Should cricket strive to 'grow' as a sport...

[Dazinho]

Hiya - I ask this as i have mates who are rugby league fans.

Rugby League made a conscious attempt to grow the sport through franchises - there can be little doubt that the expansion into France has been a success but they had history in the game. They tried Wales but that has always been a rugby union country.

London and the south of England remains undecided - they are back in Super League but for how long?

Here's one...Kenya. Were they a missed opportunity given the success they had between the mid 1990s and early 2000s?

Had there been a proactive attempt to promote Kenya to a place in the international cricket 'family' could they be a moderately successful test nation by now?

We've had Bangladesh and Ireland since...and there are encouraging signs in Scotland, the Netherlands and a couple of others.

So...should cricket be looking to expand its base at international level?

If not...what are the strict criteria that a 'new entry' has to meet to be considered worthy of regular international exposure?

Apologies if this has been done before, maybe it's worth doing again - thanks...

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

In order to grow the sport, they need to give us back Robelinda and his archive of cricket videos.

 

[Dazinho]

In order to grow the sport, they need to give us back Robelinda and his archive of cricket videos.

well that I can't argue with...

 

[shortpitched713]

I think they're certainly trying, with T20s in particular.

Problem is cricket is not like the football codes. It requires a lot of equipment, which is a barrier to entry. Think they can promote more recreational cricket globally, and alternatives to hard ball cricket (tape ball, hard tennis ball), as that is where youth interest and participation develops among less well-off communities.

There's huge potential for growth, but not if you're trying to milk everything for an immediate cash return.

 

[Socerer 01]

it should but it wont

some opinions of this forum is reason enough why it doesnt bother to

the least they could do is make the sport more accessible to watch instead of being the most litigious bastards in sports circles

 

[Dendarii]

Here's one...Kenya. Were they a missed opportunity given the success they had between the mid 1990s and early 2000s?

Had there been a proactive attempt to promote Kenya to a place in the international cricket 'family' could they be a moderately successful test nation by now?

That did actually happen. But due to corruption and mismanagement the money that was pumped into Kenyan cricket didn't go to where it was supposed to and Kenya suffered a major decline.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

The only thing that is growing is the $$$$ in Dream 11’s pockets

 

[honestbharani]

Kenya is a definite what if.

 

[Yeoman]

Kenya I believe had some internal problems which limited their development. It is always a stretch to develop momentary success in one day cricket into sustained quality at test level. It requires time and organic development of first class cricket within a country first. Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and now Ireland were perhaps prematurely promoted to test status on the basis of such one day success. Perseverance has however seen Bangladesh improve their performances.

Going back to OP’s point in Rugby League, a RL administrator famously said that the sports problem was that it was only popular in poor countries or regions. Cricket’s expansion problem is that many of its developing markets are politically unstable from Afghanistan, arguably the greatest grass expansion of all, through Kenya to Zimbabwe.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Perseverance has however seen Bangladesh improve their performances.

Not the best time to post that

 

[Ali TT]

I think cricket will expand but it will be driven by growing Asian immigrant populations rather than wider mass participation in new "markets". Whether that leads to new countries breaking the current hegemony I'm less sure. Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands will always tick along with half home-grown, half Saffer/Aussie import sides at the fringes of the top 10, occasionally good enough to knock off a higher ranked side but never better. I just don't see the scope to professionalise their domestic structures sufficiently to do so. I think Ireland have had to scale back their attempt already.

I don't see expansion through test cricket though and not sure why we should hold the bar to full entry at that level.

 

[shortpitched713]

Test cricket is fine, more or less as it is. If we can develop some FC structures outside of the Test nations, I think that could be good enough expansion along those front, unless there is a massive surge in a non traditional cricketing nation.

But Test cricket doesn't have to be the avenue for growth. For instance, the concept of cricket growing by Asian immigrant populations, doesn't prevent it from growing through the wider mass participation. In fact, it spurs on the other avenues rather organically, by building awareness. Even in America, the amount of times we get asked about the game by some random bloke watching us play our small sided 20 over matches, is about 1 in 2 matches. The game can grow at the grassroots, from such interactions, through building awareness.