A state draft for cricket? Just plain daft

It was reported yesterday that Cricket Australia is considering introducing a draft into state cricket.

This is said to be among a number of options which CA will put to the state associations. Pat Howard, CA’s General manager of Team Performance, told media organisations that it was one of a range of things being considered in an attempt to keep promising young players in cricket, and not one of the football codes.

It is not clear whether CA have a full draft proposal worked out, or are merely canvassing the option. It is also not clear how it could possibly work. As CA have pointed to the threat of football codes it seems likely that the AFL’s draft has been a catalyst for the concept. How this could possibly translate to cricket seems quite problematic. It appears to be driven from a simple “the AFL have a draft and are successful, let’s copy that” viewpoint.

Leaving aside that players are reported to be against the idea, and that even the AFL’s established draft might not hold up if taken to court, the differences between the structure of the two sports makes it a difficult proposition.

AFL clubs are not preparing players for any higher level. Of the three high profile drafts that come to mind, this is true. The AFL, NFL and NBA are the pinnacles of their sports. Basketball does have Olympic and World championships, however on a day-to-day basis the NBA is well above everything else.

State cricket has to be competitive in its own right, but the states are also responsible for delivering Australian players. State cricket is also not the money-spinner that the international game is, or that the leagues named are. The commercial need for an even competition is not there. So long as matches are competitive they serve the purpose of providing solid grounding for Test cricketers.

In none of those competitions that utilise the draft are the clubs responsible for bringing through junior talent. Other systems do that.

State league clubs and the TAC Cup have the job of producing AFL players, like the college systems for NBA and NFL players. This is possibly the most telling point against a draft.

The incentive of the state associations to produce quality junior players is greatly diminished if they are likely to see them moved to opposition teams through a draft.

State associations are more likely to focus much more tightly on their contracted playing group.

And even if it did work, what advantage is there? Players who wish to improve their career prospects have the opportunity to change states now. Under a draft they could be forced to change states and have their career prospects diminished because they got picked as a top-up player.

It is conceivable that somebody who has prospects in both cricket and a non-draft sport such as Association Football would be put off by a draft. The prospect of maybe having to move across the country against their will would surely not be appealing.

Such a person may well chase an A-League spot, or any professional sport other than Australian Football, and be lost to cricket.

Pat Howard is right to be concerned about cricket retaining its player base. And some of other ideas have merit. Increasing the rookie pay to match that of an AFL rookie is one. Expanding the number of contracts available is another.

Whether through simply having more contracted players per state or, as does not appear to be on the table, introducing a seventh Shield team.

A draft, however, looks to be both a likely step backwards in player retention and a likely step backwards in junior development. Perhaps if more detail was known, things might be different.

At this stage it is hard to envisage how it would be anything other than detrimental to the stated goal.