The future of Test cricket outside of the big three

[harsh.ag]

Yeah, agreed, compensation to the board is in order.

 

[cnerd123]

Yeah, agreed, compensation to the board is in order.

A bit of talent tax wouldn't be the worst idea

 

[JOJOXI]

I don't think it is a problem.

Cricketers who come out of small nations and go on to play a higher level of cricket for a bigger nation are inspirational. Seriously. It shows kids from the smaller nations that there is a pathway to becoming a high-paying professional if you work hard enough. That you can get a county contract, IPL gig, or even a high paying international job for a Test country if you are good enough.

This incentivizes youngsters in those countries to take up the game beyond the U15/U17 level. Kids who would have otherwise chosen a different career path. And of all the kids who go overseas, a couple of them might decide to play for the WI at some point. And that will be a player gained, not a player lost.

I'm not wholly convinced, in the above example it sounds like representing England is the prize of those who are inspired rather than representing their own nation. It sits poorly with me the idea of a Test team existing to be a conveyor belt for another Test team. I don't want to be too judgemental as it is these individuals' careers, no one put a gun to their head and they have done what they think is best for them and there is no guarantee they represent England at this stage although I suspect that is their ambition.

But you combine this with tiers and you get the gap between the richest and poorest boards growing, as soon as you take the idea of patriotism out of International cricket, which you risk if you accept a cricketing nation being a feeder nation to another cricketing side, what is the point of carrying on with cricket anymore when these series are losing most nations money. Especially if the younger generation being inspired, are being inspired by cricketers playing for other nations. Although, personally I think in the case of the West Indies in particular, there is plenty of inspiration at home re the IPL and the great thing about these domestic leagues is that someone like a Rashid Khan or a Sandeep Lamichanne can play for a less well-known cricketing nation, prove their ability and on the back of it get lucrative T20 contracts whilst being an even bigger inspiration.

Compensation would at least incentivise moulding talents but still it does remind me of club football a bit, especially as you can imagine that England as part of the big 3 in particular would be campaigning for as minimal compensation as possible. I guess in a world where poaching will happen its probably better then nothing though. How much compensation is the right amount I wonder? Too much and its an outright clampdown on poaching (I wouldn't be against that but in the case of cnerd123 that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing). Too little and there is little benefit to the non-poacher nation whilst it arguably disincentivises investment in grassroots in the poaching nation if you can buy yourself players with minimal cost.

 

[Beamer]

I'm not wholly convinced, in the above example it sounds like representing England is the prize of those who are inspired rather than representing their own nation. It sits poorly with me the idea of a Test team existing to be a conveyor belt for another Test team. I don't want to be too judgemental as it is these individuals' careers, no one put a gun to their head and they have done what they think is best for them and there is no guarantee they represent England at this stage although I suspect that is their ambition.

But you combine this with tiers and you get the gap between the richest and poorest boards growing, as soon as you take the idea of patriotism out of International cricket, which you risk if you accept a cricketing nation being a feeder nation to another cricketing side, what is the point of carrying on with cricket anymore when these series are losing most nations money. Especially if the younger generation being inspired, are being inspired by cricketers playing for other nations. Although, personally I think in the case of the West Indies in particular, there is plenty of inspiration at home re the IPL and the great thing about these domestic leagues is that someone like a Rashid Khan or a Sandeep Lamichanne can play for a less well-known cricketing nation, prove their ability and on the back of it get lucrative T20 contracts whilst being an even bigger inspiration.

Compensation would at least incentivise moulding talents but still it does remind me of club football a bit, especially as you can imagine that England as part of the big 3 in particular would be campaigning for as minimal compensation as possible. I guess in a world where poaching will happen its probably better then nothing though. How much compensation is the right amount I wonder? Too much and its an outright clampdown on poaching (I wouldn't be against that but in the case of cnerd123 that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing). Too little and there is little benefit to the non-poacher nation whilst it arguably disincentivises investment in grassroots in the poaching nation if you can buy yourself players with minimal cost.

I was thinking about the compensation issue and I'm not sure it would pass in a court of law as the players could argue it is a restraint of trade and a limitation on their individual choice. But lets say for Bethel and Reifer, who appear to have been outright poached, it should be a decent figure. For example, lower league football clubs get £100K if their 12-15 year olds get tapped up by Premier League clubs and move as long as they have Tier 2 academy status. Obviously, if Bethel ends up being a superstar, his loss will be worth way more than £100K but at least it is something and will make counties think twice before so brazenly poaching talent.

 

[JOJOXI]

I was thinking about the compensation issue and I'm not sure it would pass in a court of law as the players could argue it is a restraint of trade and a limitation on their individual choice. But lets say for Bethel and Reifer, who appear to have been outright poached, it should be a decent figure. For example, lower league football clubs get £100K if their 12-15 year olds get tapped up by Premier League clubs and move as long as they have Tier 2 academy status. Obviously, if Bethel ends up being a superstar, his loss will be worth way more than £100K but at least it is something and will make counties think twice before so brazenly poaching talent.

Its s tough one as I guess it is really playing for England rather then Warwickshire that is the fear. There is an argument that Warwickshire do not necessarily gain a whole lot on the field if he becomes a superstar but if the fee was borne by the ECB it would have to be on an international cap basis in which case there is no risk from the poacher and in this instance it's possible West Indies lose these 2, they hold out for international honours, do not achieve them and West Indies have lost 2 key youngsters for free.

But as you pointed out it probably wouldn't pass in a court of law.

 

[Beamer]

I'd like it to follow the football model. Counties, perhaps subsidised by the ECB, should pay a fee for stealing them at youth level. Regardless of how they progress in the future.

Then we can;t complain as the Barbados Cricket Association would be compensated and able to spend that money on more grassroots development and the county/ECB can get on with developing the player without the ongoing questions of who they will represent etc.

 

[morgieb]

Cricketers who come out of small nations and go on to play a higher level of cricket for a bigger nation are inspirational

You'd have half a point if the example was Scotland, but the only reason why England are bigger than the West Indies is because of money. It just cheapens international cricket irreversibly.

 

[Kirkut]

This is a bit discriminatory. A lot of CWers have grown up in non-Test playing countries and love Test cricket. I know several people IRL the same way.

Beethoven's music is heavily commercialized, while typewriters have a website and online community dedicated to them. You could still buy one now if you wanted to, just go onto Amazon.

Test cricket dying is sad because Test cricket is beautiful and deserves to exist. And the way it will exist is, as you mention, by maintaining and growing it's fanbase. This can be done in several ways if there is the desire from those in charge to do so.

All who love test cricket belong to countries which were formerly under British Empire, including non test playing nations. Hence it is this reason why I consider test cricket to be an acquired taste. Try getting a Turkish person who is a Galatasaray/Fenerbahce fan into cricket and that would be some achievement, and I'm not even talking about test cricket here.

Test cricket is a lot like chess. Not many consider chess to even be a sport, but those who are into it admire the genius of Magnus Carlsen.

 

[cnerd123]

Turkey does have an international cricket team, just FYI:

Turkey national cricket team - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Quite a few of those names seem ethnically Turkish too, rather than just expats.

While we're are it, why not read about some more interesting individuals:

A Romanian bodyguard that fell in love with the game:

Pavel Florin: The bodyguard who became a cult hero

Pavel Florin, the Romania all-rounder, shot to limelight when his unique bowling action in the European Cricket League attracted widespread attention on social media.

www.icc-cricket.com

A Korean aspiring professional cricketer:

Cricket in Kimchi country - dreams of a South Korean cricketer | New Zealand in India 2016 News - Times of India

New Zealand in India 2016 News: Lee Hwayeon was pursuing a course in sports science at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul when he discovered cricket.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

A Japanese baseball star turned cricketer:

After 30 years of baseball, Shogo Kimura is set to make his debut for Japan ... in cricket

At 38, most cricketers are at the twilight of their careers, but Shogo Kimura has only just begun. He played baseball in Japan for 30 years, but then decided to shift to cricket, and has, remarkably, made it to the national team.

www.icc-cricket.com

The point is cricket exists outside of the main Test playing countries, and it's ridiculously backwards thinking to believe that cricket can only be loved by people of a certain race/nationality. We need to do more work to give more people around the world an opportunity to watch and play cricket if we are to grow the fanbase, instead of preserving it for a small elitist group.

 

[nzfan]

Just read on stuff it's NZD 4k loss for a home test if not playing Aussie, India or England. Looked like it was off set this year with crowd attendance.

From stuff:

Home tests against opponents other than Australia, India or England typically lose $400,000 and were a financial headache for NZC, but White admitted the strong attendances in Wellington, Tauranga and Christchurch signalled something of a turnaround. With Government backing amid the pandemic, being the only country with unrestricted crowds was a huge bonus

 

[Flem274*]

last week it was a 700k loss. now it's 400k. who does the accounting for these people?

 

[Chewie]

last week it was a 700k loss. now it's 400k. who does the accounting for these people?

hmm i work for the auditors

 

[Flem274*]

hmm i work for the auditors

so its your fault test cricket is dying.

get him bois.

 

[nzfan]

Or maybe the loss was just got this season given the pandemic. I would be really surprised if they made this loss even in regular times.

 

[cnerd123]

hmm i work for the auditors

give us deetz

 

[Chewie]

I don't have any information and probably wouldn't be able to access it if I wanted to.

 

[nzfan]

NZC is very secretive about numbers but still the financial statements should be out there for every year from the AGM. They cut a lot of staff this year.