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The Cricket World Cup is finally returning to Australian soil – well Australian and New Zealand soil – and it’s the perfect opportunity for Cricket Australia to take a stand.
It’s time for Cricket Australia to stand up for the smaller cricketing nations of the world. It’s time for them to stop thinking about the health of their bank account and start thinking about the health of the sport of cricket.
Just over a year ago the ICC entered a new era. The three financial superpowers of world cricket – India, Australia and England – formed an alliance that effectively gave them complete control of the sport. After much lobbying from the ‘small seven’, the seven other Test playing nations, the initial proposals were watered down, but the power of the ‘Big Three’ remains.
The official line from Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board was that such measures were necessary to keep India under control. By forming a triumvirate, England and Australia had the power to veto India at any moment. However, from the outside looking in, it appeared to be nothing of the sort. The fact that ICC revenue will now be distributed unevenly, with the Big Three taking a larger slice of the pie, suggests that England and Australia are simply chasing the dollar, or the pound.
One of the main proposals that was immediately shot down by the ‘small seven’ was the creation of a two-tiered Test system and, as a result, the dumping of the Future Tours Program. Despite the desires of the Big Three to abandon the Future Tours Program it remains in place until at least the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
The Future Tours Program aims to ensure that every cricketing nation plays every other cricketing nation at least twice during a four-year period, both home and away. The major nations have been notoriously bad at fulfilling the requirements of the Future Tours Program.
Australia can’t even fulfill the requirements of the program against their closest neighbours, New Zealand. The Black Caps travelled to Australia in November and December of 2011 and will return this November for another Test Series. In between multiple Ashes and Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, Australia was unable to squeeze in a Test series in New Zealand. There are simply no excuses for this; Cricket Australia can certainly not blame travel.
Thankfully during the next four-year block there are two Test series against New Zealand planned, a three-Test series in Australia this November and another three-Test series in New Zealand next February. There are also separate limited overs series planned for 2017 and 2019.
As always, Australia’s imbalanced Test schedule comes down to money. We play five-Test series against England because they are our biggest moneymakers. We play two-Test series against Bangladesh because Cricket Australia makes no money playing large multi-Test series against them. We play Bangladesh and Pakistan and Sri Lanka because we have to; we play India and England because we want to.
This is where it’s time to return to my starting point – Cricket Australia should want to play the smaller nations because it is good for the game of cricket.
For cricket to survive in places like the West Indies they need to be playing the best teams in the world on a regular occasion. Playing Australia in the Caribbean is not only good financially for the West Indies, it gives young West Indies fans a chance to witness some of the best in the world and it gives the players the opportunity to measure themselves against a high-calibre opposition.
The West Indies have the ability to one day reclaim their title of best cricketing nation in the world, they just need some help. The Big Three taking money away from them is not help.
Cricket Australia needs to look at world cricket with a long-term view. The West Indies are currently a basket case. There is significant infighting between players and administrators and they don’t draw very big crowds here in Australia because fans are expecting blowouts.
If, or when, the West Indies grow into a powerhouse of world cricket, every Test series will be highly anticipated and will be a boon financially for Cricket Australia. Instead of waiting for the West Indies to get to this point, Cricket Australia, and the ECB and BCCI, should help them get there.
Speaking of helping smaller nations out, Cricket Australia should stand up for the minnows that are about to be locked out of future Cricket World Cups. The plan for the 2019 World Cup is to move from the current 14-team structure to a 10-team competition. How can a sport label its showpiece event a World Cup when only 10 nations are allowed in? It’s basically a glorified version of the Champions Trophy.
I’m not calling for a repeat of the 2007 monstrosity that went for seven weeks, but 16 teams would be nice. Instead of adopting a Super 8 format, a simple round of quarter-finals, followed by semis and a final, would be good.
The World Cup is the one chance for the sport’s minnows to shine on the world stage. Obviously they aren’t going to win the entire competition, but they deserve to be there.
Without the lure of a World Cup there is no incentive for minnows like Ireland to invest in the sport of cricket. There is no incentive for players to continue playing the sport at a semi-professional level. There is even the chance that those who are good enough will simply switch allegiances, just like England captain Eoin Morgan has done.
It is up to Cricket Australia, as a result of their position in the Big Three, to step up and explain why we need these countries in the World Cup. Again, this requires a long-term view.
Holding a long-term view isn’t purely about predicting the growth of cricket, it is also about foreboding cricket’s downfall.
The sport of soccer is growing at quite a rate in India; it is not hard to imagine a world in which India isn’t cricket obsessed like it is now and soccer has become the number one sport. Without investment to grow the game outside of India and traditional cricket playing nations, the decline of India would be disastrous for the sport.
Cricket can’t rest on its laurels in an increasingly cluttered sporting world. Cricket needs to grow the game and expand into new markets. That is why it is so important to include minnows in the Cricket World Cup and Australia needs to lead this charge.
Twitter: @fromthesheds
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