Cricket is one of the oldest sports in Australia and the world, played by everyone from the British Royal Family to kids in India.
The world has always loved and followed cricket, but back at home the game is becoming smothered by all the other codes that dominate this great land.
The NRL has had a strong year of crowd attendances and TV ratings. The games are getting bigger and faster. The skill is seeping through every try, giant leap and bone-crushing tackle.
With the Rugby League World Cup currently taking place, the sport and its players are enjoying their time under the spotlight on the world stage.
Australian Rules football has always been this country’s favourite sport, from the depths of Victoria all the way to the seaboard of Western Australia.
More and more Australians are taking to the game at a younger age, with Auskick programs happening around the country and even moving into Papua New Guinea.
The AFL is ever-expanding, with two new clubs over the past three years now gathering more fans by the day.
It is an exciting time for the lovers of this nation’s home grown sport.
With the injection of the Western Sydney Wanderers, we have witnessed an explosion of passion from dedicated football fans who have had their emotions bottled up for too long.
They now finally have a team that they can cheer for, and the A-League has more than benefited from it.
Memberships for all clubs have blossomed in the past couple of seasons and it has become common knowledge that Parramatta Stadium can no longer contain the fans of this great game.
They need a new home ground, perhaps ANZ Stadium, just to cope with the mountains of fans that want to come and scream their lungs out.
Australian basketball is also set to explode sooner or later, with more NBL teams rumoured to be forming in the coming years.
With these amazing sports for us to all follow come even bigger names – people like Sonny Bill Williams, Lance Franklin and Israel Folau.
They are demanding more money, and getting it too. They carry the games on their backs and bring in the crowds solely with their names. Everyone is lining up just to see them in action.
Sport in Australia is growing at a rapid pace. Even the Australian Baseball League is growing faster and better than most expected, bringing with it more fans, US players and (hopefully, soon) TV deals.
With all of this going on, one needs to sit back and look at the cricket picture. Little is read about it in the news these days and there is less and less to talk about.
It seems the fuss is dying down and I can’t remember the last time I felt excited to watch Australia play England.
With the ever-growing number of sports to follow in this great nation, is it time to sit up and ask if there is still room for cricket?
mahonjt
Guest
for a month.
mahonjt
Guest
You are right. Football should de-couple from the global football calendar, the AFC calendar and forgo the huge summer revenues that Fox offer it just to demonstrate to your that " soccer administrators had any cojones". Football is about much, much more than the A-league. Football is about much, much more than Australian domestic competition. Football is, by any reasonable definition, doing a remarkable job of transforming the 'middle' of its participation, competition and development pyramid (it already demolishes other football codes at the grass-roots 'base' and national teams 'tip') and will continue doing so until it is the biggest football code in the country. It achieves this status by becoming the second biggest code in all markets. As the only truly national code this strategy is sound and no amount of name calling from you or your ilk with divert it. You know this and you fear it.
daniel p
Guest
I completely agree with you there especially dylans latest troll article of which sport has the better athletes. See you later roar!
Wavell
Guest
I stopped reading the article when it became apparent that the author's objective was to denigrate cricket and spruik the niche sport of baseball. Cricket might be under threat from other sports crowding the sporting landscape but it need not fear the 'emergence' of baseball. Back in the early 90s we were told the same about basketball becoming the dominant summer code within a decade.
Don Corleone
Guest
+1 About to give up on this site. Absolutely zero editorial standards.
AZ_RBB
Guest
i think like most passionate cricket fans, i don't really care if it loses popularity. i will still spend my summers with my radio permanently tuned to the commentary and at least one tv in the house with a test match running. and i will still put on the whites every saturday for a few hours in the blistering sun. whatever will be, will be. this almost feels like a less scientific version of the climate change debate. popularity is dropping but will it keep dropping? it was less popular 30 years ago, is it just a cycle we can't do anything about? will getting rid of the carbon tax help......whoops got a little carried away there.
w ch
Guest
Last night - ABC TV news in Melbourne. No coverage of the Shield match being played in Melbourne, Victoria v Western Australia. No report! And this is when Fawaz Ahmed took 6 wickets for the Vics. As I said further up the page coverage of the sport is way reduced.
tweak
Guest
Too a lot of the die hard's nowadays it does. You looking forward til the day where the only form of Cricket is 20/20, tenash?
Ash
Guest
Ash
Guest
good thing then that cricket doesn’t mean just Test Cricket.
tweak
Guest
"Cricket will live a long and happy life" Funny stuff. Incase you haven't noticed Test Cricket is dying globally. Cricket is getting its butt kicked by the AFL when it comes to getting the best young talent. All the sports are in a battle to win the minds of the Australian youth. CA aren't going to do that will a loser national team that's about to lose the Ashes yet again. The national cricket team may want to start winning pretty soon if it doesn't want to lose the next generation all to the football codes.
Brett Osmond
Roar Rookie
Sup Ash, my bad, I may have been abit drunk when i wrote that comment... It is only now that i realise my mistake.... Its upsetting i know but everyones entitle to one mistake every now and then right??? feeling abit special now....
me, I like football
Guest
"number one" could mean a lot of things, but if everyone was to make a list of the sports they 'follow' then I beleve cricket would get the most mentions, even though for most it would not be first on their list. It is certainly not no.1 for attendance, participation, revenue or die-hard fans, although it is up there in TV ratings, but in terms of 'followers' it would be no.1
Matt F
Roar Guru
Thank you for confirming that the article really was just one big troll attempt. I'll keep that in mind whenever I see another article written by you, and probably save myself some time by ignoring it
The Bush
Roar Guru
Stirring up the natives today mate...
alex
Guest
I thought cricket was the number one sport in Oz am i wrong???
Dylan
Roar Pro
Cricket is dying and it couldnt have come too soon. lets make way for the great game of baseball.
Titus
Guest
The world according to Dylan.
Trev
Guest
Cricket has plenty of room in the landscape, A-League will never grow as big as the hype suggests. Yes it's growing but we've heard for years how soccers about to take over. Fact is the A-League just isn't a high standard of soccer, the best players in the world are in Europe and will stay there. Test cricket though has the best Test players every year, The Ashes will always be bigger then the A-League, an Indian tour will be bigger then A-League, South Africa too. Also helps that Test go from city to city so it's not really competing too much with A-League for crowds in one city. Tennis only lasts for 2 weeks (the Grand Slam anyway) and that's after the Tests have finished, even then it doesn't seem to draw crowds away from the ODI's.
Trev
Guest
The AFL's job is to look after the AFL, just like the NRL looks after the NRL and the A-League looks after the A-leauge. If other sports a failing at winning attention during the AFL's off season maybe they should look at what they're doing wrong.