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The ICC's new proposals are just what cricket needs

Australia's two best batsmen are out of action for the foreseeable.(AFP PHOTO / GREG WOOD)
Editor
20th June, 2016
22

Finally, some common sense. Finally, a feeling that cricket is going on a path that doesn’t lead straight to the coffers of the BCCI.

With the International Cricket Council (ICC) not far away from their annual conference, members are preparing to discuss three new proposals which could shake up the way cricket is played and watched.

One of those proposals is an idea to change the way the sport is sold to TV networks. It’s long and confusing, but in short it aims to give cricket boards more income from the sale of their international broadcast rights by bundling together multiple series and then selling them to TV stations.

A more thorough description can be found here, but given the dire financial position of many cricket boards, it’s a fine idea.

Far more important, though, are the mooted changes to ODIs and Tests.

For Tests, ICC chief executive David Richardson is looking to expand the format to include more teams and split them into two divisions, with the Test champions decided over the course of a two-year cycle.

The result would surely be greater attention focused on the lower-performing Test teams, as countries like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the West Indies strive to avoid relegation while the up-and-comers (such as Afghanistan and Ireland) seek to join the big leagues.

As for ODIs, the proposal on the table is to create a 13-team championship, where every team plays a three-game series against everyone else over the course of three years. The two best teams at the end of the cycle would meet for a three or five-game finals series, while the worst-performing sides would face relegation. Every fourth year would be reserved for World Cups.

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The ideas, in short, are excellent. They give smaller nations extra chances to play meaningful fixtures and showcase their talent. More importantly, they add purpose to the multitude of bilateral one-day and Test series, the frequency of which has rendered them nearly meaningless.

Take a look at every major sport around the world. Whether it’s football and the English Premier League, basketball’s NBA or union’s Super Rugby, people follow them with a mad fervour when there is lasting, meaningful competition.

With the exception of a few marquee fixtures which punctuate the monotony, cricket has turned into a constant stream of series which don’t have any significance outside the two participating countries. It’s comparable to Leicester City only playing friendlies or the Cleveland Cavaliers just turning out for exhibition games.

Having a couple of long-lasting championships would give fans a reason to turn out in droves for previously poorly attended matches. How much more of a crowd, I wonder, would have got out to see Australia take on the West Indies earlier this year if a world championship was on the line?

Plus, we get to see more of Mohammad Shazad.

In any case, it’s not worth celebrating the proposals just yet because they currently remain just that: proposals. The idea of a Test championship has already fallen flat on its face once before despite being officially launched.

But if the proposals pass and the Test and ODI championships are set to become a reality – they’re said to be on the table for as early as 2019 – then cricket will be on its way to becoming a sport with more fans, more teams and, above all, more relevance.

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Let’s just hope these proposals do become a reality.

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