Thought of the Day: Cricket Australia REALLY hates Cricket

Following on from my last post on Cricket Australia's (CA's) appalling approach to developing and marketing the game in Australia, this little Tweet came to my attention on the weekend:

That's right; over 100,000 people turned up to watch the Australian domestic soccer league last weekend, while less than 1,000 turned up to watch the Ryobi cup (the domestic one-day tournament).

Granted, there were more soccer league games being played, but even the average number of attendees at the soccer far outweighed those at the cricket games.

Keep in mind that it wasn't too long ago that the domestic soccer league in Australia was an absolute shambles and Cricket was the only summer sport, now the tables have turned on the back of some good management (soccer) and some equally poor administration (guess!).

The ridiculous scheduling of the Ryobi cup has been defended by CA as a good way of preparing players for a World Cup type tournament, though this seems odd given that the Cricket World Cup is usually played in front of large crowds.

Foreground: Ryobi Cup action. Background: Ryobi Cup crowd.

Stranger still is that the Ryobi cup ends in a matter of weeks, meaning the time between the World Cup and many of these players' next One Day game is a minimum of a year away.

Another strange excuse that CA has trotted out is that there aren't enough grounds available at the moment to host the event.  Given that all of the major winter sports have finished, I'm really not sure how this stacks up.  The American Baseball league manages to play games seemingly everyday all over that continent, why can't the same be done here?

While CA may truly hate the game, many of us don't and would prefer that it not only survived, but flourished.

Also, it helps keep Shahid Afridi well fed.

With that in mind, I'd like to propose the following changes to Cricket Australias summer schedule.  In the event of their being fixture clashes in the same city, games should be moved to appropriate regional venues to promote the game there.

Test Cricket:

• 6 Tests to be played every year from October to the end of January;
• 1 Test to be played in every Capital City;
• Each Test to be promoted as an event in its own rite (e.g. the McGrath foundations day at the Sydney Test);
• Hobart to host the New Years Test to coincide with the end of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race;
• Sydney to host the last Test over the Australia Day weekend;
• Where a 6-Test series cannot be played, 2 x 3 Test Series can be played against different countries

One Day Cricket:

• Return to a limited 3-team series to be played between the end of January and the end of February;
• Games to be played in all capital cities with a best of 3 final series;
• Games to be played mid-week, allowing people to go after work, and on weekends - limited Sunday games.

T20 Internationals:

• Limited games (1 or 2) to be played at the end of February, ending the season.

Sheffield Shield:

• Season to be played from October to end of February;
• Season to continue during BBL and other corresponding fixtures, giving opportunity to new players;
• No age restrictions on teams fielded;
• Proper pitches prepared to enable 4 day games & results.

Ryobi Cup:

• To be played mid-week or book-ending Shield games (people should be able to watch a game of cricket, free, every night);
• To be played at regional grounds with heavy promotion to ensure interest / attendance;
• Free to air coverage to continue

Big Bash League

• To continue being scheduled and played as it is, though sharing the limelight / grounds and players of the other leagues;
• Where players prefer to play T20 to other games, they should be allowed to, but not forced to.