Off-season events need more support with the English game going through its latest existential crisis

Hidden behind trees in the gloom of dimly lit street lamps, the Lees Hall Golf Club is easy to miss on a dank autumnal evening. As I park – having turned around after initially driving straight past – and step out of my car, the only signs of life in the deserted car park come from another vehicle out of which two men in their later years emerge.

“Is this the right place for the cricket meeting?” I enquire. “It is,” one of them replies. “And I’m guessing by the fact you’re half the age of anyone else coming tonight that you’re the guest speaker.”