Australia's Boxing Day and New Year's Tests under threat

[jeromedascorp]

Sorry!! I failed to read the double m!!

 

[smssia0112]

Well then you get no sympathy from me. The last Australian tour of India ended on my last day of school. That pretty much means that their whole tour went on during my school time. It would have been far more preferable to me if they had come sometime in December as I would have been able to see 5 days of cricket instead of just 1. And about clashing with winter sports, that really is not a strong enough point for Australia to claim that they have to stay at home during their summer. Cricket is the only sport in some countries... if India didn't have the short tour by Pakistan before the Australia tour, we would have had no cricket and no other sport to go follow live.

I don't mind about your sympathy, it has nothing to do with your home schedule, as I said we could have easily avoided it by cutting down the season. I don't care that Boxing Day is the 1st test (it's better than the dead rubber we got last year), I just don't want cricket in March.

Not everyone is coming without complaint. When the FTP was scheduled South Africa, Sri Lanka and a couple of other countries felt shafted by the schedule which was largely Australia, India and England-centric. The topic is set to go to discussion in the next ICC meeting and it is largely believed that Australia's strangle-hold on their domestic season will be outvoted 7-3. We'll see how that goes, though.

You said it first, so we'll see.

But it seems you not only want your two traditional tests but you also want the boxing day test not to be the first test of the tour. In effect, you want your home season calendar to remain the same year after year and make others schedule around it.

I don't care that Boxing Day is the 1st test (it's better than the dead rubber we got last year), I just don't want cricket in March. As I said, all I want is Boxing Day to remain a great tradition at the MCG on December 26th.

Australia's stance is pretty public: "We've got a traditional season that we've been operating for a long while, and we're keen to keep working with other nations to do that" (Peter Young, CA Media Manager). I can't really read anything from that except that they won't back down easily.

All that suggests is that we are happy to compromise so that we can keep our traditional tests. Which we have.

Actually, they HAVE to. Would you care to find out how much John Howard is willing to pay the ICC to avoid the Australian tour of Zimbabwe ? If South Africa do not want to tour Australia in December, then they WILL be forced to shell out millions to the ICC just because Australia are damn inflexible.

South Africa will tour us in December, they don't want to do it next time. And the ICC is not making Australia pay anything for it because it is a political decision, so it has nothing to do with this at all. South Africa can exercise their right to refuse the tour at that time, and come in the middle of the year to Darwin and Cairns for all I care, because the tour hasn't been announced yet for next time. That's what I said.

And please don't shell out that "we're flexible" crap. Flexibility is what other teams have been displaying for a long long time by sacrificing their December tests at home, and enduring a long drawn boring ODI series down under. Australia shifting their schedule by a couple of weeks for just one lousy season and complaining to the heavens about it isn't flexibility.

First off, we shifted it a month, not 2 weeks, and we have a month's gap in between Test series, which could be filled by some ODIs against Sri Lanka. Second of all, I've said 5 times now at least that we could have avoided it by cutting down the 'long drawn boring ODI series' which no one in Australia wants to be that 'long drawn' out anyway.

I am not complaining to the heavens at all, I sent CA an email and they said there was nothing they could do about it, and they wanted to make sure that India were well acommodated. That's flexible when it's done a year before the tour to acommodate the other side.

In fact, it is the rest of you who have turned this into a complaints session, I was expressing a point of view that Boxing Day and the New Years Test are great traditions that shouldn't be halted, and now you have turned the topic on its head to discuss, once again, other nation's seasons and how unfair it is.

Australia has shown all flexibility and acommodation possible at such short notice compared with when the tour was scheduled. We're not exactly going to cancel the tour and go to India when it's been planned years ago are we?

 

[sohum]

You said it first, so we'll see.

I actually didn't. Cricinfo did.

I don't care that Boxing Day is the 1st test (it's better than the dead rubber we got last year), I just don't want cricket in March. As I said, all I want is Boxing Day to remain a great tradition at the MCG on December 26th.

I don't understand. You don't care that the Boxing Day test is the 1st test but you also want cricket matches before that test. Australia is going to have to face this situation in the next few seasons if they want to hold on to their home season. You really can't have your cake and eat it too.

First off, we shifted it a month, not 2 weeks, and we have a month's gap in between Test series, which could be filled by some ODIs against Sri Lanka. Second of all, I've said 5 times now at least that we could have avoided it by cutting down the 'long drawn boring ODI series' which no one in Australia wants to be that 'long drawn' out anyway.

You don't. You play New Zealand for a Twenty20 and 3-match ODI series that is scheduled to finish less than a week before the first match against India. Besides, you couldn't really ask Sri Lanka to fill in with some ODI's because they had to go home and host England in THEIR home season.

You're really going to have the accept the fact that the matter of scheduling is a two-way street. You cannot say that you don't want to talk about other countries' schedules, just Australia's, because everyone's schedules comes into play when it's time to figure out Australia's.

In fact, it is the rest of you who have turned this into a complaints session, I was expressing a point of view that Boxing Day and the New Years Test are great traditions that shouldn't be halted, and now you have turned the topic on its head to discuss, once again, other nation's seasons and how unfair it is.

My point is that you are not exactly only expressing your point of view about that. You not only want the two traditional tests to stay on, but you also want cricket throughout your home season and you also don't want cricket in March. Furthermore, you don't recognize that each country that tours Australia also has a home season (which more than likely coincides with Australia), and hence ruling out discussion of those and concentrating just on Australia's season is not an accurate way to discuss things.

 

[smssia0112]

I actually didn't. Cricinfo did.

I meant the no one else is complaining so we get away with it comment.

I don't understand. You don't care that the Boxing Day test is the 1st test but you also want cricket matches before that test. Australia is going to have to face this situation in the next few seasons if they want to hold on to their home season. You really can't have your cake and eat it too.

I suggested that as a possible solution, I forgot about the Chappel-Hadlee Series.

You don't. You play New Zealand for a Twenty20 and 3-match ODI series that is scheduled to finish less than a week before the first match against India. Besides, you couldn't really ask Sri Lanka to fill in with some ODI's because they had to go home and host England in THEIR home season.

My apologies, I forgot about the Chappel-Hadlee series and I had no idea that Sri Lanka were hosting England at that time. Seems like both of our touring nations are getting the times they want away.

My point is that you are not exactly only expressing your point of view about that. You not only want the two traditional tests to stay on, but you also want cricket throughout your home season and you also don't want cricket in March. Furthermore, you don't recognize that each country that tours Australia also has a home season (which more than likely coincides with Australia), and hence ruling out discussion of those and concentrating just on Australia's season is not an accurate way to discuss things.

The bold text is incorrect. I simply don't want cricket in March, so I was suggesting that we fill some spare time instead of pushing it all over and playing a series that is too long.

I do recognise that there are other nations who have their home nations, and as I've said all along, and you've said already is reasonable; I want Boxing Day as our traditional test to stay on Boxing Day. The March comment is so easily solved it's not funny: Simply don't play in March. Cut down on ODIs, or have a smaller gap between tests, and you won't need to.