Globalise cricket? Never interested me tbh
Can we please have a seperate forum for 20/20 talk, it is crap
When I hear all this talk of globalisation and making the sport as popular as football it makes me laugh.
Every sport has its own following. Some are played in fewer countries some in more and some almost all over. No games are in competition with each other. Those who play rugby don want to copete with soccer. Those playing American football and its fans (theyare crazier than cricket fans ever can be believe me I have two sons and they are addicts in the short time they have been there) have no problem how many other countries are playing it.
This is some non-sense first propogated by ICC and picked up by fans who will pick up any issue without thinking for a moment.
Cricket has lots of issues it needs sorting and they need ICC's and the major board's urgent consideration but no one bothers about them. Globalisation is the mantra. Talk of globalistaion, bring in more affiliate members and divert attention from the real issues facing the game.
Trying to bring in new fans when the old one's are losing interest is not a solution. We need to understand what we need to do to keep our fans intact. This may need some changes but not converting the game into a completely new one.
Just listen to what the players are saying even when they are giving seemingly positive opinions about the shortest format of the game.
"You need to go there and try to have fun. If you dont take it too seriously, you will have fun and so will the spectators".
How much IQ do you need to read between those lines? Ask anyof the top players in the world and they will tell you test cricket is the real thing. Why ? Because it is the ultimate test of their skills. It is where they want to showcase their abilities and earn the appreciation of their peers and opponents.
Gambhir has already become the scorer of most fifties in T20 in the world - jointly with hayden - but yesterday when asked how it felt he said it feels good but his ultimate dream is to play regularly for India in test matches and perform there. Why ? Because he realises that his four fifties not withstanding this is NOT a real test of his capabilities.
The top players understand that and those who really follow the nuances of the game do to. But there are always going to be those who will prefer the quick sandwich and coke to a gourmet six course meal. Its for the game's authorities to decide whether they want this game of great skills to be reduced to a 'fast-food' version of it.
There are tournaments and even a world championship for the 'fast-chess' but no one thinks of it as the real thing.
Its completely wrong to think that those who are hankering for the longer verion are some sort of status-quoists wanting to live in the past. Not at all. The game has changed considerably over the last hundred and fifty years and has evolved. Some changes have been good some not so. But the basic structure and the skill-emphasis hasn't and shouldn't change.