Cricket at Crossroads - Points of View

[Richard]

Said it before - I hope the first thing the IPL will do away with is the need for Twenty20 Internationals.

 

[SJS]

I think the players will have a bit to say, they enjoy 50 overs more then 20/20

I still think they should try two 25 over innings for ODI

Prabably true but they love the moolah above all else

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

I'm pretty pessimistic about cricket's future. Test cricket only appears to have a real culture over here - perhaps in Australia too, but only with the Ashes. I can see a fragmentation of the game into commercial tournaments and the destruction of the proper international game. It will, in many countries, end up a purely amateur sport.

 

[Manee]

Said it before - I hope the first thing the IPL will do away with is the need for Twenty20 Internationals.

...away from the World Championships.

I believe that the lure of the IPL gives the ICC a very realistic challenge to sell international cricket (specifically 50 over and Test cricket), to the international players. This will be beneficial to all involved. If played correctly, the ICC should reduce the number of international matches, to prevent overkill and keep each tour as an experience for any player. With the help of national boards, we should see international salaries on the up as well as an increased effort (though I doubt the BCCI will take as much care) to improve pitches - giving the batsmen a massive challenge against the top bowlers (who will be given assistance).

Or maybe I am being too optimistic.

 

[Langeveldt]

Cricket is rapidly turning into football or any American sport you care to mention.. Thats good for some, probably most people, but definitely not for me.. Not cool

 

[silentstriker]

Cricket is rapidly turning into football or any American sport you care to mention.. Thats good for some, probably most people, but definitely not for me.. Not cool

Interesting. Personally, I love the organization, professionalism and overall structure of American sport. I hope to hell it becomes like US sports.

 

[archie mac]

Interesting. Personally, I love the organization, professionalism and overall structure of American sport. I hope to hell it becomes like US sports.

Nah, that is what is great about cricket; playing for your country, not free agents, and the richest club/city/country have the best players

Just great in the USA with player strikes, lock outs etc

 

[silentstriker]

Nah, that is what is great about cricket; playing for your country, not free agents, and the richest club/city/country have the best players

Just great in the USA with player strikes, lock outs etc

NFL is extremely stable. And very exciting. And the players are happier, the fans are happier, and the owners are happier. The training, fitness, grassroots system is better, and it is run in a professional manner which leads to fantastic quality in matches.

To me, I want to see great Test matches. I don't really care who they are between.

 

[Top_Cat]

NFL is extremely stable. And very exciting. And the players are happier, the fans are happier, and the owners are happier. The training, fitness, grassroots system is better, and it is run in a professional manner which leads to fantastic quality in matches.

Strangely, there are those who think that the lack of professionalism at the grass-roots level is part of cricket's charm. It, in reality, is really holding the game back. District level sides are on the verge of closing or merging with bigger clubs due to lack of money and mostly still rely on local sponsorship dollars, interstate cricket is still struggling for crowd numbers generally. It isn't by accident that even high school sports are regularly sold-out in the US yet we here in Aus still haven't learnt the lesson. Sure there's little international level competition for the bigger American sports to aspire to but when they do, the US dominates and it's no coincidence.

The US system is expert at developing new talent and instances of talented players in cricket being lost due to injury (Zahid, Ngam) or other reasons where proper management would potentially have changed the outcome are anathema to most hyper-organised US systems. It's quite disgraceful how many talented players are lost to the game through poor management/treatment and we certainly hear it in the press often enough through the treatment by their home boards of guys like Saqlain, Mustaq, Stuart Law, Shane Bond, Vinod Kambli and many, many others. The end result is failure and people are all too quick to blame the player when a little care and professionalism by those tasked to look after these players would have gone a long way. Truth is, you have to fit a certain few personalities to do well in cricket and if you don't, you get ostracised whereas in the US, the grass-roots system seems to be able to separate the talent from the personality and treat the player accordingly, giving them every opportunity to do well and if they don't, there's only one person to blame. Sure it seems like I'm painting a bit of a rosy picture but it's broadly true.

As for player strikes, they don't happen very often. Only baseball has seriously been affected really.

EDIT: Oh yeah, one of the articles above seriously over-states the popularity of IPL in Australia. It's footy season and most column inches are being taken up with that. I doubt ratings of the televised matches are awesome either.

 

[Goughy]

NFL is extremely stable. And very exciting. And the players are happier, the fans are happier, and the owners are happier. The training, fitness, grassroots system is better, and it is run in a professional manner which leads to fantastic quality in matches.

To me, I want to see great Test matches. I don't really care who they are between.

I love the NFL and its financially strong but there are also massive issues. Mainly lack of guaranteed contracts for players, conflict between league and players union, poor quality product being put on the field, and an outdated draft system where teams do not want high picks.