The Big Bash is doomed. And if it isn’t, well, it damn well deserves to be. The first problem is Twenty20 itself.
Wake up, Cricket Australia – this version of the game is fast becoming dull. Cricket is a viscous sport, one which, when given time, conditions and players of sufficient skill, ebbs and flows organically and unpredictably.
Occasionally it conforms to our predictions, frequently it defies them utterly.
It’s a game that can leave the observer gobsmacked, puzzling how we got from here to there when things seemed like a fait accompli a day, an innings, a session ago. Certainly, at times the longer form can seem to lead while the players follow.
Yet it’s exactly these periods – when the impatient and ignorant complain of drift or dawdle – that create the space for something breathtaking to erupt. The 50-over game is a compromise, but as the nail-biters over the years have shown, a day is still enough time for a drama.
In forcing an inherently gradual game into such a compressed time frame, Twenty20 strips cricket of its guile, subtlety and potential and reduces it to little more than a dull mechanical exercise devoid of charm.
T20 deletes the exposition, plot twists, and rising action of the longer forms, leaving little more than than climaxes – boundaries and wickets, yay, anything else, boo. It’s like reading a novel composed with nothing but full stops and exclamation marks – an ugly, repetitive nonsense.
Batting’s no longer a craft, but an exercise in industrial threshing. The bowling is dire. Executed in a context that only T-ball bests for bias towards the bat, Twenty20 bowling has degenerated into a desperately negative endeavour, a ceaseless diet of low full tosses, as painful to watch as a kidney stone is to pass.
Yet as if that weren’t enough, Cricket Australia has now thrust upon us the new look Big Bash and its city-based ‘franchises’. Woe is me – synthetic teams playing an artificial game over the prime months of summer.
Just when we should be a enjoying a rich diet of cricket’s choice cuts, we’ll instead be dished up two months of empty calories, as the Big Bash dominates media interest and swallows up the nation’s key talent.
Reports that CA will elevate this inane confection over the late-December Chairman’s XI tour match against India, by locking Test aspirants into competing Bash commitments, is the final insult to those of us who love cricket, played properly.
There will, however, be a perfectly sound alternative for those interested in three hours of competitive bat and ball action this summer. Baseball. The Australian Baseball League’s sophomore season, which gets underway in November, is far more deserving of the attention of local sport fans than the Big Bash.
For starters, it’s a legitimate contest, not a debased form of a traditional sport. While the reborn ABL is fresh, the game being played will be much as it has been for 150-odd years, give or take a few tweaks along the way.
It’s also a competition aimed at enhancing, rather than exploiting, potential.
Unlike the Big Bash, which in the name of ‘entertainment’ takes emerging players and asks them to corrupt themselves – bat horizontally, bowl negatively – the ABL offers up and coming locals the chance to test and develop their skills against big league expats and foreign ball-players seeking to fine tune over the northern winter.
Backed by Major League Baseball and watched by offshore scouts, the ABL asks its prospects to improve, not improvise.
The Big Bash? Witness the floundering inelegance of Steven Smith late in last year’s Ashes series, or Dave Warner’s long form struggles (Zimbabwe aside) – both the sad result of Twenty20s’s malign influence on inchoate talent.
So come summer, as ever, I’ll be all over the Sheffield Shield, the Test series and even the one-day fixtures. But when it comes to the Big Bash, well, take me out to the ballgame.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
So, does the Big Bash have any investors yet ?
Evan Askew
Guest
thanks!
Elizabeth
Guest
@Evan -- Yes, the Brisbane Bandits. I think they play at the showground ... www.brisbanebandits.com.au.
Evan Askew
Guest
Don't forget the history and tradition of football in South America as well. Europe isn't the be all and end all of football. As much as they like to think so. A league is fine. Lets reserve judgement on that in a few years time because at its current status it still draws at least double the crowds of the competition it supplanted (THE NSL) which has all the history and tradition.
Evan Askew
Guest
Does Brisbane still have a team in the Baseball competition? And if they do where do they play?
Jim Forbes
Guest
Thanks for all the feedback - only just got my internet up and running! As the piece suggests, my taste just doesn't stretch to Kentucky Fried Cricket. Must be my gen-X background - people in my father's generation couldn't abide ODI's, but I'm quite OK with them, though they do get a little meaningless. So maybe T20 will stick. However, trying to put aside my personal prejudice (ok, not trying that hard), my gut tells me it won't - as someone else noted above, the IPL bubble may already be straining. It does too much violence to the essence of the game, and the city thing here only adds insult to injury. The best sport grows organically, and respects heritage and tradition. European football. Major League Baseball. The AFL the standout in Australia (honourable mention to Sydney and Brisbane club rugby). Fabricated competitions and just-add-water franchises, though, have a pretty woeful history - witness Super League and the ARU's provincial championship competition thing of a few years ago. Even the A-League is showing the strain (or should that be wane?). I expect BBL will go the same way, after the frenzy subsides. And as @Elizabeth noted - baseball has a deep history here in Australia, and we punch well above our weight in the US leagues - 7 current majors, 40-odd in the minors. The ABL stands to emerge as a genuine development league, and is worth keeping an eye on.
Brett McKay
Guest
Turbo, surely you didn't expect an established cricket state, full CA members, and the current Sheffield Shield holders, to MISS OUT on a BBL team?? For starters, CA can't just go an plonk a team in NZ, and the other three areas you've named are all deemed development zones for NSW or Qld. Tasmania were always going to get a team, I don't know why that's so hard to comprehend..
Johnno
Guest
FACT OF THE MATTER, Test cricket outside of ASHES which is no 1 over whelmingly by the way currently in tests cricket, people can still enjoy Tests, you don't have to watch every ball but just checking the score and watching a session or a half session here or there each day over 5 days.IT'S ABOUT Keeping interested, and test cricket is a roller coaster sport and endurance is part of the game, and the ASHES goes so fast it flies each day at least for me. And you yourself have said you and everyone else of all ages loves the ASHES. i think the ASHES is now a global sorts events where it is the contest and history not the actual sort itself. a bit like the melbourne cup ti me is not horse racing but a carnival or event, like the olympics or soccer world cup it has appeal to non regular soccer fans, and society in general, an ASHES is like that if the 2005 celebrations were anything to go by in England. someone said on other comment with cricket n here in another story that , the ASHES is killing cricket. may be right maybe wrong who knows. I'd say it helps cricket but has it rendered other test cricket, well not totally, . A bit like the tri nations this year has been killed of or watered down massively due to RWC. If ICC and test cricket is to be serious about the form of the game, it has to take the preperation pre test warm up matches seriously. Test cricket is a sport where you just need time to adapt to local conditons, tour games are a nessicary evil,. And if the Cricket board of these nations do not schedule them or only half do them, it will potentially ruin the series. EXample ENG-INDIA 4 test series( which i think would of worked better as 3, keep only ASHES at 5), I think has been ruined by Indias non exsistent preperation, and before you know it they are 2-0 down series only chance now is to draw. they may of lost but the matches would of been closer if the players got more preperation. Same with the england ASHES 2006 team down under preperation was pathetic to and it hampered them in getting smashed 5-0 as they lost early momentum in series. SO if ICC wants Test cricket to survive it must give Test cricket the time and respect it needs. other wise test cricket i fear will only be reduced to the ASHES, and the rest of the time the players will play T20,and who knows T10. Another thing I would do , to save test cricketis get tough on time wasting. Deduct wickets in the middle of match, deduct runs, have a yellow card/red card system in the middle of the match where aplayer can be sent off in the middle of the match for time wasting, and ban all the delivery of equipment in the middle of innings except change of bat if it breaks. If the batsman does not have the right gear pre match( eg Rod davies apparantly wore wet wether studs V Samoa) then too bad, the batter should be switched on at pro level. So if you get tough in time wasting like send offs in middle of match or deduct runs or wickets , that's right make a batter in top 6 forfit the right to bat, or ban 1 of strike bowlers to bowl in innings. that would make the players think twice about wasting time.
FACT OF THE MATTER
Guest
for the umpteenth time city based teams to expand the competetion just like football and afl etc are.......and kits avent been revealed properly and but i have seen the pics and they are awesome especially hobart perth brisbane and sydney teams have fantastic kits
Robbo
Guest
Why couldn't the powers-that-be at CA just leave the teams and uniforms as they were. The old BBL was definitely attracting new fans to the game. A couple of years ago, I dragged along two of my mates who absolutely hated cricket down to Adelaide Oval to watch a BBL match. Three years later, they love all forms of the game equally and one of them is even going to pull on the pads this season and have a crack at club cricket. At first they enjoyed the "circus" atmosphere of a T20 match with its huge hits and swashbuckling strokeplay and gradually as their interest in the game grew they came to appreciate the nuances of the longer forms of the game. T20
FACT OF THE MATTER
Guest
the people should also know that bbl aberages 18000 crowd on average whereas shield cricket well wait who cares!!! which job would you chose in your life the one that earns you 5000 dollars for 3 hour work or the one that makes you work for 5 days and pays 12000 dollars????? t20 for all the criticism it gets is still longer in duration than football or any other sport... based on the popularity of t20 cricket other sports have started to change their format as well ....hockey admiinstrators looikng to have 3 breaks after every 20 odd minutes being one example And those who say bbl would flop need to get a reality check ..the reason it would be a huge success is t20 itself night cricket more international stars more local stars( ponting lee haddin etc) is more popular as a matter of fact and just to finish it off there is are all traits of cricket in t20 for example when a team is 20-4 after 5 overs it quits hitting and rebiulds for 7 8 overs and attacks towards the finish that is the kind of thing which makes people watch the game 99 percent of the matches are alive till the last over for example consider a team scored 150 in reply opposition is at 120-8 after 19 overs its pretty much match gone but it still isnt over technically people want twists and turns...and only a t20 can provide you with some of the most amazing turn arounds IN my opinion in near future there would only be t20 leagues and champions leaguet20 and cricket will be the most lucrative sport in the world behind football or f1 although thats not a real sport....so far everything has been perfect about bbl from.....when shane warne matthew hayden brendon mccullum watson vettori gayle afridi warner lee ponting paine cosgrove symonds marsh gibbs pollard etc are going to advertise the game and they will have people like eddie mcguire james brayshay david evans all behind this concept you will only get one thing and that is blockbuster summer..................
FACT OF THE MATTER
Guest
well this article is based on one persons opinion the fact of the matter is that CA obviously know it wil work....lets put this aside i want toask a few questions first: why do people want cricketers to keep playing a 5 day game in this fast paced world but are happy to see football being a 90 min game..its ridiculous a game of 90 mins earns you more money in europe than a 5 days hard work iunder sun.WHY DONT FOOTBALLERS PLAY A 5 HOUR TEST MATCH with a break after every 50 mins for say10 mins..i can assure you ther wouldnt be people in the stadium if that happens.. secondly those who keep talking in favour of test cricket dont watch cricket themselves...how do i know....because it just cant be...how can you watch 7 hours of cricket for 5 days without missing hours in todays world how many people go to the stadiums to watch test outside of ashes..in england grounds are shorter plus people from every part of the world live so its easy to get house ful but what about india pakistan sri lanka uae australia new zealand and south africa and the caribbean countries they dont get house ful for even a single day. AT THE END OF THE DAY MONEY TALKS....brett lee earns more money than any other australian cricketer and he does not play tests ...the reason is he plays ipl now bbl and plays odis.....only fittest survive and testcricket would die itselves because ther would be no money there. just because the inventors of cricket had enough time to play a 5 day game the folks of 21st century should also be forced to watch that long a match???? who is more famous around the world gayle afridi malinga or simon katich???
Johnno
Guest
Wow ben outside of the ASHES mate which i would say we are equally keen , you have my measure now easy mate as a cricket fan. I can't get the energy to say watch BANG-ZIM, or say eng-irleand in the wolrd cup. But they did win irleand that game so that was fantastic for world cricket. And i am one by the way who is all for development of a sport all around the world, and maybe T20 might spark cricket worldwide outside of the established countries. It is getting a strong following t20 IN canada/USA. In NEW york which has large indian/Pakistan and west indian communities, alot of T20 amatuer league are starting so this will help at grass roots. IN canada it is doing well at grass roots to, . And Afghanastan cricket is booming. it is next India and pakistan so they will get access to good leagues over there the Afghan players. Europe Denmark Holland, Irleand especially cricket is on the rise. But i have foxtel ben and trust me mate once you have it if you like watching sport , you will never want to not have pay tv. But yes ENG-INDIA series i was mildly interested in the build up but got turned off as i thought a 3 test series was more snappy and to the point would of been more exciting than 4.. And Indias build up for what it is was worth was pathetic, like Englands 2006 ashes preperation . Pathetic. i think India had no lead up games. not suprisingly the series is now 2-0 to England and all the fire is gone. I think if India had given the series respect becoz it promised so much and had a proper tour of lead up games like ENG 2010 ASHES Team they could of won or given England a close contest. Oh well but for what it is worth if test cricket i think is to survive and be taken seirously, in the big series anyway(eg ASHES), the visitors actually both teams have to have some proper preperation suited to the contest. I thought it was ridiculous how Australia snuck away last year in October for a meaningless 2 test series in India 6 weeks before the ASHES. They should of been in OZ cricket conditions, working on there strength and conditoning and playing lead up matches like the england team did. And England stuffed there 2006 preperation up by haveing to play in the champions trohpy and playing in squad setting non 1st class lead up matches ,as Ian Botham said beers and skittles matches. So if Test cricket survives the cricket administrators have to give the series the right time and allow proper tours and preperation to adapt to overseas conditions, so a real even contest can happen.
Ben Carter
Roar Guru
Hi Johnno - I agree with the Test thing... I mean that I can't possibly sit for 7 hours five days straight now.... But if a Test is on I like to watch 60-120mins (at least one session per day) and spend the rest of the time near a radio every hour or so (or the internet) for the scores if I can't be around. Still love ODIs (the last World Cup was, er, surprisingly reasonable for the most part - and 2015 will be now as well with 14 teams again!) but the hunger (as you say) for me is for cricket, especially internationally on TV, as a sport generally. I watch what I can on Nine, but if I had FOXtel I'd equally sit through Senegal v Outer Mongolia in a T20 contest, or the current ENG-IND series, or a ZIM-BNG ODI, etc.....
Johnno
Guest
But Ben if Test cricket is good quality you can watch the ASHES on and off over the 5 days , Cricket you don't have to watch every ball or every day over 5 days, but it is about the energy and the pulse. By that i mean showing interest in it checking the score watching 5 overs here or there going to the tv if you check on the internet that a wicket has fallen. I find with the ASHES 5 days with the exception of the adelaide and GABBA tests the last 2 days of those matches I find the ASHES tests, time flys. 6 weeks of a whole series seems to me to just fly like that,and after i go wow that was quick. Like summer holidays when 1 was at school they seemed to fly not go on forever. Whats that saying time flies when your haveing fun. The Barmy ARMY loved it they were not watching every ball but they were mentally there and there energy was there. With ODI'S the only time i have since the the 1999 ODI world cup , had the energy for ODI'S and passions was the 2011 ODI QFINALS Australia V INDIA , and INDIA V PAKISTAN. So in 12 years i have only watched 2 ODI'S seriously. and i am form the same generaiton as you 1980 born, I grew up on test cricket and ODI'S but both have lost me outside of the ASHES, and occassionly V south africa or india, and not consitently. And ODI'S have become like an olympic swimming final to me, 1 or 2 every 4 years. And I am like you and lots of other aussies i was from a generation of genuine cricket fans. I have been have been lost to the game outside of the ASHES (which i watch in full I call my self now an ASHES specialist), and the occasional session here or there Versues South Africa or India, and i want to get that hunger back but need a valid reason to.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
If you are that concerned about the points being split in a game neither side was good enough to win, score it like boxing, where each session is individually scored and then those points added up. Of course, this will lead to teams playing to get a lead and then grind it out, but it solves the alleged problem turbodewd was whining about.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
"Most cricket players could block a ball for hours and it’s a skill". No. They can't. Really - the ability to block for hours and save a game has been lost, just like legspin and batting against it was for so long.
Johnno
Guest
Brett like you i am in the age demographic and group of Australian men and woman born before 85. And I grew up on test cricket, ODI'S, playing backyard cricket(which some say helped get numbers into organised cricket intitally, a bit like school yard rugby games both are debatable), and i played organized cricket on and off until i was 16, then got hit by the basketball craze, as i was in high school in the Micheal jordan NBA generation. I still followed cricket and loved playing backyard cricket and still do occasionally , but what turned me off playing organised cricket at junior level was time matches took and key point participation time. Example an under 15 junior non rep match i did not play rep cricket, just regular decent school player thats my level. A two day grade game played over 2 saturdays over 2 weeks. Now it was played like a rep game or a pro game where the goal was to win no matter what. Problem at this level was there would be about 4 players who would do all the work bat in the top 5, open the bowling with about 4 bowlers bowing 6 over spells each. SO the rest of the team would bowl maybe 1 or 2 overs in a day and maybe bat every 2nd saturday or maybe once a month. And result was decided if it did not last 2 innings on , 1st innings points. And coaches i had were not fair, they just let the star players go for it and not spread it around work load wise regardless of winning or losing. Other multi day formats were 35 overs per innings ODI format, they sometimes were good, as each player got more involved. I used to play indoor cricket and liked that format 4 overs for each batsmen in a 2 tandem partnership. So you would at least get 12 good deliveries to have a hit. And 2 overs of bowling guranteed. I think cricket Australia or state bodies should bring in some laws , to encourage participation that until age 16 there is to be a over limit when batting, and also bowling each player is only allowed to bowl so many overs in 2 day games. that way every player gets a go and it encourages participation, i don't think it should be underestimated. I saw many decent players who if they were given better coaching and a little more encouragment could of played grade cricket at a decent level and who knows 1 or 2 could of going on further if they were encouraged more, and the coach didn't favor the so called star player or whose parents he liked or know the best. Or saw many junior kids/teenagers including me get upset to then turning to disouragment and playing basketball in summer or play indoor cricket as everyone got a fair go, and the matches were over faster. Soccer at junior levels i think up until age 10 now are playing on modified fields so it forces everyone to touch the ball, and indoor soccer is played alot in south america for that reason to, plus the modified fields so everyone gets involved. And I like the concept of rugby league being weight modified at least until say 10-12 years of age, as it encourages particpation to. Because people in sport develop at different ages. Think of players like Brettt Robinson at reds who did nothing at the waratahs, and Timani who has did nothing at the Brumbies or force but has developed at the waratahs. It's all about being given a chance and opportunity. I have seen the sports stars in high school been overlapped by players after school who they were superior to at school in all sports, becoz that player got the right environment and encourgement to flourish, and also some people physically keep developing more at 18-21. So especially a sport like cricket that can take longer than 1 hour to finish unlike the rugby codes, should encourage equal participation in my opinion up until aged 16 at least i'd even suggest up until 18, as i spoke to many kids in the A -team at school 17 and 18yr olds whinge that they wasted 6 hours of there saturday just to field in the hot sun, and bat at 7 or 8 and face maybe 1 over, or bowl maybe 1 or 2 overs max, while the star player got to bowl 10 overs in the day and open the batting and bat in the top 4 or 5. So cricket administrators should at grass roots levels, make participation not winning the major objective at least in my opinion i think.
Ben Carter
Roar Guru
Hi Johnno-Brett - born 1978 and acknowledge Test cricket as the ultimate form of the game. From an armchair perspective, however, was brought up mostly on a diet of World Series ODIs, so while Tests are terrific and top-class stuff, one doesn't always have five straight days available in one's schedule. So for TV viewing, ODIs for me.
Johnno
Guest
Sports writer that is constructive feedback. You are in this demograhpic that cricket australia, and other cricket bodies are doing market research in to try to understand. A bit like baby boomers trying to understand, generation X or Y, kinda mystified by them. And it is the same with the younger cricket audience. there trying to understand it as matt Hayden put it last week along the lines of he thinks the big bash league is inherently important to the survival of cricket in Australia. Time will tell if Matt Haydens words are right, but he makes some strong points which i agree with on many levels. That is good to hear sports write that some members of your age demogpraphic has some patience in life, and does not want everything into be over in 10 minutes or 2 hours, and can appreciate finer things in life like patience and endurance. and test cricket is a game of mental endurance and holding your nerve, and being paitent, and also a game of creating things and makeing things happen and it takes longer than 10 minutes somtimes.