I wrote part one of my 2025 cricket wish list in a frenzied state last week when I realised Shane Watson was going to lead the revered baggy greens.
They say one week is a long time in sports, but unfortunately my despondency hasn’t evaporated after Australia endured their worst series defeat in my lifetime.
Plus, I still haven’t gotten rid of the stench over the ludicrous decision to install Watson as captain.
So, once again dreaming of cricket’s state in the next decade was needed escapism.
Olympics/Commonwealth Games
Cricket in the Olympics was mused to death last year during Olympic fervour. But if cricket really wants to shed its ‘British bourgeoisie’ status beyond the Test world, than it needs to pursue the Olympics’ flickering flame.
Apparently, this is not just my pipedream, as there finally appears to be a concerted push for cricket to be included in the 2024 Olympics. Imagine the exposure for cricket on sport’s grandest stage?
The T20 format is an ideal product for the uninitiated and the Olympics’ prestige could propel sporting superpowers such as China and the USA to invest more into the sport.
Rugby sevens has been instated for Rio. Surely, cricket can follow suit.
And why isn’t cricket an essential essence of the Commonwealth Games? Cricket is the quintessential British sport. It has to be included for the first time since KL ’98. Apparently there is also some momentum for cricket to be part of Gold Coast ’18.
A vibrant T20 tournament could help energise the turgid Commonwealth Games, which is quite rightly derided as relic of British Imperialism.
West Indies renaissance
The Windies’ spiral into mediocrity has been one of the saddest cricket tales this century. The West Indies have sunk embarrassingly from cricketing powerhouse to minnows in Tests.
When I was a kid, at the tail of their dominance, they were my most anticipated tourists. These days, I roll my eyes when they visit down under and often frustratingly switch the television off in and disgust because of their ineptitude.
Cricket needs a strong West Indies because at their best there is no more entertaining and loveable team. They have an intrinsic flair that is unparalleled in the cricket sphere.
The ICC, often derided as a toothless tiger, needs to demonstrate some much-needed leadership and start an inquiry into the mess of Caribbean cricket because the glory years are fast fading into obscurity.
Pakistan to play at home
It’s been a travesty no international cricket has been played in Pakistan since armed militants attacked Sri Lanka’s team bus in 2009. Now they are consigned to playing in a sterile neutral environment in the UAE.
Pakistan is one of the great cricketing locales but unfortunately legitimate security concerns have made hosting a tournament amid the hotbed environment impossible.
It saddens me that great players will never play in Pakistan.
Australia last played in Pakistan in 1998. Michael Clarke may eventually become one of Australia’s greatest batsmen and captains, but is destined to never set foot there.
Adam Gilchrist and Mike Hussey also never had the privilege of taking their talents to Pakistan. A greater tragedy is that the cricket mad Pakistani populace won’t get to watch any live international action for the foreseeable future.
Here’s hoping the security situation improves.
BCCI has less power and stops being cricket’s dictator
This won’t happen. So, I’ll move on.
Temper T20
T20 cricket has to be limited in the international arena, before it dictates the sport. As I wrote last week, the ODI format is on life support and needs to be preserved.
One solution? Less T20s in the international arena. The T20 boom is here to stay, and I love the product as a tool to attract the throng to the domestic level and for its ability to promote the game beyond the Test world.
The rise of the IPL and its imitators has grown to monstrous proportions. Nothing now can be done to stifle that. Players will eventually have to choose whether they want to become moonlighting T20 hacks or concentrate on the more arduous longer formats.
T20s in the international arena need to be limited to four-year world cups, Olympics and/or Commonwealth Games and just the one match to start or end a tour.
Aussies find a decent spinner
This is more unlikely than curbing the BCCI, as Australia will probably go a generation without unearthing a match-winning tweaker. Alas!
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