- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
At the midpoint of the Ryobi Cup, many positives can be gained from the controversial changes in the tournament’s format.
The first nine of 18 round games have answered the main question heading into the tournament: can Sydney, or any major Australian city for that matter, host a month-long, six team tournament?
We now know they can.
The playing conditions at Bankstown Oval for the tournament’s first seven games have been far from ideal, with slow, low pitches meaning the batsmen have had to create all the pace.
Slow bowlers and quicks with good variations, such as Ben Laughlin, have dominated and it has been batsmen like Cameron White who tend to muscle the ball, rather than time it sweetly, who have enjoyed the most success.
It has not made for the greatest viewing, however, as the players have adapted to the conditions, the run scoring has increased and overall quality of cricket improved.
Other problems continue to exist, such as the lack of opportunity to blood younger players throughout the season, which Tasmanian skipper George Bailey highlighted following his side’s opening day loss to New South Wales.
This has left talented young players in their home states without their state cricketing structures around them.
Instead of taking part in the Ryobi Cup, promising South Australian duo Travis Head and Adam Zampa are stuck in Adelaide, relegated to squabbling over who does the dishes.
This issue can be resolved with the inclusion of a second XI tournament to be played alongside the main draw, with rules to mirror the current four-day Futures league.
A 25-man squad would be named by each state across the two teams and players would be able to train together and move fluidly between each side based on form.
With Cricket Australia now able to effectively condense our domestic one day fixtures to a one-month window going forward, there will be less conflict with Sheffield Shield and Test match cricket.
Bailey himself can be used as an example as to why this is a positive step, as last season his Sheffield Shield performances fell away dramatically as he began to shuffle between formats.
In 2013/14, as it was last season, there will be only three Sheffield Shield rounds before the first Test of the summer on November 21.
In 2011/12 there were five.
Getting the scheduling right will be very hard for 2014/15, given the cluttering of events in the lead up to the Cricket World Cup starting February 14, 2015.
In announcing the schedule for next summer, James Sutherland stated that, along with a four Test series against India, we will have, “South Africa tour in a limited over series in November as well as India and England competing in a tri-series in January”.
It is the busiest summer of cricket in recent memory and there will unfortunately be much switching between formats.
In setting the domestic schedule, CA must make clear its number one priority, presumably winning the World Cup, and position the Ryobi Cup accordingly.
2015/16 then provides the chance to have a more settled schedule for the first time in half a decade.
The Sheffield Shield can be held in two blocks, with the Big Bash League and Ryobi Cup wedged in between.
The first block can run from early October right through until Christmas, giving players up to six rounds of four-day cricket to prepare for the Test series starting in late November.
Three more Sheffield Shield rounds will take place between the first Test and Christmas.
At the conclusion of the block of Shield games, a squad is named for the Boxing Day Test.
The Big Bash League would be condensed to a three week tournament, starting on the night of Boxing Day and running until mid-January.
Double headers, utilising the three hour time difference in Perth during summer, would aid this cause. Triple headers on New Years Day and weekends would also be a welcome addition.
The Ryobi Cup would remain in its current format and run from mid-January until mid-February, alongside the ODI series of the summer.
This again ensures our domestic and international cricket is aligned.
The Shield would then continue from mid-February until the end of March, giving players plenty of time to prepare for an overseas Test tour, generally held around April.
It may not be pretty right now, but the true beauty of a condensed Ryobi Cup will soon shine through when Cricket Australia nails a summer schedule for the first time in the Twenty20 era.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.