's always going to be part of the equation.
Speaker C:I think that there's, there's always going to be conflicts of interest.
Speaker C:But like this particular one, like, like with Aramco on Saudi Arabia, it just creates such a huge conflict of interest for cricket, particularly because you know, cricket like, like I mentioned is at is so vulnerable to the effects of climate change and you know, it makes it almost impossible for an organization such as the ICC to credibly speak about it or do anything about it because they have this compromising relationship with one of the world's biggest polluters.
Speaker C:And let me just read you a quote from.
Speaker C:This is from Dr. Mariam Aldesari and she, she's a board member at Alkist who are one of the, the NGOs who are involved with us on the, There's a campaign trying to numerous sports organizations, FIFA, the icc, the Formula One, Various sports organizations that have this around co sponsorship to justify it if they can and ideally drop that sponsorship.
Speaker C:But anyway, this is what she said.
Speaker C:She said sports washing is the Saudi Arabian regime's most effective PR weapon.
Speaker C:And you know, I don't think it's, I don't think it's a coincidence that Aramco or the, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, I think they have like something like 70 sports sponsorship deals in different sports around the world.
Speaker C:You know, they're like buying up sports teams, you know, talking about buying into cricket even further.
Speaker C:And it's, it's a very, yeah, it's a complicated web to extract yourself from.
Speaker C:But, like, say, if you, if you want to have any kind of moral credibility, It's not a relationship that you can be part of.
Speaker B:One of the things that, I mean, obviously this is not.
Speaker B:You're right, it's not something that can change overnight.
Speaker B:And there's a balancing act, right?
Speaker B:Like, obviously cricket needs the money to sponsor and continue to survive and thrive.
Speaker B:And even now, I think it's the big three boards that are earning so much and there's so many other boards which are barely scraping by, so there's so much more money that is required by the sport.
Speaker B:So this is definitely a challenge that is going to continue over the next few years and that balancing act needs to be managed.
Speaker B:But I think the other aspect of it that I think about is the outcome of it and the outcome of continuing down this path is we'll probably have to think about something like indoor stadiums.
Speaker B:Like, I know one of the.
Speaker B:I don't know which stadium it was in Australia, but they used to have the dome at one point, which would cover up and help with, you know, rain or, or other climate effects.
Speaker C:That's been proposed recently by the ecb.
Speaker C:They, they, I mean, it's all very kind of pie in the sky at the moment.
Speaker C:But, yeah, there's talk of building an indoor stadium in the uk.
Speaker B:And the thing about that is I'm all for adjusting to the times.
Speaker B:Benny and I have chatted about night tests and four day tests, and while we both love the test game, the way we've seen it over the years, I generally think we have to move with the times.
Speaker B:And if night cricket and four day cricket is the more sustainable way, more, you know, financially sustainable way for a lot of these countries, that is something that needs to be considered.
Speaker B:So I would totally be on board understanding that.
Speaker B:But I think the piece around indoor stadiums, that is, it completely changes your game.
Speaker B:Suddenly the, you know, we've talked about clouds and moisture and humidity helping swing, suddenly that goes out of the picture.
Speaker B:If you have indoor stadiums, this becomes.
Speaker A:An entirely different game.
Speaker B:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker B:So I think that kind of, kind.
Speaker C:Of, kind of like you, you said, like you, you have to move at the times and cricket has moved the times.
Speaker C:Cricket is constantly adapting and changing.
Speaker C:You know, test cricket hasn't always been in its, its current form.
Speaker C:And from a, from a climate perspective, I think we are now in a situation where it's not just about climate mitigation in terms of attempting to mitigate the effects, it's about adaptation.
Speaker C:We are going to also now have to adapt the way that we do things and cricket isn't going to be any different.
Speaker C:What that kind of ends up looking like is still kind of up for debate.
Speaker B:Chris, probably the last question on this topic that I have is, as somebody who's looking at climate change and the impacts on cricket involved with the next Test, is your outlook towards the way things are progressing positive or negative?
Speaker B:Do you think everything that's going is headed in the right direction, or do you think we're moving too slow, we have a wrong mindset?
Speaker B:Where do you stand on that?
Speaker C:I mean, it's a very fine balance to strike between despair and hope.
Speaker C:But I'll focus on the hope because I think that's the most important thing.
Speaker C:We try to focus on the positives and the good stuff that's happening and the solutions that are out there.
Speaker C:We don't just want to be doom and gloom and naysayers and telling people what they shouldn't be doing all the time.
Speaker C:So, yeah, in terms of the positives, the hopeful side, I think it's all about community.
Speaker C:I think we have seen some amazing stuff.
Speaker C:We did a project recently just here where I live in Bristol in the uk, with like local clubs and that uncovered.
Speaker C:Yeah, all sorts of great stuff going on.
Speaker C:You know, like clubs putting up solar panels, making space for nature.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker C:I think, you know, cricket is, Cricket is a community already.
Speaker C:It's, it's a global community.
Speaker C:It unites people all around the world in, in different countries.
Speaker C:So there's like this, this kind of like already existing community there.
Speaker C:And, and that, that's powerful, right?
Speaker C:There's like 2 billion cricket fans around the world.
Speaker C:Like that, that's.
Speaker C:There's a lot of potential there.
Speaker C:And like here in the uk, you know, there's a, there's a great community of, in like sports sustainability, right, that, you know, like you've got Kathy Gibbs at the, at the ecb.
Speaker C:Stuart Dunlop is the sustainability manager at Lords.
Speaker C:Emily.
Speaker C:Emily Iverson Pritchard at the Oval.
Speaker C:Russell Seymour, he now heads the British British association for Sustainable Sport.
Speaker C:He was the sustainability manager at Lords.
Speaker C:You know, he's done some amazing stuff and there's this momentum, there is this kind of community and, yeah, focus on sustainability within cricket and within sport in general, building in the uk.
Speaker C:So that's like, you know, that's really great to see.
Speaker C:Like, we, at the next test, like, we get inundated with requests for, like, collaborations and projects.
Speaker C:Like, you know, we.
Speaker C:So many, we can't, we can't cope with them.
Speaker C:You know, we, we don't have the capacity to, to do half of this stuff.
Speaker C:And I suppose the, the last thing I wanted to say was solar panels, like, solar panels give me hope, right?
Speaker C:Because I don't know if you've come across Bill McKibben, he's a US climate scientist.
Speaker C:His book came out recently called Here Comes the Sun, and he talks about how the growth in solar panels has been exponential.
Speaker C:It's incredible the amount of renewable energy that's being added every, every minute.
Speaker C:I, I saw some incredible stat about like the, the amount of like, kilowatt hours that are added in Pakistan every minute.
Speaker C:Like in the last year, Pakistan added half of their entire national grid's worth of energy just in solar panels.
Speaker C:And this is like, just like individual, like random, like farmers in the middle of nowhere, like, sticking up a couple of solar panels that they've got cheap from China.
Speaker C:And you know, that's, that's another conversation.
Speaker C:Cheap solar panels from China.
Speaker C:But like, you know, the solar revolution is coming.
Speaker C:It's here and we see like, you know, like cricket for cricket for climate in Australia putting up the solar panels and getting $50 million from the Australian government.
Speaker C:I heard the other day in Australia, I don't know if it's the whole country, but like certain states have just agreed to start giving residents three free hours of energy every day because the solar panels are pumping out so much.
Speaker C:You know, this is, this is amazing.
Speaker C:It's happening right now.
Speaker C:And that's what really gives me hope because that is, you know, it's the fossil fuels that need to go.
Speaker C:It's all very well, like doing your recycling and like driving an EV and taking the bus and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker C:But it's the huge global system of drilling this stuff out of the ground and burning it that needs to change, and it needs to change very fast.
Speaker C:Solar panels give me hope.
Speaker A:Well, Chris, we're going to latch on to that hope because I think we need more of that rather than cynicism or just, you know, just a resistance to things that can improve and just help us kind of keep the sport alive, the sport that we all love.
Speaker A:So I really hope that more, you know, players, boards, organizations continue to collaborate with you guys.
Speaker A:And thank you so much for the work that you do, you and the next test and organizations like yours.
Speaker A:Again, I am, I'm sure there are many like me who can't really fathom, you know, the, the granular details of the work that you do or almost the consequence of not having that work being Done.
Speaker A:So really want to appreciate and thank you and your organization for everything that you guys are doing for our listeners.
Speaker A:You can check out Chris on his Twitter handle and we'll also include the link to the next test so you can look more into what they're doing and essentially what you can do as well.
Speaker A:But, Chris, before we sign off, I do have to ask you.
Speaker A:The Ashes are coming up not too far away.
Speaker A:As an Englishman, how do you feel about England's chances?
Speaker C:I mean, my heart says that it's going to be our time.
Speaker C:This is like the culmination of the basball project and it's all like, this is it.
Speaker C:This is our moment.
Speaker C:And we've got this, this battery of fast bowlers who are just going to blow Australia away.
Speaker C:But then my head looks at the.
Speaker C:The stats.
Speaker A:You've been down this road before.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker C:I, I just feel like the, The.
Speaker C:The England team is kind of like held together with, like, sticking tape and.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And string and.
Speaker C:What's that like?
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So do Australia.
Speaker C:Well, yeah, there is that, but like, they're also that, you know, it's.
Speaker C:It's Australia in Australia, right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Not many teams go there and win, so.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Heart says England scrape an implausible victory.
Speaker C:Head says it's just going to be a, you know, the same old story, but I think it's.
Speaker C:Yeah, it should be.
Speaker C:I'm excited.
Speaker C:I'm excited for this one because I think it's going to be.
Speaker C:It's going to be more fun than the.
Speaker C:The usual total drubbing.
Speaker C:I think England, you know, England are going to throw a few punches at least.
Speaker A:Well, absolutely.
Speaker A:I think that's one thing that we will know for sure under Bass McCollum and Ben Stokes at this English team, it's not going to be like the English teams of yore who would go in, get whitewashed.
Speaker A:And I'll tell you what, if England do manage to win the series, it's going to be one for the history books.
Speaker A:It's going to be a fascinating series for sure.
Speaker A:But, Chris, thank you once again for joining us.
Speaker A:And it looks like your T slept through the whole recording, so when all around.
Speaker A:But, yeah, thanks again and please do come back whenever you want to talk.
Speaker C:About climate change so much, guys.
Speaker C:Thank you for having me.
