South Australia Redbacks fielder Daniel Harris drops a catch (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe).
This article is in direct response to the guest column by Cricket Australia’s Mike McKenna on the Twenty20 Big Bash League.
Learning to play cricket as a child was a simple matter. What was harder was putting it into place. Bat straight, bowl to your field, and hold your catches. It all sounds simple, but for the hideously unskilled, I was always afraid I’d be the last one on the team bus because I was genetically incapable of completing the aforementioned tasks with any effect.
But for all the dregs like myself, there were the kids who just got it done. Those were the ones who received rep honours, got to meet former Test players and play the game at the level we were all aspiring to get to.
Priorities have shifted it seems. Twenty20 now capture the hearts and minds of kids, or so Cricket Australia and every national cricket body would have us believe. In contrast, CA also points out the lack of interest in the Sheffield Shield – talking about it as an exercise of obligation rather than the vehicle that has carried Australian cricket for more than 100 years, and through its fair share of memorable moments.
The result is that Cricket Australia have been blaring their clarion call about the next year’s Big Bash League, with an enthusiasm akin to when I was given my first cricket bat (it was a Slazenger V100, as my dad knew Mark Waugh was my favourite player growing up, but I digress).
Let the public speak now: how many of us are actually as excited as CA are about this? Is the prospect of a local Sydney or Melbourne derby going to whet the appetite as far as what young fans want?
I no longer am one, and so don’t feel entitled to represent their views. But all I know is that kids want and many things. If a parent obliges to all of their requests, then the end result is that the children can a) become spoiled, and b) as a result, not have the necessary skills set to adapt when things don’t go their way.
The second point is the crux of my argument. Do you think I enjoyed having to do extra laps at cricket training only days after I dropped a sitter at slip? Why was I made to do it? To reinforce a lesson in discipline: the very quality that Twenty20 cricket sorely lacks.
Discipline is no fun. It can be tedious, years of hard work and can make you feel like perennial merde.
So if you follow Cricket Australia’s rationale, discipline is not a marketable quality, and therefore must be shown the door.
After all, it is much easier to perform one slog sweep than to survive eight hours of intense bowling pressure. At least that’s what modern cricket is telling kids that can watch live IPL coverage from their homes, but can’t even get a Sheffield Shield report on the 6pm news.
After all this whingeing, time for solutions (everything is subjective, of course).
If Cricket Australia has any intent to grow the game and follow on from what it says, a couple of steps can be taken:
1) Mandate that all international players must be available for at least five Shield matches a season. Improve the quality of the domestic competition, and the audiences will return.
2) Remove the layers of coaching at the top level. If a cricketer is selected for Australia, then he/she must be given the freedom to express themselves without a myriad of coaches complicating the process. All those coaches are far better off working among grassroot cricketers. For no better example of how a natural talent can be mismanaged into a whimpering wreck, look at Mitchell Johnson.
3) Reduce the home summer international commitments to a maximum of six Tests, six ODIs and two T20s. If there are less matches for people to attend, the likelihood of them attending increases. Treat the game as your marketing plaything however, the more intelligent among us will simply turn away.
Three steps – all achievable. It is a matter of discipline over money.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Australia are set to turn their back on rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk’s whirlwind IPL form and drop Steve Smith in their T20 World Cup…
If people can lose their job, and clubs can face massive payouts, due to the behaviour of coaches, it will drastically change the way sporting teams in Australia will be run.
Australian fast bowling great Jason Gillespie has been named head coach of Pakistan's Test team, as the nation overhauls its coaching department ahead of…
Will Jacks got RCB past the 200 target set by Gujarat with four overs to spare.
With Rajasthan needing 25 off 17, both batsmen ended up at the same end but the bowler dropped the throw from his teammate -…
A six-laden, 27-ball 84 from Jake Fraser-McGurk to continue his outrageous debut IPL!
