General Cricket Discussion

I think I agree on spreading the game to America part. I don't think it will leave any kind of a major mark in the US. However, I think the crowds will still flock, there are plenty of Indian ex-pats who will fly down from wherever they are to get a glimpse of Tendulkar in action, along with the rest of the few Indian players along with the Aus and SL players, and indeed the rest.

However even if the Tournament can get the non-ex-pats to take notice of the fact that there is a cricket tournament in their city, I think it will still be doing more than most things that have been done to promote cricket in the US and that shows how little has been done.
 
It'll be a net positive I agree: its just that they are spending loads of money on this (they've apparently given a fair few millions to the ICC in order to do this, they're paying the players to play and I can't imagine that hiring out three MLB grounds for the time required to prepare the ground, get a drop-in in, play the game and then return the ground to its original condition is cheap. There's so much more that they could have done if they wanted to grow the game with that money that ought to come before "all-star" games between retired players. Besides, even if there was a huge growth in the game because of this there is the fact that America don't have a governing body for Cricket at the moment (the USACA are suspended and the ICC have had to do lots of the things that the board are supposed to do - they had a big NFL-combine style thing to try and find new players for all the North American countries which might help in America where the USACA have been unwilling or unable to get non-expats to play international cricket and haven't done a thing about it. Honestly, USA Rugby and the USACA are kind of total opposites in their approaches to try and grow a sport, and one approach are clearly worked a hell of a lot better than the other one.

I disagree that the crowds will be particularly large - we've had several of these competitions with a very similar group of people (basically without Warne, Tendulkar and the newly retired people - and they've drawn hundreds and the people going will only go to watch Tendulkar play. He's the main thing that differentiates this from the other attempts to do this - they tried something similar in the Rogers Centre in Toronto and despite having lots of relatively big cricket names very little people showed up. Even with him they're going t struggle for the Houston game: announcing a Wednesday afternoon event a month in advance doesn't exactly give people time to get time off work and . The advantage that they have is that Indian-Americans are more affluent than the average population so they can afford to spend the money on tickets: that's probably a big factor behind the prices all being so damn high - up to $350 at Dodgers Stadium. They sold 1,000 tickets to the Houston game on day 1, that doesn't exactly suggest that there's a huge rush for them. That's including the tickets bought by touts and the like as well, so who knows. People will probably buy in late, especially if prices go down which I could see happening: they don't exactly want empty houses... One good thing they should do is donate a bunch of tickets to local clubs and the like since that would get them a great deal of good will, that is unlikely though.

At least they are trying something: I'll give them that. Its much, much better than the continual ignorant posts about how "Americans won't get cricket, they're stupid!" and the like. There's the fact that Americans seem to love sports with obtuse rules (American Football is full of them, and Baseball isn't much better) and Cricket fits right in with that tradition! We'll never be bigger than American Football or Baseball, but if we could get Cricket to a similar size to some of the smaller sports then that would be a positive in that we'd actually be on the map, rather than totally not present at all!
 
Speaking of American Football just what is the damn point of that sport. I have tried watching it, but wtf is that sport all about. Essentially Rugby with a very stringent safety regulation and hence all the helmets, and where is the flow of the game.

5 secs of action followed by 5 minutes of watching replays and ads. I mean how can anybody enjoy that sport.
 
PokerAce said:
Essentially Rugby with a very stringent safety regulation
Click to expand...

...not quite. The padding encourages people to tackle more violently and lead with their head and that's lead to a real issue with medical issues in relation to continual concussions which are really frightening. The NFL fought for years to not pay compensation to players who were not informed about concussion-related stuff and lost so now they are actually trying to deal with it; head-on-head contact during a tackle how leads to an automatic ejection of the tackler which hopefully will get a lot of that sort of stuff out of the game.

I like it, I can't really explain it. I learned the rules through playing a lot of NFL 2k5 and that gives you an appreciation for the tactics behind it - the key thing is play selection by the coaches: they choose whether they run the pass or pass and what particular thing to do: or whether the defence uses man or zone marking and the like. I'd rather watch a Rugby, Cricket or Baseball game if I had a choice but if it was a good game or if the Steelers were playing then I'd happily watch an NFL game
 
IceAgeComing said:
I disagree that the crowds will be particularly large - we've had several of these competitions with a very similar group of people
Click to expand...

The key difference here is warne and tendulkar, its like jobs and wozniak.. warne for whatever loudmouth is good at doing these kinds of stunts...tendulkar obviously will be the crowd puller. Im betting on warne being the kind that knows how to make money and sell events.

Also its just going to be a very small start...if it can just make the news that cricket with stars is being played in US it will turn a few heads.

But i really like the idea of pitting the current US teams against these guys.. even in their old age i would bet on these guys to come on top despite some embarrassing moments in the fielding side. That would certainly grab more attention cause that would make it a us vs them rather than acting like some sort of neutral venue for a exhibition match.
 
I'm not going to start a thread about it because the discussions about Cricket in the Olympics will go absolutely nowhere because they're being lead by Giles Clarke, who doesn't want it to happen so there's no real point talking about it

The ICC are apparently proposing different forms of the game: they've mentioned Double Wicket (!) but also Indoor Cricket and other nonsense forms of things that sound like the sort of stuff that you'd do at a club training session to practice with small numbers or something that you'd do with your pals for a laugh. I've played uni indoor Cricket: its fun but it isn't the same as, you know, proper Cricket which is much more enjoyable to play and watch.

You can just tell that they are going in to these discussions with proposals that they know will not be accepted by the IOC, because they don't want them to be accepted by the IOC. Cricket has a form of the game that's perfect for a short-lasting sporting event such as the Olympics, and its the form of the game that is the most profitable and most attended around the world. Not using Twenty20 Cricket in the olympics is frankly ridiculous... Cricket needs to be in the Olympics; but it has to be real Cricket (which includes T20 cricket, I'll ban anyone who starts that debate here) and not some embarrassing nonsense format that'll just make the game look silly and not leave any significant legacy. When they put Rugby in the Olympics they used a quicker format that's respected by most of the fanbase as a form of Rugby (Rugby Sevens for those who aren't big Rugby Union folk, its pretty much Rugby but with half the players), they didn't go and propose touch rugby or somewhere equally as ridiculous...
 
South African star all-rounder Kallis has become coach of KKR in IPL.

Kolkata Knight Riders have appointed Jacques Kallis as the new head coach for 2016 IPL.
Kallis said, “KKR is my family in India and the association since 2011 has been one of the most enjoyable experiences for me. I look forward to the new challenge and feel honoured to be part of the KKR family.”

Jacques Kallis replaces Bayliss to coach KKR in IPL 2016
 
IceAgeComing said:
I'm not going to start a thread about it because the discussions about Cricket in the Olympics will go absolutely nowhere because they're being lead by Giles Clarke, who doesn't want it to happen so there's no real point talking about it

The ICC are apparently proposing different forms of the game: they've mentioned Double Wicket (!) but also Indoor Cricket and other nonsense forms of things that sound like the sort of stuff that you'd do at a club training session to practice with small numbers or something that you'd do with your pals for a laugh. I've played uni indoor Cricket: its fun but it isn't the same as, you know, proper Cricket which is much more enjoyable to play and watch.

You can just tell that they are going in to these discussions with proposals that they know will not be accepted by the IOC, because they don't want them to be accepted by the IOC. Cricket has a form of the game that's perfect for a short-lasting sporting event such as the Olympics, and its the form of the game that is the most profitable and most attended around the world. Not using Twenty20 Cricket in the olympics is frankly ridiculous... Cricket needs to be in the Olympics; but it has to be real Cricket (which includes T20 cricket, I'll ban anyone who starts that debate here) and not some embarrassing nonsense format that'll just make the game look silly and not leave any significant legacy. When they put Rugby in the Olympics they used a quicker format that's respected by most of the fanbase as a form of Rugby (Rugby Sevens for those who aren't big Rugby Union folk, its pretty much Rugby but with half the players), they didn't go and propose touch rugby or somewhere equally as ridiculous...
Click to expand...

I support Cricket at the Olympics, and by "Cricket" I mean Cricket as it is today, without Double wickets, etc. If they want to have a sport that resembles or is similar to cricket in the Olympics then I don't care about that sport. Cricket has done fine for itself without having the need to have double wickets, etc. then its good enough for the Olympics as it is.
 
T20 is perfect for Olympics. The only reason they would think about such idiotic ideas was if they weren't series about it
 
To be honest I would mind having a Hong Kong sixes kind of tournament in the Olympics that much. At least it gets cricket some kind of exposure.
 
SamP said:
To be honest I would mind having a Hong Kong sixes kind of tournament in the Olympics that much. At least it gets cricket some kind of exposure.
Click to expand...

It would be a bad idea for one reason: governments would expect their cricket authorities to focus on whatever rules the Olympics use in order to get funding. If that's T20 then great: its close enough to other forms of the game and therefore helpful to the game. Anything else would hurt Cricket internationally, and actually would hurt "traditional" forms of Cricket a lot more than people would expect.
 
As we're on the subject always wondered how West Indies will figure as a cricket team in the Olympics. Unlike Great Britian representation, the West Indians participate in the Olympics by individual island nations.

Also at this point I agree the only feasible option is T20 at the Olympics.

Has cricket ever been in the earlier editions of the Olympic games?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

aussie1st
  • Locked
New Cricket Chat Rules
Replies
0
Views
3K
aussie1st
aussie1st
N
  • Poll
Reliving Virat Kohli- The Captain
9 10 11
Replies
150
Views
20K
NILAYSHAH60
N
icyman
  • Poll
Future Indian Captains
2 3
Replies
40
Views
5K
asprin
asprin
Satan666
Underrated/Overrated Players
2
Replies
28
Views
3K
icyman
icyman
ddrap14
Draft: The Fender Feud Draft
2
Replies
24
Views
1K
ddrap14
ddrap14

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top