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.
chrissy
Guest
idk.....
Jack Bollingmoore
Guest
Network Ten paid the Shield final the BBL the Ryobi Cup for next five years and also Nine Network paid the One Day Internationals Tests Twenty20 International for next five years
Tenash
Guest
ohhh unfortunately for you it is getting bigger ! the BBL just signed a new $100m tv rights deal to broadcast all 35 games on FTA tv. i suggest you try reading properly. i never said A-league would lose fans. actually isaid the exact opposite. football fans have the a-league to turn to when the socceroos lose
Rocco75
Guest
"as the BBL gets better & bigger cricket’s future in Australia is secure" that's assuming it gets bigger and bigger. I beg to differ. I wouldn't be worrying about the A-League losing support because of the national teams woes.
A Punter
Guest
correction to my post above: Australia is currently 2 points ahead of the West Indies rather than behind.
JGK
Roar Guru
North Sydney Oval does.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
matches have been broadcast from Banstown Oval before but I doubt the other grounds have.
A Punter
Guest
I agree with Samual Johnson
A Punter
Guest
@ Tenash Maybe that is because the Shield has gone from being the best breeding ground for test players in the world to a standard where there are not enough competitive test batsmen. Under the current CEO we have slipped from number one in the world to number 4 or 5 in the number world. As I look at the rankings today, Australia is 34 points behind South Africa and just 2 points behind the 5th placed West Indies. Australian test cricket has150 years of cricket history. This fine tradition is being compromised currently because the lack of games, money and support in first class cricket. Maybe this why some people are not happy with the current schedule.
Brett McKay
Expert
I disagree with that anyway, Praveen. Given the carnival nature of the Ryobi Cup now, I expect the states will tour with proper squads and use the one-dayers for experimentation. I expect we'll see a lot of young rookie players used, probably even in lieu of more senior players who they may hold back for Shield games. And either way, a young player getting more and more hungry late in the season in first grade is hardly a bad thing. There's already more than enough promotion of rookies before they've earned it properly..
JGK
Roar Guru
CA isn't really a business though. It is has no shareholders or owners. The only people that make money from it are the employees. It's purpose to is to administer and oversee the game of cricket in Australia. By concentrating on getting dollars in the door but at the expense of the long term health of the game, it is patently failing in it's duty.
Matt F
Roar Guru
I thought Fox Sports dropped interest once they lost the BBL. They were apparently quite annoyed given that they've been involved with the BBL since the beginning, when FTA weren't interested in covering it
Matt F
Roar Guru
The grounds all have a large enough capacity to meet the Ryobi Cups needs. From what I've heard, they picked Sydney because a number of suburban grounds being used already have broadcast facilities so it's easier for Channel 9 to cover. I'm not sure if that's true or not but that's what I've heard. Certainly North Sydney does due to its Rugby League history
Don Corleone
Guest
The speculation that the Ryobi Cup would be a stand-alone, single host city tournament held in October was doing the rounds on Twitter a number of months before the announcement. I hardly believe it was a shock announcement for players and associations.
Don Corleone
Guest
That's right. It's a ridiculous suggestion that the overlap between the beginning of BBL and the end of the test matches will have any impact on the performance of the test team.
Praveen
Guest
Thanks Brett, what I was referring to was that traditionally many young players who states did not want to try for shield would make their starts in the Ryobi cup later in the season, that can't happen under this new arrangement
Praveen
Guest
I said earlier that one negative of playing ODIs in oct is that young players who would have traditionally used Ryobi games later in the season to push for shield positions won’t have that opportunity any more
Tenash
Guest
yeah agreed. just as long as there are 4-5 1st class standard grounds in a city, it has a great chance of hosting the tournament. the capacity doesn't matter. this whole thing has been done for tv coverage.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
They haven't chosen the grounds based on being able to fit a lot of fans in and so it is obviously aimed at the TV market.
ChrisUK
Guest
Yep, I'd agree. France is where the big money is in rugby. The current Heineken Cup shambles will likely drive wages higher in the longer term too. But rugby players at the top level do pretty well.