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When Adam Gilchrist flew across the Nullarbor to surge his career he needed to prove his loyalty to his Western Australian team mates.
Gilchrist showed his passion for his newly adopted state by speaking so compassionately about the opportunity provided by WACA and his love for the state he broke down in tears.
This story is from the mid 90s a period when Australian cricket was filled with abundance of talent and the state rivalry was fierce. Although player exodus still existed, each team formed a tighter knot and loved the challenge of knocking over a rival state.
Gilchrist recalls this via an incident in Shield cricket in his book “Standing his ground”. Despite touring with Shane Warne in his early career, when it came to match between Western Australia and Victoria in Shield cricket, he was surprised to cop a mouthful from Warne.
When Gillchrist confronted Warne after the match on the nature of the sledging, the master spinner replied “You are a West Australian and as a Victorian I don’t like West Australians”. It showed the value of playing for a state team.
Would a Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja or Jackson Bird play with the same passion for their respective adopted states?
Even if they did play with such passion, competitions such as Big Bash take away the rivalry as players are forced to share dressing rooms with their respective rivals.
The Australian mindset has always been about playing tough on the field and bonding off the field. The constant chopping and changing has caused this mindset to be diluted.
Rarely, do we hear about the niggling between players in Shield cricket. Even in the Big Bash the niggling acts have been among foreign players.
The T20 cricket has revolutionised the game and it is through T20 that the state rivalry needs to be brought back.
The rivalry is required to ensure the passion for playing for the state and raising your game for the sake for your team.
While the Big Bash has proved successful overall, there have been clearly some issues to address.
Only 8 of 35 matches have been decided in the last over or won by a team by less than 10 runs.
That is percentage of 23% compare that to the IPL this year which was nearly 40%.
There are players playing the tournament which performed poorly even at grade level and the quality of cricket has decreased from last year.
Quite clearly eight teams is too many. The six-team theory, with one per state, is way the forward.
If that model is applied then administrators should look to have one team from each state, similar to the Shield and One-Day competitions.
The significant difference is the players contracted to respective state can only play for the state Franchise. So a Jackson Bird or a James Faulkner can only play for Hobart Hurricanes. At least that way the players are part of the same setup for the whole year.
If the trend can be started in T20, a lucrative tournament, chances are it could revitalise the state rivalry once again.
In terms of international player picks, the teams should be ranked from one to six from the previous year’s finishes in the Ryobi Cup and Shield cricket.
The top two teams are allowed 1 international player each, the next two teams are allowed 2 international players each and the last two are allowed a maximum of three. It will ensure the competition is even and we get close fought contests.
The Big Bash is the way to ensure Australian state cricket continues its legacy regarding the passion of playing for your state.
Wouldn’t be nice for a Queensland team performing poorly in shield cricket to sit up in the dressing room prior to a Big Bash game and talk about having an opportunity to beat a rival like New South Wales.
Surely, it would make the players rise to another level. A level which would ensure to quality of cricket got back to what it was in the 90s.
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