It’s been a pretty busy week in the world of cricket.
From this summer’s BBL rule changes to COVID’s trip to Adelaide and the re-jigging of the World Test Championship, let’s dive into the talking points created by the news of this week.
The BBL10 rule changes make a mockery of T20 cricket
On Monday, Cricket Australia announced new rules for this summer’s Big Bash League, designed to “keep people invested across the whole 40 overs”, in the words of Trent Woodhill, CA’s player acquisition and cricket consultant for the BBL.
CA is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t need to be solved, instead of looking at the real problem of maintaining interest across a two-month long tournament, which is something I wrote about only a fortnight ago.
My idea of splitting the eight teams into two groups felt a bit far out to me, but it’s not as far out as changing the very nature of the T20 format of the game.
While the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, it’s still questionable why such a significant change was felt to be necessary.
The rules threaten to make the BBL irrelevant as they give the tournament a uniqueness of the kind that belongs in a different format such as the Hundred or Martin Crowe’s brainchild from the 1990s, Cricket Max.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Instead, CA have made changes that have the potential to confuse. That should be clear when you bear in mind that the opening match of the BBL on December 10 will be completely different to the T20 international between Australia and India that takes place just two days earlier, despite both matches going into the record books as T20 fixtures.
That may be technically correct but the difference in rules is still concerning for a tournament that uses a format of the game considered to be the stepping stone to get people interested and involved in cricket.
Adelaide’s COVID cluster was a reminder that complacency is not an option this summer
When the men’s international fixtures were finally locked in at the end of last month, there was optimism in the air.
Melbourne had just emerged from a long lockdown and state borders were beginning to open up again. Then came news of a cluster in Adelaide.
This story is developing, but this is still a wake-up call, proving that it’s not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows just yet, at least not until a vaccine is being widely administered.
As such, writing about contingency plans isn’t entirely irrelevant, given CA nearly needed one.
Regardless of whether fans are allowed into grounds – they will be – the teams will be in their bio-secure bubbles, which allows for the tour to go ahead no matter what.
As Pat Cummins said: “If we can fly over to the UK and play in a bubble over there, it shows we’ll find a way.”
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Therefore, the front runner of options going around in my head was to just hold the Test behind closed doors, which would probably be the decision that CA would take if push came to shove, disappointing though it would be.
Matches could potentially be moved to alternate venues. For example, the Adelaide Test could switch places with the Brisbane Test to allow time for the COVID situation in SA to improve.
Nevertheless, it is still something to think about, as are any other contingency options, with COVID still making its presence felt for a good while yet.
Don’t criticise the ICC too much, they did the best they could with the World Test Championship
This year has decimated the international calendar at the hands of COVID-19, and the inaugural World Test Championship has not been immune.
Therefore, on Thursday, the decision was taken by the ICC to decide the league table by the percentage of points scored compared to points available, rather than by points scored, as this was deemed to give some nations an unfair disadvantage due to the sheer amount of matches either postponed or cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.
The ICC have made the best out of a bad situation and while their decision may not be ideal, it’s better than further delays to an already delayed Future Tours Programme.
And at the end of the day, things haven’t changed much.
It is still looking like a fight between Australia, England and India for the two spots at next June’s final at Lord’s, as it was before the changes were made.
The upcoming dogfights between Australia and India, then India and England will still play a role in who will be crowned World Test Champion next June, regardless of how the league stage will be settled.
Harry Selassie
Roar Rookie
I sort of feel bad for the Black Caps as I think they have demonstrated they are roughly at the same level as Australia, India and England are at the Test level of play.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
My bad, I meant New Zealand tend not to play series of more than 2 Tests at home.
Paul
Roar Guru
The only big winners financially out of this decision is Australia, India and especially England, Doesn't that concern you? I guess it doesn't matter to the other nations that the postponed tours they could have made money off, won't go ahead. The huge winner will be England with a 5 Test series against India, the final of the World Championship and another 2 Test series being looked at on top of that - all next English summer. As for you comment about the Black Caps, let me see if I have this right? It's New Zealand's fault they don't play series longer than 2 Tests? Seriously? I hope you wrote that comment before your morning coffee because in terms of tone, that's seriously un-good. When was the last time New Zealand played in England? I'll save you the trouble and let you know it was 2015. They've played plenty of series longer than 2 Tests against just about every other Test playing nation, but surprisingly not for quite some time against England, over a decade. The number of Tests in a series are decided by the respective nation's cricket boards. Please tell me how you know it's exclusively NZ Cricket's fault they can't play longer series than 2 Tests, especially given the series they played last Australian summer?
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
G'day Paul. Agreed on your comments about the BBL. As for the WTC, note that I didn't say that the ICC shouldn't be criticised, I said not to do so too much. I disagree with the tone you've used about money being a reason - yes, it is, and why shouldn't it be at a time where the coffers aren't as full as they used to be (thanks to Covid)? Your comments about NZ not playing as many Tests as Australia, England and India are justified but that has nothing to do with the ICC as it is a mess created by New Zealand Cricket, who seem to be allergic to having a Test series longer than 2 Tests.
Paul
Roar Guru
some interesting points, Joshua. I think the BBL needs to stop being considered “cricket” per se. It should be slotted into the category of sports entertainment, which allows for all sorts of changes to be made. It also means people like me who love Tests and enjoy ODI’s, can treat the BBL with ignore, while it seeks to grow it’s own fan base, who may not necessarily like more traditional cricket. As for the World Championship, I believe the ICC should be criticised. There was no reason why the schedule could not have been extended until all fixtures had been played. Sorry, there is a reason – money. You mentioned three sides would be fighting for a place in the final, Australia, England and India. Right now, these teams have played 10, 15 and 9 Tests respectively, whereas the number 2 ranked team in Test cricket, New Zealand, has played only 7. How is that fair or equitable, especially when the other sides could play close to 20 Tests by the time of the final whereas the Black Caps could play as few as 11?