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I love cricket. I really do.
The ‘gentlemen’s sport’ is a joy to behold at the best of times.
What I don’t love however, is cricket scheduling.
A recent schedule announcement confirmed that cricket – for the most part – is broken.
At the conclusion of the upcoming summer, Australia is scheduled to play a T20 international against Sri Lanka in Adelaide on February 22nd, and begin a Test match against India the following day. Where will the Test match be? In Pune, India.
Due to the disbelief that accompanies such a schedule, I had to double-check.
Then I triple-checked.
Then I investigated the difference in time zones to attempt to figure out if it were indeed possible to play in the T20, fly to India, and be ready in time for the first ball of Session 1.
It’s not.
Australian Cricketer’s Association chief Alistair Nicholson summed up the madness in as politically correct a way as he could when asked about the matter.
He said, “These are very significant decisions that actually change what it means to represent Australia…The player’s view is that the best players should play for their country, and this is something we believe is echoed by the Australian public. If that is changing, then it poses the question: what does it mean for the value of the Australian cap?”
I don’t currently possess the words, eloquence, or temperament to attempt to digest this.
All I will say is that these are jaw-droppingly, staggeringly stupid decisions and literally everyone who has ever played, supported, or watched the game is a victim of the dismayingly bad scheduling by the ICC.
What do you think, Roarers? Is this a sign that we should be readying ourselves for a cricketing future where national teams in different formats have completely different rosters? And is that the way we want to go?
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