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Tucked away on my Facebook posts, amid the usual blatherings of mates about what they ate for breakfast during the week, was the announcement by Cricket Australia on April 6 about the Big Bash League Twenty20 series for 2011-12.
The team names and colours are in – and they are truly horrible.
I scanned down the list and failed to find anything that inspired me whatsoever. Nada, nix, not a sausage.
Come December 2011, you can bus it/train it/walk it down to your good ol’ favourite cricketing stadiums to see the following gee-whizz-bang fixtures:
Adelaide Strikers (in blue) v Brisbane Heat (in teal – yes TEAL?!?!?) at Adelaide Oval, the Hobart Hurricanes (in purple, of all things – and pardon my meteorological prognosticationary ignorance, but since when have hurricanes really been associated with the Apple Isle?) v the Perth Scorchers (in grand Dutch orange) at Bellerive Oval, a derby between the Melbourne Renegades (red) v the Melbourne Stars (in green, oh dear…) at Etihad Stadium and the Sydney-only contest between the equally sickeningly-liveried Sixers (pink) and Thunder (electric green) at the Homebush Olympic Stadium.
What an absolutely brain-dead selection that lot is.
Cricket Australia claimed that the team identities “were developed through a combination of feedback from fans and consultation with experts in sports team branding.”
Oh, yeah? How much negativity flowing from serious-minded cricket supporters from The Roar went against this silly competition format? And how much of that passion did Cricket Australia really take note of?
The comments left by fans on the Cricket Australia website alone tended towards the antagonistic. As of 8pm on Friday, the ratio of likes to dislikes was 1:9.
As in 90 per cent of posters hated the idea. Cue random reactions such as: “disgusting”, “a joke”, “you lost a fan”, “poor decision”, “um, when I last looked there were another two Territories in Australia that could have joined in”, “lame”, “I foresee a train-wreck”…
You get the idea.
Cricket Australia spokesman Mike McKenna said “in order to grow the game we need to move away from the existing state-based structure because we can’t increase the number of teams – and provide more opportunities for players – under the current system which is the core of our four-day and one-day cricket”.
Er – team increases?
Capital Territory Comets and the Northern Territory, anyone? More opportunities for players? How about the ACT and NT? The growth of the sport isn’t the issue here. It’s how Cricket Australia has gone about it all. I’ve always said an eight-team Twenty20 competition in Australia would be perfectly fine.
So long as it remains based on the state rivalries fans know and love, and simply by adding the aforementioned ACT and NT sides to the mix. Easy.
In the same manner as the culling of the 2015 World Cup to just 10 Test-playing nations, Cricket Australia has again been involved in a decision that is a total setback for the sport in this country.
Equally, in the same manner, I encourage all true cricket fanatics to boycott the Big Bash League next summer. Cricket Australia don’t deserve your money if this is the way they are treating the otherwise vital interstate competition.
At least it’s given me an even greater incentive to try to get into the Ryobi Cup next year and find some degree of solace in the Australia-India-Sri Lanka World Series.
Better than nothing I suppose, but the Big Bash League is shaping up as a pretty big nothing to overcome.
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