The Big Bash League continues to suffer fading interest levels, once again asserting the famous adage that T20 is to blame for everything.
However, fans should not be fearful – the competition can be rescued from its stuffy traditions simply by attracting new markets through the thrills and spills of Test cricket.
Put simply, the kaleidoscopic vessel of Test match cricket – with its colourless uniforms, modest crowds and glacial over rates – is the vehicle to save the more benign format of T20.
Leveraging long-form cricket is the only method to preserve the fickle millennial dollar, a market crying out for the uber-simplicity of the five day game after becoming increasingly baffled by T20’s bizarre rules and customs.
This season’s BBL has seen the concept’s startling downward trend continue, with its tenth iteration opening in a dirge of low ratings, umpire howlers and suburban cricketers.
While apologists have highlighted the unique nature of the season thus far – with bubble restrictions narrowing the sensory assault solely to generation Y in Canberra and Hobart – administrators remain at a loss as to how to save the golden goose, and what this equates to in star imports and bucket heads.
Not even flames make T20 cricket interesting. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Such is the nosedive in popularity, the competition has even been overshadowed by an exciting new format, with the public now switching off in favour of practice matches where Australians injure themselves while Allan Border combusts.
It is the latest setback for a competition that enjoyed booming popularity in its infancy, with administrators somehow failing to sustain its exponential growth in to new markets even despite introducing the Bat Flip.
Once accredited as the gateway drug to lure younger viewers to Test cricket, experts believe the BBL began to be slowly dismembered by Cricket Australia when they decided to pin their hopes exclusively to panicked rule changes and Chris Lynn.
Prior to this, administrators desperately tried to stall the rot by focusing on playing the competition in school holidays, however CA’s attempts to have the vacation period extended to the entire year were ultimately unsuccessful.
Eventually the governing body gambled on a compacted schedule, with administrators hopeful a shortened competition would result in not only renewed public enthusiasm, but more room for extra pointless ODIs against India.
However this has failed to stem the bleeding, with the product now facing the ignominy of host broadcaster Channel Seven seeking legal recourse to spend its revenue on something that rates better, like Ice Road Truckers.
But while the BBL has slowly deteriorated like a forlorn run chase at 10.03pm on a Tuesday night, mercifully Test cricket remains.
As such, it has re-emerged as the pulse-racing Trojan horse to save T20 by acting as the conduit to a generation of estranged bite-sized attention spans and Snapchat filters.
Most appealing to over-fatigued millennials is that Test cricket has existed for over 200 years with no gimmicky rule changes, no fluoro shoes, and no infuriatingly-inconsistent Marcus Stoinises. Plus now it’s got names and numbers on shirts.
Better yet, Test cricket has even overtaken the 50 over game as the tailor-made choice for generation Y, with recent over rates now establishing the five day format as officially shorter than one-dayers.
Let it be known; with generation Y set to walk away from the game’s burdened and benign form, Test cricket can satiate their flighty palates with something that packs more electricity, less perplexity, but equal levels of KFC.
And if administrators rapidly get to work, there is still time to save this season. Mainly because it finishes in 2028.
Lance Boil
Roar Rookie
A Fun Read. I can't seem to watch a full BBL game. Yet I hate it when they call stumps in a Test Match . Honestly, when someone starts discussing the rights and wrongs of the latest rule changes it's a powerfull sedative to me. Much like a rugby person discussing player selections! Zzzzzzzzz
Winnie the Pooh (Emperor of China)
Guest
I question whether 20 over cricket will last another decade. It is just too short a time frame for serious cricket.
Waxhead
Roar Rookie
@Dane GREAT. The demise of T20 is music to my ears. Hopefully, the slide will continue all the way to total cancellation of BBL. The demise, of course, was very predictable considering that most of the T20 fans were Gen Y and Z males with no cricket knowledge and the attention span of a flea. As expected they've moved onto the next superficial trend and will inhabit that one for a few months before the next.... and the next. Meanwhile, real cricket lovers stay patient and loyal to the long formats. We can only hope that T20 dies a quick death in India also :thumbup:
Reddy
Roar Rookie
I think it depends on the location for test matches, I have seen international test matches at Seddon park in Hamilton have less than 500 people turn up through the gates over the years. In regards to t20 I was meaning black caps games. The basin would have the most attendance for test matches in New Zealand.
Micko
Roar Rookie
So they're not interested in T20 now, but will be once they're involved with the aussies?
OzNix
Roar Rookie
I've been to the occasional 'free' SuperSmash game in Wellington. There were about 200 people there. I'd say T20s about as (un)popular in New Zealand as it is over the Ditch in Australia. There were far more people at the Basin Test Match against the WI on Saturday than I've seen at a SuperSmash game... Maybe the BBL should consider a token Kiwi side to add some trans-Tasman rivalry...
Ad-O
Guest
I've not watched a t20 game, from start to finish, ever in my life.
Reddy
Roar Rookie
T20 does very well in New Zealand, I'm 38 years old and have been to many domestic and international t20s. I have never been to a test match at all. Most new Zealanders will generally just watch test match cricket highlights on television. Its a different kettle of fish in Australia though, test match cricket is what is prioritised over other formats. Same in england and India to a lesser extent. The rest of the top 10 nations t20 is king.
Nick Symonds
Guest
Time to replace the BBL with an expanded Sheffield Shield?
Jeff
Roar Rookie
All within 3 years?
Frank
Guest
The commentators last night were woeful The hubs really aren't helping. Manuka and Hobart? Could have chosen better. I couldn't work out if the crowd noise was fake or not. Didn't seem to be many there.
Rob
Guest
Enjoyed this piece in the spirit in which it was written. I tend to agree that the BBL is hurting itself with some silly ideas. I think the recipe for success is quite simple: 1. Matches need to be done in 3 hrs or less. Non-negotiable. This means no time-outs, no super overs (super overs are most often the biggest anti-climax in sports - in a close run chase my main interest is cheering against a super over), shorter innings breaks, no DRS - whatever is necessary. Just get on with it, and accept the odd draw if it happens. 2. Bat flip is stupid and detracts from the seriousness of the competition. Likewise the excessive off-field pyrotechnics and noise. Take it down a notch, like only after overs and wickets and boundaries, not after every god-damned delivery. It's a sensory assault, even via TV. 3. I think a complete home and away season during the holidays is fine. But there are way too many finals. I would just have 2 vs 3 in a prelim final and the winner plays 1 (at 1's home ground) in the grand final. The number of finals teams and finals games they have in the current format is a joke and drags on into February when everyone is over the BBL. 4. Stick to the official T20 rules used in internationals. The 10 over point now on offer is unsporting, as it could encourage a team batting 2nd to give up trying to win the game in order to gain the point after the 10th over. Whose bright idea was it to bring back the super sub - which everyone hated when it was used in ODIs? I don't hate the 2-over batting power play though - that's not a bad wrinkle. 5. I think a change for all T20 cricket that would be good is to give a free hit after wides - this would have the benefit of decreasing the number of wides bowled (which takes up time, see point 1) and reducing the incidence of negative bowling. Right now bowling a wide is no big deal, and bowlers are willing to risk it. Making it a free hit would get rid of them, more or less. And free hits are exciting.
josh
Roar Rookie
Not sure what's more entertaining, the article or the mutual admiration from members of the demise of real cricket and the BBL is bad club. But also test cricket has had more rule changes than the BBL. Covered wickets timed tests 4,6, or 8 ball overs Bowling styles fielding positions bat materials and dimensions the scoring of a 6 etc... things change get over it.
josh
Roar Rookie
Test cricket isn't real cricket either.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
It sets the tone right from the start of the match that the game is about gimmickry and having a laugh. Perhaps the comp will eventually devolve into the very first iT20 between Aus and NZ, with 80's ODI uniforms and players sporting fake moustaches and wigs.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
Yep, if CA don't take it seriously, why should the public?
Jeff
Roar Rookie
The bat flip as sums up the way CA has taken the BBL for me. Can't imagine that ever being introduced into the IPL which seems to be focused on legitimacy as a serious top-level competition.
Brian
Guest
There was a bit of novelty at frist watching shield players get their chance under lights playing with the likes of Pieterson, Warne & McCullum. Now its just suburban cricketers who are targetting the BBL playing alongside internationals who aren't good enough to play for their country
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
If tape one side of the ball didn’t make it tougher for batsmen they’d try it.
sheek
Roar Guru
When your primary motivation for doing something is only/mostly for profit, you will eventually come unstuck. The journey of life is littered with the wreckage of companies, businesses & corporations who sought to chase only profit. Sports fans ought to be thankful they can still watch test & first-class cricket, formats that were introduced at a time when other things beside money were considered just as important. Had BBL been created in say, the late 1880s, it would have been a slow-burn growth sport. But it would have bedded down deep roots allowing it to become a sustainable & popular sport over time. That is, an enduring appreciation, rather than a passing fad. Many of today’s sporting administrators follow the ‘man, boy & donkey’ parable, reacting to every whim in the hope of adding to their profit line, but this course of action is doomed to failure, just like the parable.