Thought of the Day: This Week in Cricket

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Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is one of the greatest movies ever made and if you want to argue with me about that, you better come armed.

That being said, the fact that it turned out so well and became so popular is a mixture of complete good luck and the sequels being much better films; making the original trilogy great as a group and individually.

For those of you that have families or weird hobbies that don’t involve watching 30 year-old science fantasy movies over and over, you may not know that the original script to Star Wars was almost nothing like how it turned out.

Indeed, George Lucas’ main talents as a film maker were around special effects and action shots, not script writing.

Similarly, international Cricket has had a week in which some great product has been served up despite the best efforts of its managers. Here are the highlights:

The World Cup that isn’t for the World

The ICC confirmed this week that the next ODI Cricket World Cup will consist of only ten teams.

There probably is some justification for this, with some of the games at the last cup being one-sided and the tournament dragging on a bit, but these are issues that seemingly every other sporting tournament on earth is capable of dealing with.

One suggestion for reducing the duration of the tournament might be to host games at major stadiums held more than once a month!  Radical, I know.

Given the international pressure to grow and compete with other sports, the move to reduce the number of teams in the tournament seems baffling in the extreme.

The energy and enjoyment of the game that teams like Afghanistan and Ireland brought to the last World Cup were infectious and brought life to the tournament, as well as greater international interest and participation.

Indeed, this decision seems to be the equivalent of the creation of the Jar Jar Binks character for Star Wars Episode I.

This makes me physically sick.

Unfortunately, it is hardly isolated as an appalling Cricketing administration move.

Cricket Australia: Open for Business

The other baffling announcement by a Cricket Administrator this week was that Cricket Australia (CA) was looking at making major cities bid for the right to host Tests.

Interestingly, I was talking about this with an interested Cricket fan who actually has a life outside the game & their main issue was that it paid no heed to the history of the matches, rather than as Marketing disaster.

Seen here: Marketing disaster

There are certainly improvements that could be made to the Cricketing schedule in Australia, including ensuring that there is a Test in every Capital City (as well as Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart) and each of these fixtures is recognised and respected as an event.

There are multiple examples of successes with established sporting events in Australia, not least the AFL Grand Final (always played at the MCG, regardless of teams participating), the Melbourne Cup and the Australian Grand Prix.

There are also less successful examples of sporting events that have been moved, including the St Kilda Football Clubs foray into New Zealand and the Melbourne Football Clubs efforts in the Northern Territory.

CA manages the game on behalf of the fans of the fans of the game and has an obligation to make it as accessible and interesting as possible.  Creating greater uncertainty around what will be on and when is like trying to recruit a Jedi Knight after cutting their hand off.  Mean and Stupid.

Happy Fathers Day

…and now some good news

It seems the people that have been professionally trained to play the game are executing their skills much better than the people paid to run the game.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are evenly matched going into the last day of their test in Colombo, after Pakistan collapsed in their own inimitable way in their first Innings after winning the first Test so comprehensively.

Seriously, all of the rumours around corruption are never going to disappear about the Pakistan team while they are so inconsistent.  They are prized roosters one week, feather dusters the next.

Still, very entertaining feather dusters.  Azhar Ali, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah are all exciting players that a team can be built around.

While that match has been going on, Australia wrapped up a comprehensive warm-up game against Kent ahead of the Ashes.

One of the things I love about these warm up games is how jovial everyone, as well as how much interest there is in them.  The crowd at Canterbury certainly seemed sizeable and engaged.

A highlight for me was Australian Captain Michael Clarke shaking the hand of Daniel Bell-Drummond after his dismissal, congratulating him on his Century.  There is a lot written about the sporting nature of the Australian team (or lack thereof) but this act alone shows how much of it is specific to Tests, rather than as a whole.

Happy Face

This match was one that was enjoyed by all for the sake of enjoyment.  It was great entertainment despite the imbalance between the abilities of the two sides. Surely something the ICC can appreciate?