Cricket appears to be at odds with itself about the best way forward and which format of the game is the best to promote across the world.
This has led to an increase in the number of bilateral short-form international series with little context. It also pushes out domestic series well beyond their viability leading to fatigue among fans and players alike. Yet every cricket match is a story that should fit within the tapestry of cricket history.
In 2005, Twenty20 cricket was a brand-new format. It was exciting, innovative and provided a point of difference.
Now, with competitions like the Indian Premier League, the Pakistan Super League, the Big Bash League and others, there is more T20 cricket around than a person could shake a stick at. Chris Gayle has demonstrated that professional cricketers can quite easily make a living as a mercenary, slipping from T20 league to T20 league easily.
There is a monetary imbalance. A player like Pat Cummins can play matches for his IPL side and earn more money for playing fewer overs than he has over the entire Test summer playing for his national side.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
This monetary attraction proves difficult to resist, enticing administrators and players alike to play more and schedule more T20 cricket. This has to be addressed.
At the end of the day, cricket needs to decide on a strategy. Is Test cricket the pinnacle or is it another format?
Each format, in and of itself, has its own attractions. There is the spectacle of T20 cricket, the tense chases and strategy of one-day international cricket and the competition between bat and ball that Test cricket provides.
So here is my proposal to revamp international cricket and to include all formats. Begin by paying the international players more money to represent their country. A base Cricket Australia contract earns a player $375,000.
This will help ease the financial pressures on the players. Then commit to playing every Test-playing nation at least once in a home-and-away Test series in a three-year cycle. Play a one-day international and T20 series against the other side at the back end of the tour.
Selectors need to be aware of the players’ need for rest and select different sides for the T20 and ODI series than they do for the Test series.
What of the other leagues? Well, all leagues thrive on star power, but if international cricket is to take primacy, then institute a rule that if a series overlaps with, say, the IPL or another series, the players cannot play those domestic series until the international series is completed.
This frees up the players to pick and choose which domestic competitions they want to play in, knowing that they have to represent their international sides, if picked, before playing in the international competition.
(Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)
This may also benefit their state four-day competitions because they will want to gain plenty of experience to remind the selectors why they ought to play for their country.
What it could also do, on the flip side, is create a generation of players who simply do not care about representing their country in anything but the T20 component of the tour, thereby freeing them up to play in the IPL, the Pakistan Super League, the Hundred or any other competition that they may wish to play in, provided it does not overlap with the T20 component of the tour.
Scheduling with such certainty would mean fewer meaningless series would be played, like a T20 tour to New Zealand after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
International cricket has a strong story to tell. But it is in danger of losing that story and decreasing attendances at Tests, BBL matches and domestic games are testament to that fact. How cricket goes about telling that story will be the most intriguing aspect of the next several years.
Micko
Roar Rookie
The bledisloe cup only works for kiwis, most aussies couldn't care less. Mass migration has seen it transformed into a cash cow for RA, which now has cities like Melbourne & Perth hosting it when there is little appetite locally for the sport.
Micko
Roar Rookie
forgotten by whom?
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I don't think you have too many Australian players like that. Most of the Aussies who travel around the world playing different T20 leagues are the players who these days are just T20 specialists, guys like Dan Christian and Chris Green. Don't know too many Aussie players who play in these leagues all over the place and are ever talked about in regards to test selection. Other countries that's a different story. Places like the West Indies have had major issues over the years with not paying their players. It's no wonder that so many of their top players choose the T20 circuit which can reliably pay them to play cricket, than playing first class cricket in the West Indies where you never know if you are even going to get paid at all.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Fair enough. I understand where you're coming from. I did state that I don't blame players for electing to take up that opportunity. What I object to are the players who travel all over the world to play and miss out on so much cricket for their respective states and yet still get talked about in discussions for Test cricket. I'd much rather them play IPL or BBL but yet still prioritise turning out for their state whenever they can. The desire to be at home is understandable. Hence why they should play less T20 cricket for other leagues.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Sure, $375k is a massive pay day for most people. But are you really saying you wouldn't take a totally legitimate opportunity to earn 5 times your annual salary in 2 months? Sure, you often get players in different sports who elect to take less at their current club, to stay loyal and stay within the system and with the players and coaching staff they know and love, than take more money to leave. But that's probably more like $800k to stay v $1m to leave, not $300k to stay v $1m to leave. Let alone if it's just some other comp offering you that money for a short off-season tournament where you can still remain at your main club for the main season. Which is more akin to this. Sport is a fickle thing. You never know when that career ending injury might come along. I don't think it's fair to use terms like Mercinary for players who are just taking opportunities to earn a living playing sport while they can. And Hazlewood and others who chose to forgo the IPL didn't do it out of loyalty to their states, they did it out of either worry over the COVID situation, or simply bubble fatigue and not wanting to spend another couple of months in a really tight bubble but rather have that time at home. I do agree that the BBL does feel too long. Definitely get a fatique by the end. Need to pack in a lot more double headers and finish it with the final around Australia Day. Drop back to 4 teams finals and ditch one finals game too. Crowd numbers are an interesting thing. In some ways they were always going to settle back down after the initial burst of the first few seasons. But also, with a lot more games being played, you probably find a lot of people going to a similar number of games, so the crowd is just spread a bit more. I have a feeling the total tournament crowd is still more than earlier seasons, just less on a "per game" basis. So make of that what you will.
alex
Roar Pro
Wish nz had more tests and one dayers but sadly we are forgotten
Pale Dot
Roar Rookie
No board can give money equivalent to T20 leagues.Just like in soccer top star keep playing in league even just before WC .
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
And stop calling it a world cup.
DTM
Roar Rookie
First of all, like it or loath it, cricket now revolves around the IPL. I am not sure if it's true but I read that this 6 week competition now generates 60% of all revenue in world cricket. Secondly, T20 international matches outside of World Cup are irrelevant. Players get enough T20 games so why dont we make the T20 World Cup special by getting rid of all of the other international 20/20 games? Cut the BBL back to a maximum of 10 home and away games. More is not better.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
The difference is that the European football leagues thrive on tribalism. Liverpool fans (like myself) hate Man U. Same with Barcelona and Real Madrid. But who do you have in cricket? Mumbai fans hate the Rajasthan Royals? Any franchise based sport is similar. That's why you can't wear a South Sydney strip to Bondi without fear of reprisal or a Freo jersey to Perth without the same consequences. Cricket, by and large, has very little tribalism. The Thunder always enjoys beating the Sixers and the same with the Renegades and the Stars. Neither of those games has the same deep-seated hatred as a Bulldogs-Wests Tigers game, Essendon-North Melbourne or Red Sox-Yankees have. The only thing that might come close is the Ashes or maybe now Australia vs India. The Bledisloe Cup works for the same reason (though, rugby has its own issues). As much as Cricket Australia tries to hype up certain series and certain matches, nothing can ever rival the deep-seated franchise rivalry that exists in football or other franchise-based sports. That's exactly why I was pushing for the international game to take front and centre because that's where the tribalism traditionally lies in cricket.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Naive is perhaps a little harsh? I question whether they "can't" pay their players enough or whether it's "won't" pay their players enough. The last broadcast deal was massive, yet somehow they're still struggling for money. I would give my right arm and right leg to play for Australia (and be totally useless at cricket with just one arm and one leg) and earn $375k to play for my country. That's a reasonably healthy paycheque by anyone's estimation. I'm simply expecting them to stop being mercenaries and start actually taking pride in representing their state/nation. Outside of international matches, the tribalism has largely been lost (except for in suburban park cricket). NSW vs Victoria was once one of the celebrated Shield matches. So was NSW vs QLD, but nowadays, more players are interested in earning millions or in being rested rather than play for their states. Credit to Hazlewood (and others) for opting out to stay home and play for their state. Your comment about T20 cricket is extremely valid. However, BBL attendances have been down the past couple of seasons (COVID notwithstanding), and the BBL season is far too long. Slash the BBL in half, for a start, and that would give CA more money to pay their players.
Trevor Fleming
Roar Rookie
White ball cricket stuffs scheduling, esp T20. The BBL needs to be restricted to players not up to red ball cricket like M Marsh, Finch, Warner. There is no reason why Shield games during the day and BBL at night cannot co-exist. Further I would argue anyone receiving a BBL (or IPL) contract be ineligible for Shield or Test selection or CA/State contracts. Warner and Smith avoided Shield games (fearing exposure?) and Oz needs to move on. Any old park cricketer like Lynn can thrill the BBL audience. Let them play at night batting against trundlers.
Andrew
Guest
Stop playing 50 over cricket. It will free up a lot of space in the schedule. There is no meaningful 50 over tournament apart from the World Cup.
Brendon
Roar Rookie
The European soccer season for the major leagues and tournaments go for 364 days a year. Ok, that is only a slight exaggeration. But the season does last from August-June with July the ONLY month where there is no football. if you include the qualifying rounds for the Champions League then its is basically 12 months a year with June-June season with a couple of weeks off in the middle of June. Having said all that people don't seem to get bored of soccer in Europe and around the world. Quite the opposite, they're fanatical in preserver their bloated and corrupt leagues and tournaments as evidence by the attempted Super League. So I ask "Why are cricket fans so different?" Cricket fans spend more time devouring and attacking their own sport than they do watching it.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I think this is a bit naiive really. Even the "big 3" can't pay their players enough to make IPL money not worth bothering with. The other test playing nations can't come close. And it's hardly reasonable to expect players should somehow be expected to take massive pay cuts to play for their country and think that's some great privelege to do that. While we expect our sports administrators to look beyond just purely running the sports like a business and think about things "for the good of the game" and the like, in the end, market forces are still at play. If more people are watching T20 cricket, then there's going to be more T20 cricket. And those of us who love test cricket a lot more may lament that, but the reason T20 cricket is taking off so much is because people are watching it. Pure and simple. They are voting with their feet and their wallets, and that's just how life works.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
If you want that sort of retainer, then even the big 3 will reduce the number of players getting contracts to accommodate higher amounts. Also you mentioned the frequency of playing Tests. There's already a 3yr World Test Championship in place, albeit being affected by covid.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Yep. Totally agree. I've always been a fan of mandating that if you want to play for your country in Tests you should prioritise your country's four-day competition. If you want to play for your country in ODIs, prioritise that or for T20s, prioritise that.
Gibbo
Roar Pro
Good question. I don't have the answer for that. Even a base salary of around $500k would help rather than the current $375k. I guess teams schedule more international cricket, which is a moneymaking exercise, and maybe the ICC could foot the bill for the technology? They have enough money now as it is. I know that for Cricket Australia, England and India generate huge sums of revenue for them when they tour (hence why India seems to tour here every 2 years or so). However, if the ICC can ease some of the financial pressures surrounding the technology (like maybe paying for the DRS in the series), that might help the boards have more in their bottom line. Plus, didn't Cricket Australia just secure nearly a billion-dollar deal in the last rights period that locked most of the international cricket behind a paywall?
Targa
Roar Rookie
It is a problem though. England vs NZ at Lords (no 4 vs no 2) in June should be one of the bigger tests this year, but both teams will be understrength due to the IPL.
Targa
Roar Rookie
Where is this extra money to pay players going to come from? India, Australia, and England can pay their players huge salaries but none of the other teams can.