World Cricket’s future…..
We began 2011 with two exciting Tests Series; the Ashes between England and Australia, and India vs. South Africa, then segued into the ICC 2011 World Cup of One-Day Internationals (ODIs), followed by the 2011 American College Cricket Spring Break Championship and the 2011 Indian Premiere League (IPL). Competition in three different formats of the same sport.
Some voices have said that the 50-overs ODI is an outdated format, just as some bemoan the future of Test cricket. If we have an exciting 2011 World Cup many will say, “Long live the ODI!” just as some will shout, “Test Cricket lives!” each time there’s an exciting Test match.
The irony is those shouts means nothing – the game has found ways to be flexible even as many of its constituents have not. It is the oldest organized sport in the world exactly because it has changed and adapted, even as many of its constituents have been obstinate.
This piece is not meant to be a history lesson, Google the history of cricket to learn of the different forms of the game and the many ways it has changed. The game looked very different hundreds of years ago when it began, the bat once looked like what is now a field hockey stick, but the core of the game is recognizable at its beginnings just as it is now.
Has there always been Test cricket? Not really. The first international cricket game was played over TWO days, in New York City in 1844, USA vs. Canada. The first defined “Test Match” was played in 1877, hundreds of years after cricket began.
Test cricket evolved in a time when international travel had become relatively easy, but still took days even weeks. Absent too were TV and the myriad forms of entertainment we now have. Does that mean it has to go away now? No, but it must be given a context that helps it, instead of knee-jerk reactions. Play Tests as part of an International Championship that ends every 3 or 4 years, where each Test, each Series, do matter.
Include new teams; perhaps have a 2nd tier Test Championship and the winner gets elevated to the top tier. Unfortunately the opposite direction was taken with the 2011 World Cup when the number of teams was reduced, and 2015 is going to be less World than Cup.
Does the quick scoring and big hitting of “20/20” negatively impact the skills needed for Tests? They could if you let them, but they can also enhance Tests and the ability to get results. After all what’s the goal of a batsman in a Test, to bat endlessly, or to score as much runs as possible for his team? Doesn’t scoring runs faster mean a greater likelihood of a winning result? Has there ever been a consistently winning Test team, which scored runs slowly?
A professional must be able to prepare, and adapt to the differences of the two formats. This week you may be asked to play in the short form of the game – the following week it may be the longer format – a Test Match. As Shiv Chanderpaul recently said “That’s part of being a professional cricketer. ”
The United States will provide a perfect testing ground for cricket – so far though many have tried, and many more talk, but none have succeeded in figuring out how to grow the game in the USA, until now.
In fact, according to the Economist the fastest growing team sport in the USA is Rugby, over 360,000 school kids played some form of non-contact rugby in 2010 according to USA Rugby. This month NBC will televise a Rugby 7s tournament in Las Vegas, as well as the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup. The 2011 ICC World Cup is amazingly nowhere to be seen on mainstream USA TV. In March 2009 the New York Times said, “Cricket does not register a pulse in the United States.”
However, in the two years since, American College Cricket has succeeded in getting American mainstream media attention like the NY Times, Washington Post, NY Daily News, Voice of America and college media for the game. It established teams with name recognition- teams that can tap the vast numbers of college team supporters across the country. American College Cricket has put cricket back in American clothing,giving Americans, teams they can relate to and have a reason to root for – their alma mater.
From practically no real college cricket teams in 2009, (the handful that existed included non-students) nearly 50 teams have been created. Multiply 50 by 15 and that’s 750 young players who might not be playing the game anymore, including many between the critical development ages of 18-23. The detractors will say “…but they’re playing 20/20.”
Twenty20, T20 or 20/20 are all silly names for the shortest version of the game. No, they’re playing cricket – in its shortened form, and it’s the shortened form that will bring out larger audiences and quickly grow the fan base in the USA.
Young cricket players from India, England, Australia, Pakistan, West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other cricket-playing nations around the world, will now look to the USA as not only a destination for their studies, but an opportunity to continue honing their skills and playing the sport they love. Americans who have family roots in cricket-playing countries will no longer automatically be lost to cricket.
For players who want to play the longer format of cricket, they will look for those opportunities, but they will be in smaller numbers. Does that devalue the longer forms like Tests Matches? Certainly not for the audience and the players who appreciate all the nuances of Test Match cricket and performing in that format.
Cricket now truly has an American root again because of American College Cricket. Recently ESPNcricinfo had a photo of Brian Lara wearing an Indiana University cap and USC President Max Nikias presented a USC Cricket jersey to Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata in a photo that has been widely publicised. Soon the rest of the cricket world might follow suit. Just as College teams are hot names in American football, and basketball in the USA, soon College Cricket teams could be super hot in the cricket world.
The American College Cricket Champion will have name recognition to rival that of an IPL team in the cricket world, and of course the Champion will be huge in the USA and Canada.
Furthermore given the opportunity, these college players could provide a sustainable base and vault the USA into the top rounds of the ICC T20 World Cup in the near future.
Written by Lloyd Jodah
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