Now a 9 Run Hit

[GIMH]

Even if you don't believe that all boards should be anti-ICL, that isn't really relevant to what Hingston posted. An anti-ICL stance might make NZ and others better-off in the short-term but I see no reason to believe it would in the longer-term (as I may have mentioned before too...) and it certainly wouldn't make the slightest impact on whether it's England A vs SL A next summer.

There is so much wrong with next summer's scheduling anyway, I wouldn't really mind a great deal if it was such a thing.

It is relevant to what he said IMO, because what he said was that T20 was to blame for NZ/Bangas having depleted side. My argument is that is not the fault of the format, but the whole BCCI-ICL shenanigans.

 

[Richard]

As I say, certainly it is, but for me NZ will be gaining long-term for their short-term losses for taking the anti-ICL stance.

 

[GIMH]

Can't agree with that. It won't discourage players from playing T20, it will simply discourage them from seeking opportunities that might clash with the party line. Anti-competitive practices are damaging to everybody in the long-term, IMO.

 

[Richard]

If it discourages them from seeking opportunities that damage the game (which I will always maintain the ICL has the potential to do, and how), that's good in my book.

I don't want to seek to discourage players from playing Twenty20 - I'd like to seek to discourage them from putting Twenty20 above First-Class cricket, and in fact doing the exact reverse. Unfortunately there's really no way of doing that with the current paycheque environment - for which the BCCI via IPL is as much to blame as Zee via the ICL are.

 

[GIMH]

Off topic a little here, would you rather live in a world where there was no cricket at all, or just Twenty20? I know you're going to say that if FC/OD died out, you wouldn't watch T20...but if your worst nightmare became reality, well, would you not need that bat and ball fix?

 

[Richard]

I'd only know if I found-out, but my suspicion would be no.

Twenty20 just doesn't appeal to me at all and I doubt it'd start to do so if cricket died-out.

 

[SJS]

Off topic a little here, would you rather live in a world where there was no cricket at all, or just Twenty20? I know you're going to say that if FC/OD died out, you wouldn't watch T20...but if your worst nightmare became reality, well, would you not need that bat and ball fix?

I would probably watch it if I turned on the TV and stumbled on to a channel showing it and had nothing else to do but I surely wouldn't follow it the way i follow all Test cricket and ODI's involving India.

PS: I might follow whats happening to the Indian team as i do with each and every sport in which India is involved even though I dont spend too much time watching them.

 

[Langeveldt]

Off topic a little here, would you rather live in a world where there was no cricket at all, or just Twenty20? I know you're going to say that if FC/OD died out, you wouldn't watch T20...but if your worst nightmare became reality, well, would you not need that bat and ball fix?

No cricket at all.. Find myself spending more time watching rugby and football already and T20 hasn't even taken over yet.. When you can watch a sport that seperates those with class and talent from those without, why on earth would you want to watch T20?

What I'm hoping will happen is that we'll have a complete split in the codes.. Something along the lines of Rugby League and Union.. I hope there are still a few of us purists that maintain a dedicated following regarding test and FC cricket, but I fear most of the masses would flock to T20.. Even if we have to watch in inferior facilities with one man and a dog, I'd rather this than the status quo at the moment..

 

[SJS]

No cricket at all.. Find myself spending more time watching rugby and football already and T20 hasn't even taken over yet.. When you can watch a sport that seperates those with class and talent from those without, why on earth would you want to watch T20?

Well said.

I too am watching much less of cricket even of the longer version due to the falling standards. In the past, I have missed many days of office, conducted office from home with me sitting in front of the TV with a stream of people coming from the office or factory for getting papers signed or for discussing vital matters and yet now when I am retired, the game is not able to hold my attention unless the bowling is good enough to demand 'genuinely' skillful batting and if such batting is forth coming in some measure. Unfortunately such matches or match days are few and far between. And with all the time in the world, and the luxury of a 120 inch screen that I have set up at this age in my house, I still do not watch all the cricket available.

My wife and mother cant believe it.

But I cant bring myself to watch batsmen slaughtering bowling which makes me find myself saying 'even I could play that stuff'

 

[Langeveldt]

Well said.

I too am watching much less of cricket even of the longer version due to the falling standards. In the past, I have missed many days of office, conducted office from home with me sitting in front of the TV with a stream of people coming from the office or factory for getting papers signed or for discussing vital matters and yet now when I am retired, the game is not able to hold my attention unless the bowling is good enough to demand 'genuinely' skillful batting and if such batting is forth coming in some measure. Unfortunately such matches or match days are few and far between. And with all the time in the world, and the luxury of a 120 inch screen that I have set up at this age in my house, I still do not watch all the cricket available.

My wife and mother cant believe it.

But I cant bring myself to watch batsmen slaughtering bowling which makes me find myself saying 'even I could play that stuff'

Yeah it's a shame, I've cancelled the cable subscription as there is nothing that holds my interest really at the moment. Not sure whats going to happen next year, I don't think SL will tour England at all.. I'm sure I'll go to the odd game in SA, but thats more of a social thing to be honest... I hope cricket thrives in it's brave new world, but I'm proud of the fact that I won't be joining it..

 

[GIMH]

Why would the codes separate though?? There are always going to be plenty of players who are good at all three. Who would people rather watch in T20? Ricky Ponting and Kevin Pietersen or Graham Napier and Ian Blackwell?

 

[Langeveldt]

Why would the codes separate though?? There are always going to be plenty of players who are good at all three. Who would people rather watch in T20? Ricky Ponting and Kevin Pietersen or Graham Napier and Ian Blackwell?

It's not about that though.. If cricketer X can earn massive bucks playing for the Chandigarh Chilli Peppers, or mediocre bucks captaining their country.. I reckon most would go for the former before long.. The calendar cannot sustain viable and profitable T20 and Test cricket when all the money lies with one code.. (bar the odd test series like the ashes).. Our main fear is that market forces will drive the vast majority of test cricket to extinction..

 

[GIMH]

It won't happen though. Most players who earned big bucks in IPL did so because of their reputations in the international game, Tests & ODIs.

I've felt it all along, if any format will be squeezed out by T20 it's ODIs. There will always be a need for the long-game, the short one obviously ain't going anywhere. ODIs are much more likely to be squeezed out of the calendar than Tests, IMO.

 

[Richard]

I think the IPL depends more on ODIs than Tests.

Tests being maintained will require something different than the established-stardom demanded by the IPL.

But none of this removes the dangers associated with the fact that Twenty20 is a massively larger earner than First-Class cricket.

 

[SJS]

The fact of the matter is that the Sri Lankan board has shown its preference for IPL at the cost of the England tour. BCCI has become accessory to the act by offering 40 million USD in compensation.

That makes it two of the ICC's 'senior' members showing what's to come.

 

[Richard]

Hopefully this will at least mean the Sri Lankan players start being paid by their board.

 

[NZTailender]

Yeah, that's what the main problem here is; not T20/IPL taking over tests.


If international players are being witheld pay or being paid little, tbh I wouldn't blame them for choosing something that will give them money over playing Tests for free.

 

[Richard]

Financial mismanagement, turning boards that would be profitable had the money been used well, into mass loss-making enterprises, is one of the biggest problems cricket faces currently.

ZC is no different to anything else in the country, but with SLC and the WICB it's a serious concern. You wouldn't have thought it'd be that difficult to get someone who understood how to manage finances in to run the show, but clearly it is.

 

[NZTailender]

Financial mismanagement, turning boards that would be profitable had the money been used well, into mass loss-making enterprises, is one of the biggest problems cricket faces currently.

ZC is no different to anything else in the country, but with SLC and the WICB it's a serious concern. You wouldn't have thought it'd be that difficult to get someone who understood how to manage finances in to run the show, but clearly it is.

It seems a few of the world cricket boards are happy to make a profit off cricket, but not put that profit back into it - or even worse, not give it to the people that made the money for them.