The newly carnivalised Ryobi Cup – admittedly without fairy floss, yet possessing more than its fair share of clowns – concludes this week, with Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria left to duke it out for the top prize.
It’s been a short month, but what better time is there than towards the end of the tournament to discuss the general disillusionment surrounding it and Australian cricket in general.
To start with, the first announcement of the revamped edition of the Ryobi Cup was itself a warning sign.
Players were given only a few weeks notice to prepare for their respective campaigns, having to shift from training for several months for their upcoming red and white ball games to simply white ball cricket.
Which is just as well for Cricket Australia, because if they had had the time to discuss the schedule, they would have undoubtedly failed to comply with it.
Prominent domestic cricket figures George Bailey and Cameron White, while both admitting to not have solutions themselves, criticised the schedule.
What could they possibly have had to criticise?
Perhaps they disagreed with the ridiculous use of Sydney suburban grounds as the only sites for matches.
Perhaps they disagreed with the inability to unearth in-form state district players later in the season.
Perhaps they disagreed with the pressure that the rushed Shield games to follow will put upon bowlers.
It’s really an all-you-can-bother-to-eat situation.
Furthermore, it says a lot about the current administration when the players union’s request of a reduction to the money-pumping smack-a-thon that is the Big Bash League is not only denied but completely ignored.
The Bash is instead extended, with a completely different competition then reduced to accommodate it.
The resulting six-game instead of ten-game schedule for the Ryobi Cup most certainly affected the incomes of those players pigeonholed as one day specialists.
Now many will spend further time focusing on their Big Bash efforts, just to secure some cash.
If that doesn’t ring an alarm bell in an Australian fan’s ear, it should.
Already the Australian Test cricket team has seen the impact that a lack of decent batting temperament can have upon an innings on more than one occasion.
Yet what perhaps is the biggest tragedy of the almost completely discarded Ryobi Cup is that people seem to have forgotten just how good for cricket limited overs matches can be.
Currently Australia has a surplus of talented batsmen who have tasted the highs of Tests, only to fall back shortly afterwards to the glamourless life of domestic cricket.
Often the reaction is to change one’s game, where in the cases of Phillip Hughes and Usman Khawaja, both have fallen into the “bat for time” mode.
They haven’t had an attacking mindset, but have been rather tentatively prodding from the crease, fearing their next dismissal and the subsequential calls for their removal from the team.
Admittedly, batting for time is not necessarily a bad thing.
Yet when a player is selected for their ability to command from their crease with ease, as Khawaja and Hughes both were, it can be conversely seen as a step backwards.
One day cricket is able to take batsmen out from these shells and remind them to be aggressive without simply “hacking” at anything within the reach of their arms.
Batsmen are still required to build their innings, but teaches the importance of putting the bad balls away and keeping the good balls out.
And in a continuing shame, many of our current crop of batsmen seem to have lost sight of this.
This is something that will only continue to happen, as long as it is allowed to go on.
davros
Guest
best thing that has happened was free to air TV....but that does not mean that everything else we have witnessed has to go hand in hand...I particularly take umbrage to the statement ...that channel nine resides in Sydney ....so that's it then.... it must be held in this format in Sydney in the future...it could be so much more than this ....I will make one point one out of about 20 I could make....Warner hit 2 tons khawaja got runs Klinger fired...marsh got runs ....but it was all on postage stamp sized grounds and road like pitches ....where a miss hit from Cam white goes for 6 ... we are about to play the poms for the ashes ...on our proper cricket grounds with hopefully good and characteristic wickets ....against an attack rated as the best seam attack in the world...so what does all this Ryobi form mean ? Not very much imho...especially in the locations and format it was played
davros
Guest
let me guess Abigail you are from syd or Melbourne ?
Rellum
Roar Guru
Those figures are great for daytime slots. I have barely cared about the india series but have been closely following the Ryobi cup as it matters a little who wins.
Don Corleone
Guest
+1
Don Corleone
Guest
+1 Agree with everything you've said. It's amazing how many cricket fans and journos think that Cricket Australia should be run like a charity and that players should be virtually volunteering their services.
ChrisUK
Guest
Oh he couldn't bat for toffee. Bound to have been all over fairly quickly then.
Hookin' YT
Guest
I was sweet 16 and remember it like yesterday. It was a cold winters night in Perth and the TV had the cricket telecast from Leeds and fopsy Dilley came out to bat... ;)
ChrisUK
Guest
What famous test is that then Hookin'? Remind me.... ;)
ChrisUK
Guest
English county players would be queuing up to come over. It works almost perfectly in terms of the seasons.
Bearfax
Guest
Would have been four batsmen scoring centuries but for the weather. Ussie was over the line for sure on 88 when the match was called off.
Hookin' YT
Guest
+1 A tour to England (or from England) would involve 5 Tests, 5-7 State/County games in between the tests, 3-7 ODIs. Done and dusted in 3 months. Check this out (Lillee and Alderman led the attack and it involved that FAMOUS test), 6 tests, 16 first class games, 3 ODIs (in 15 weeks): http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1981/AUS_IN_ENG/ Tour starts with FOUR 3 day games with a day off/travel in between each. 12 days of cricket in 15 days, a day off then the ODI...
Hookin' YT
Guest
Mark Taylor was spruiking Marsh being in Ashes contention bla blah. Bare mentioned Uzzie. But, it was a corker from UK none the less and Inverarity was there... http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/681233.html Ryobi runs: Klinger 380 White 345 Warner 330 Khawaja 322
Bearfax
Guest
The cricket gods must surely have something against Khawaja. Sure he's struggled to regain the type of talent we know he has but it seems every time he is on his way to a big one, something gets in the way. It may be a bad call, being run out by a colleague, running out of time in a match or just plain weather intervening. This time he was well on the way to his first century in quite a while and it rains when he's on 88. He's scoring faster than Shaun Marsh who got all the media coverage, looked comfortable and very likely to surpass Marsh's score, and the rain comes down. Consequently Marsh gets all the kudos and the stat that says he got a century. Sometimes you wonder if fate is fair.
Ash
Guest
the people are certainly loving the new Ryobi Cup format with most games on FTA tv going by the TV ratings => http://www.cricketnsw.com.au/news-list/2013/10/22/nsw-blues-and-victorian-bushrangers-a-ratings-hit-with-fans the Ryobi Cup game between NSW & Victoria had peak TV ratings of nearly 1 million viewers !!!
Anthony D'Arcy
Roar Pro
Thanks for the comment, even though you seem to have, somewhat unfairly in my opinion, caricatured me somewhat as an anti-adminstration whackjob type. You make good points, but as i've written in the article and in the comments, my problem is not with the Big Bash itself. My problem, among others, is with the administration ignoring the players union (made up of the very same players you contend wish to make more money, and I'm sure they do) who wanted the bash shortened. Retaining players of youth will always be difficult for cricket because cricketers typically mature later than AFL, A-league or NRL players. It' s fairly normal to debut in first class and list A in your mid twenties, compared to those other sports where players generally debut in their late teens. But it's also because it's just as difficult to make it in cricket. There's only 6 state teams, made up of only 11 players. At least in those other sports, when you're playing poorly, you've likely only got a couple of players wanting your place. In cricket, at test level, you've got six states looking for your spot. And at state level, you've got twelve odd 1st grade teams full of people all competing for your spot. Ultimately it comes down to whether they want to play cricket or not. Because if they weren't sure, then they'd be stupid to pick it. As I've written in the article, and in comments down below, my other problems rest with the use of small grounds and what not. I've watched most of the games myself on GEM and enjoyed more than a few. It has been good to see domestic cricket given such exposure again. But I believe this format is building bad habits for players that doesn't help their development or prepare them for international cricket, as domestic cricket should.
Roger
Guest
I agree was i the only one looking at the crowd on Sunday thinking 'how bloody goods the crowd?'. Would of been close to 3 000 there and if we can start playing regular games at places like North Sydney Oval, we'll be all the better for it i feel. Junction Oval in Melbourne, Allan Border Field in Brissy both hold around 5k. Wacca & bellrieve are doable as they hold around 16-18 k and still look okay with a crowd of 2-3 000. But i'm another one who would dearly love to see domestic cricket get back to the glory days in the 90's and average 5000 a game. If we can't quite get that then 2-3 k at small suburban grounds still gives the game a great feel
David
Guest
Looking at this from a different angle, I think the problem is that we have too many formats of cricket. We need to reduce to 2 formats - worldwide, or the sport will die a slow death. Not sure what the answer is but I hope we keep test cricket. The solutions may be proposed in these blogs but it will take some serious negotiations at the governing body (BCCI) to change.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I have loved getting to watch state cricket on TV. Even better seeing QLD dominate :)
Brendon
Guest
Nothing to see here. Just your usual rant against T20 and CA making money. Of course CA making money is evil. Paying players competitive salaries to compete the rampaging NRL/AFL is obviously wrong. With both the NRL and AFL getting bigger TV rights and being able to pay players more money its imperative that cricketers are well payed. We've seen Rugby union fall behind the NRL and AFL and cricket needs to make sure it doesnt as well. While the incomes of Michael Clarke, or Michael Hussey in his final years, make Buddy Franklin's Swans deal look cheap its only the elite cricketers that make big money. The AFL is the most bloated professional sporting league in the world by far. 18 teams with 18 starting players plus interchange and substitute. The population of AFL playing areas is 11-11.5 million people. Compare that to the Premier League with only 2 more teams, but 7 less starting players per team, and players from all round the world plus the 55 million ppl of England. Why would a talented athlete risk not making it big in the Australian teams and only playing List A/First class cricket and earning a moderate income or playing in the AFL ,which is nowhere near as competitive, and earning a very good salary?
AnthonyDarcy
Guest
The Bankstown pitch certainly wasn't the best one to start on.