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It may have skipped your attention – it certainly did mine – but the Australian domestic cricket season has undergone a drastic revamp, highlighted by massive changes to the one-day Ryobi Cup tournament.
The shocks start with the news that the Ryobi Cup will now be just a month-long competition, and continue with the fact that it will be held entirely at suburban grounds in Sydney.
The surprises don’t end there though, as we’ll also see domestic cricket return to free-to-air television, with all matches at Bankstown and North Sydney Ovals to be shown live and in HD on the Nine Network via their GEM channel.
Most shocking of all, the tournament starts next weekend.
All of those pieces of news caught me by surprise, and my initial reaction was that it sounded completely crazy.
Yet, there is some method in the madness. In fact, credit where it’s due, because there is some very pragmatic thinking behind the move.
First of all, the month-long tournament-style competition will acclimatise Australian cricketers to the same format that will be used in the 2015 World Cup, which can only aid their preparations.
After all, it makes sense to mimic the conditions they’ll be playing under in that tournament.
The new fixture has also been created with the intention of splitting up the summer via different formats, so players aren’t forced to regularly switch between first-class, one-day and Twenty20 cricket.
Though Cricket Australia have not publicly acknowledged this, I’m informed by a physiotherapy contact that the changes may have also had something to do with injuries.
The new calendar may help lessen the chances of our fast bowlers breaking down, after being forced to adapt between the formats so frequently.
This became a salient point for me when some of our quicks admitted that they change their action depending on the format they’re playing.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but this information scares the hell out of me, and it may explain the raft of injuries in the fast bowling ranks.
The timing of the tournament has also been well thought out, with Cricket Australia highlighting that the first three matches will fall in the second half of the school holiday, which will allow Australian ODI squad members to play before they depart for a limited-overs tour of India.
Which, in turn, enables fans to see Australian players plying their trade for their state.
It will be great value for fans too: those aged 18 years and younger will get in for free, whilst adult tickets will be a very competitive and appealing $10 each.
Though fans outside of NSW will be justifiably peeved at being starved of domestic one-day cricket to attend, the changes do appear to have otherwise been made with sound logic behind them, and I can’t imagine a loud chorus of opposition or protest.
The new calendar sees the one-day competition played entirely in the month from September 29 to October 27.
This is followed by the start of the Sheffield Shield season on October 30, which will provide certain players with the chance to get some first-class cricket under their belt before the first Ashes Test in Brisbane three weeks later on November 21.
The Sheffield Shield will then take a hiatus from December 21 to February 7 for the Big Bash League, after which the rest of Shield games will be played, with the final being held at the end of March.
No doubt the Twenty20 haters will dislike the Big Bash once again taking centre stage for over a month – and in the middle of the Shield season – but there is no such thing as a perfect schedule that accommodates all three formats, and it makes strategic sense for the Big Bash to be played during the Christmas holidays.
Cricket Australia cops a lot of flak – some of it deservingly so – but I think the new domestic calendar deserves a round of applause.
It’s not the most radical decision ever made, so perhaps not a raucous and feverish clapping of the hands, but at least a gentlemanly Lord’s clap.