Over a century ago, “Wisden” denounced the selections for the England team by saying they had “touched the confines of lunacy”. The same phrase should be recycled for the ECB’s decision about Headingley.
I think the decision was either taken last year or the 2024, so before the seven match winning streak had been established. Nevertheless, it was already known that Headingley was generally a happy hunting ground for England, especially in The Ashes.
Within recent memory there is the Botham and Willis* Test of 1981, Mark Butcher’s match winning innings in 1997 and the Ben Stokes/Jack Leach stand of 2019.
I know there are fewer grounds in Australia and their venues tend to pick themselves but imagine there were ten grounds in the country and the home side had a particularly good record at one of them. Does anyone think Australia would not select it for an Ashes Test?
Australia must be laughing at the ECB’s decision. They might already feel they are 1-0 up before a ball has been bowled.
Aside from England’s record, the decision to not play at Headingley and Old Trafford is (as Drone implies) a slap in the face for cricket supporters in the North of England. A huge amount of the population lives in the Liverpool/Manchester/Leeds/Sheffield area – the Red Wall of political discourse. And many of them are cricket fans. I wouldn’t be surprised if more amateur cricket is played in the two Roses counties than in the rest of England put together.
Someone from the ECB top brass should be held accountable but no doubt they will all pocket bonuses instead.
And I hope the decision was not taken to teach Yorkshire a lesson for past misdeamours. If it was, then it was stupid and short sighted.
* Not forgetting Graeme Dilley’s vital contribution.