How to popularize Cricket?

[Athlai]

I think The IRB caught on whenthe had the 7s a side world tour thing its played yearly and ivolves many nations, but the big teams like NZ, ENG, AUS, SA just send up incoming stars sometimes an old head is there for balance etc. The icc should just start a 20/20 world tour and try include as many nations as possible a straight knock out comp over a 10 day period or something and just like the 7's the big teams Aus, Eng, SA just send up coming talent. why is that so hard......

7s = 14 minutes
20/20 = 3 hours

 

[slugger]

thats why i suggested a 10 day window, semi and finals to fall on the week ends. im not saying its easy but people act like it impossible.

 

[jashan83]

Put it in the Olympics! haha

That actually helps. Many of the cricket boards will not be solely dependent on money from ICC but extra money will come from the Olympic Committee of the nation. Also this would help in developing infrastructure for future. I am not saying that putting cricket in Olympic solves everything, but definitely gives one of the various booster's required.

The Second thing I have already written in my previous post, give the 20-20 WC to a emerging nation and develop the game there. Have a 5 years plan for that nation

 

[SJS]

Why is it important for cricket to be played in more countries than play it already ?

 

[jashan83]

Why is it important for cricket to be played in more countries than play it already ?

Refer to post no 10 in this thread

 

[turnstyle]

Why is it important for cricket to be played in more countries than play it already ?

Quite agree with this. If anything, it's the perception that cricket needs to rapidly expand into other major marketable nations which is causing the problems. Whoever was in charge when the latest ICC global television rights contracts were drawn up should be shot. All of a sudden cricket's had to become hugely profitable and ***y. The only good that's come out of it was the (very minimal) amount that was flicked towards building some sort of structure for the the other 95 countries, only to have it taken away when they showed signs of improvement... but that's another story.

Cricket had a chance to be included in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, but the BCCI at the time said that the world wasn't interested in Twenty20 cricket.

 

[SJS]

Refer to post no 10 in this thread

It is better for everyone concerned to realise that every sport does not and will not have universal following, come what may. Spending money on it is not going to help. Its a fool's pipe dream. There is a difference between Arabs playing cricket and Indian and Pakistanis living in UAE playing cricket.

Then there is the nature of the sport. Some sports like football for example, are more basic to the human sporting (childlike if you please) instincts. Thus kicking something, anything, is something man has probably done for thousands of years. For that to evolve into kicking a regular size ball in a specific direction and the evolution of football is a natural phenomenon.

Simlarly, hitting a ball back and forth between two (or more) opponents with a stick (like in tennis or table tennis, is again very basic in nature and easily adaptable around the world.

Take something complex like cricket with all its massive do's and dont's and rules and regulations (trust the British to mire even sport into bureaucratic rules and regulations) or its off shoot like baseball and you will always get restricted so far as the game's spread is concerned. Its not something to worry about or try to undo just because you have billions and think billions can do anything - as Mr Lalit "scandalous" Modi thought - even if it is liberally sprinkled with cheer girls in bikini and the rest.

Cricket would not even be played in the countries it is played in today if the British had not ruled half the world and then after them some of them had not split into more countries.

Have a heart guys. Cricket is fine as far as number of countries or people playing it is concerned. The worry is not how to get more people in more countries playing it but how to make sure those in the countries where it is already played continue to come and watch it.

And trust me the cricket administrators, at least those with the big bucks, do not even have a clue as to how to go about doing it.

And because they do not now how to get people to watch the game these silly goons are going to keep tinkering with the game tiil it is not cricket anyway so how does it matter anyway ?

 

[G.I.Joe]

Hitting a ball with a stick is more instinctive than two people hitting it back and forth, tbh. IMO, it's the playing requirements wrt equipment, ground, pitch that make cricket restrictive, not the rules. It's a basic see ball, hit ball game, tbh.

 

[vcs]

Cricket is certainly a fairly complicated game. Explaining the LBW rules alone to a novice would be a pain in the ass.

 

[Furball]

Cricket is certainly a fairly complicated game. Explaining the LBW rules alone to a novice would be a pain in the ass.

Bit of both. It's actually a pretty simple sport with quite complicated rules if you play it properly. If you stuck 22 CWers on a beach, you'd only need a few pieces of basic equipment to have an informal game of beach cricket, it wouldn't be massively more complicated than having a game of football.

 

[SJS]

Hitting a ball with a stick is more instinctive than two people hitting it back and forth, tbh. IMO, it's the playing requirements wrt equipment, ground, pitch that make cricket restrictive, not the rules. It's a basic see ball, hit ball game, tbh.

There you go my friend missing the woods for the trees . . . as usual :-)

 

[G.I.Joe]

Cricket is certainly a fairly complicated game. Explaining the LBW rules alone to a novice would be a pain in the ass.

If you get in depth into any game, you'll find some levels of complexity. I still don't understand the off side rule in football. If I were starting out trying to learn to play a game of cricket, I'd be more bothered by the requirements of a big ground, a pitch, stumps, bats, balls, leg guards than by the complexities of the lbw rule. Why would I be bothered to go through all that trouble when I can just buy myself a football and run to the nearest park instead?

 

[G.I.Joe]

Kids in cricket playing countries don't sit down memorising the laws and rules of the game before they venture out onto the ground for the first time. They just see it as a game where one guy runs into bowl and the other guy tries to hit the ball as best as he can. They play the game, and gradually get to know about the various rules as they go on. No kid walks onto a cricket field for the first time with prior knowledge of the intricacies of the lbw rule. Complexity of rules is not as great a factor as is being made out to be. No kid ever says he didn't take up cricket because he was daunted by the lbw rule. You either like the game at a basic instinctive level or you don't. Provided you have the facilities made available to you, complexity of rules is a non-factor.

 

[vcs]

Kids in cricket playing countries don't sit down memorising the laws and rules of the game before they venture out onto the ground for the first time. They just see it as a game where one guy runs into bowl and the other guy tries to hit the ball as best as he can. They play the game, and gradually get to know about the various rules as they go on. No kid walks onto a cricket field for the first time with prior knowledge of the intricacies of the lbw rule. Complexity of rules is not as great a factor as is being made out to be. No kid ever says he didn't take up cricket because he was daunted by the lbw rule. You either like the game at a basic instinctive level or you don't. Provided you have the facilities made available to you, complexity of rules is a non-factor.

Yeah, I agree. But you probably have to get into cricket at a very early age to fall in love with it, maybe more so than certain other sports.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah, I agree. But you probably have to get into cricket at a very early age to fall in love with it, maybe more so than certain other sports.

If anything I've been the exact opposite of that. My father's side of the family all loves cricket and all the kids on that side always played, and I could see how much interest they took in it so I really tried to get into it and follow it, but it just didn't happen for me, for ages. My knowledge of the rules and of Australian cricketers far exceeded my actual interest and enjoyment in watching the sport until I was in my mid teens and I didn't start playing at club level until I was 17 or 18. A couple of things kick-started it for me - a PS2 game, and an awesome triangular one day tournament in Australia including South Africa and New Zealand.

 

[weed wizard]

Rather than taking the game to next planet or galaxy, ICC should improve the cricketing strucures in associate nations such as AFGHANISTAN, IRELAND, BERMUDA, UAE, KENYA, NAMIBIA, SCOTLAND, CANADA, HOLLAND, HONG KONG, NEPAL, AMERICA.

50 over world cup should have 16 teams .
T20 world cup with 32 teams.
The quality of TEST CRICKET should not be compromised. 10 teams are good with a inclusion of IRELAND AFGANISTAN KENYA in near future.

Another thing that ICC must do is to readjust the yearly calendar so that every t20 league, test series etc should get the utmost media exposure.
Lets hope for best.

 

[jashan83]

Rather than taking the game to next planet or galaxy, ICC should improve the cricketing strucures in associate nations such as AFGHANISTAN, IRELAND, BERMUDA, UAE, KENYA, NAMIBIA, SCOTLAND, CANADA, HOLLAND, HONG KONG, NEPAL, AMERICA.

50 over world cup should have 16 teams .
T20 world cup with 32 teams.
The quality of TEST CRICKET should not be compromised. 10 teams are good with a inclusion of IRELAND AFGANISTAN KENYA in near future.

Another thing that ICC must do is to readjust the yearly calendar so that every t20 league, test series etc should get the utmost media exposure.
Lets hope for best.

That is the whole Idea. ICC should have a focus on these nations. But it should be IMO a 14 nation 50 Over WC and 16 to 20 Nation 20-20. Presently we are not ready for 32 nation cup

 

[weed wizard]

Exposure is the key.

Odi world cup should have 16 nations with a format of do or die in starting, followed by a super 8, semifin and grand finale.

 

[marc71178]

That is the whole Idea. ICC should have a focus on these nations. But it should be IMO a 14 nation 50 Over WC and 16 to 20 Nation 20-20. Presently we are not ready for 32 nation cup

Why should the ICC focus on other nations when there's major nations with financial issues, issues that will only be escalated if more and more weak nations get involved in 1-sided matches and series?

Should ensure the top nations are functioning properly before dishing out cash etc. to small nations.

 

[dro87]

I think there are two ways to get cricket more popular.

First is showing the game on free tv in all coutries which arn't big on cricket and not only t20, but even 50 over games and test full highlights

Second getting T20 cricket into the Olimpics, which would give lots more funds to the Associate members who wouldn't have only the ICC funds, but even the national goverments.


I know the ability gap is still very big, but only playing with the best will make the associates better. I'm not talking about playing Italy vs Australia every year... but playing against national A teams, and first class teams.