General Cricket Discussion

[MattW]

I think Ireland need it more from the perspective of stopping the drain of players to England - both through county cricket and the national team. The other sides haven't really had that problem of having the players that would have been keys to their success in Test cricket leaving because they can't progress their career to the top level. It's fair enough for players to want to play tests, I don't begrudge Rankin and Morgan, but it's shit for people to use the absence of players of their skill level as a reason not to give Ireland test status.

Actually having suitable stadiums to play cricket in Ireland also has to be a factor. Afghanistan's lack of local stadiums to play international cricket can't be viable long term - just as we need to get cricket back to Pakistan, I can't see the sense in adding a new test nation that can't play at home.

Afghanistan play in the asia cup now, right? (odi) - imagine England offering a regular tri series against Ireland and Netherlands!!!

Absolutely, though throw Scotland a bone too, or at least vow to do it in the future.

I certainly think Australia should invite Papua New Guinea into our domestic structure, and instead of sending a PM's XI or state side, let them play instead of warmup matches for touring international sides, and a match or two against Australia itself.

 

[blockerdave]

absolutely - the ECB not supporting the Irish push for Test status and actually undermining it by stealing their players is disgraceful.

mind you the a-hole in me thinks it serves Ranking right for jumping ship and now missing out on a world cup.

 

[Biggs]

imagine England offering a regular tri series against Ireland and Netherlands!!!

Even if it's an early pre-season type thing, I can't see anything but good. Play fringe-England squad members. There's enough meaningless tours that go on that you can cut out completely to fit these kinda things in, it just has to be well-thought out and inclusive with the goal being growing the sport.

I think Ireland need it more from the perspective of stopping the drain of players to England

Possibly, but now UAE has made a show of it so far in the World Cup, I can see a bit of money being thrown at them if they can get a win across the line, they've got OSN as a sponsor now, it's only a matter of time before Emirates starts knocking on the door then once there's a bit of cash flow I can see players from Afghanistan, Nepal and others jumping across to the UAE on a visa and plying their trade for the UAE for better salaries and so on unless there's an effort made to support these guys playing for their own country.

I certainly think Australia should invite Papua New Guinea into our domestic structure, and instead of sending a PM's XI or state side, let them play instead of warmup matches for touring international sides, and a match or two against Australia itself.

New Zealand could do similar for PNG and maybe even Japan? The lack of co-operation between NZ and Australia in terms of having not played you guys in the past 5+ years is atrocious.


...and regarding security risk, I can't see there's any risk involved in Pakistan playing Afghanistan regularly IN Pakistan, as an example. Aghanistan does need someone to go build a Stadium so they can see their own team play locally though.

 

[blockerdave]

Even if it's an early pre-season type thing, I can't see anything but good. Play fringe-England squad members. There's enough meaningless tours that go on that you can cut out completely to fit these kinda things in, it just has to be well-thought out and inclusive with the goal being growing the sport.

tests in England sell out, so instead of having a ludicrous number of ODIs against the big touring teams, we should 100% have an early season England/Ireland/Netherlands tri-series, which we make room for by reducing the ODIs in the other tours. this has an additional advantage that we could have the first touring side turn up later, preferably after the IPL, so they're full strength.

also should have a warm-up first class game against ireland... preferably a 5 day game so it's a test in all but name.

 

[MattW]

Possibly, but now UAE has made a show of it so far in the World Cup, I can see a bit of money being thrown at them if they can get a win across the line, they've got OSN as a sponsor now, it's only a matter of time before Emirates starts knocking on the door then once there's a bit of cash flow I can see players from Afghanistan, Nepal and others jumping across to the UAE on a visa and plying their trade for the UAE for better salaries and so on.

The problem I see with the UAE is the home grown fan base - the stadiums always look empty, even if it's test level matches. There needs to be the market for cricket, not just cash. You could pay a side to play there, but where are you selling the TV rights to, who is watching the matches - where's the income to the game that justifies trying to buy in?

I'd rather see the game grow in those areas where there is a massive supporter base. I especially have to jump on the mention of Nepal - absolutely massive potential market for cricket there. If growing the game was a priority, they'd be sending sides to tour there. I've seen bits here and there on twitter, you just see grounds packed of passionate fans to see their side play.

 

[Biggs]

The problem I see with the UAE is the home grown fan base

What do you define as home-grown there though? Most of the country is expat workers from Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Pakistan... The actual "Local" populace is tiny. ...and they're mostly into Soccer. Your local fanbase of Cricket really is a mish-mash of nations and they'll show up for India or Pakistan but nobody else. The idea that I supported UAE (and Afghanistan, because, fun) when they played at Dubai Sports City got me the most bizzare looks. There's not a cultural drive to get in behind local teams there, even in the Rugby 7's when UAE played last time, it was made up of New Zealand and Australian Personal Trainers, Gym operators and one or two local guys, who had day jobs at Emirates.

I like the idea of UAE being this "United Nations" type team made up of the global community, it's a fair representation of the quirk and charm that is Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Emirates. But you're absolutely right, they need to have Emirati locals embracing the sport and the only way that is going to happen is by them playing reguarly in big events outside of the World Cup. I'm not really sure why Pakistan, who are based in Dubai now for all intents, never play the UAE and/or touring teams never play warm-up matches against UAE. But you're right, the drive needs to be first and foremost in those countries like Afghanistan and Ireland, Scotland to a lesser extent, where there is a groundswell of support for the game.

...on Nepal, facilities again are the issue. Touring there too would be a huge problem. I've only seen Nepal play once in Dubai, I wouldn't say they were the fittest or most organized team out there but again, if we're talking purely numbers they had just as much support when their team played as Afghanistan did and certainly more than the Netherlands or Ireland did during the qualification games.

 

[MattW]

What do you define as home-grown there though? Most of the country is expat workers from Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Pakistan... The actual "Local" populace is tiny. ...and they're mostly into Soccer. Your local fanbase of Cricket really is a mish-mash of nations and they'll show up for India or Pakistan but nobody else. The idea that I supported UAE (and Afghanistan, because, fun) when they played at Dubai Sports City got me the most bizzare looks. There's not a cultural drive to get in behind local teams there, even in the Rugby 7's when UAE played last time, it was made up of New Zealand and Australian Personal Trainers, Gym operators and one or two local guys, who had day jobs at Emirates.

Just people who will turn out to see the UAE play - if you're a nation of expats then you're really just going to turn out to see your own country play, which you wouldn't really think is the UAE. The expats make it a great neutral venue, but I don't think it's going to succeed in the short term at being more than that.

Obviously, every touring side should play the UAE if they go there to play Pakistan - they need the cricket, but I'd certainly hate it to become a situation where the UAE can essentially become a test franchise or something like that and draining talent from other associates.

 

[Biggs]

Totally agree. UAE just needs to attract some local players to the game and contests like the one we're watching now will help do that. Once that can get some legit local representation on the field, they'll be in the best position to push for Test status, because money. But Ireland and Afghanistan need the go-button pushed already.

 

[Skater]

I'm enjoying the matches in New Zealand far more than the ones in Australia. I think there are 3 reasons why

1. Unless Australia or India are playing, the crowds in Australia look like an English County Championship crowd. Even the smaller games played in NZ seem to have a great atmosphere, played in grounds that look relatively full.

2. There's a real contest between bat and ball in the first 10/15 overs, as it really seams to seam and swing in NZ.

3. The matches in NZ start at 10pm GMT, which gives me the chance to watch 30 overs before I go to bed on a school night.

The grounds in Australia are significantly bigger than the ones in New Zealand, that's why the crowds look more sparse in Australia.

I like the games that start at both 10pm and 3.30am, the latter because they go on until about 11.30am and I can watch them when I get up in the morning. I see next week we have some 6.30am games starting.

 

[War]

On this debate, historical trends of associates since 1975 world cup shows conclusively why before now limiting their participation in the 50 overs WC made perfect sense. This world cup to date is the first one where so many associates have impressed. So if its indeed a sign and not a flash in the pan that associates have closed gap, I have no issue with the 50 over w-cup having 16 teams like the world T20.

As i heard commentators saying though and i presume others here have, the usual dumb ICC needs to mandate big nations to play more series vs them during bilateral tours i.e a ENG/Windies home series having matches vs Ireland/Scotland/Netherlands to end a tour, a Asian series with Afghanistan/UAE, S Africa with Kenya/Namibia. Plus sending A teams to these nations to play first-class games to assess their potential readiness for tests.

 

[blockerdave]

On this debate, historical trends of associates since 1975 world cup shows conclusively why before now limiting their participation in the 50 overs WC made perfect sense. This world cup to date is the first one where so many associates have impressed. So if its indeed a sign and not a flash in the pan that associates have closed gap, I have no issue with the 50 over w-cup having 16 teams like the world T20.

As i heard commentators saying though and i presume others here have, the usual dumb ICC needs to mandate big nations to play more series vs them during bilateral tours i.e a ENG/Windies home series having matches vs Ireland/Scotland/Netherlands to end a tour, a Asian series with Afghanistan/UAE, S Africa with Kenya/Namibia. Plus sending A teams to these nations to play first-class games to assess their potential readiness for tests.

sadly these suggestions are just the sort of thing that need to happen, but never will.

 

[ratchamal]

Does anybody have ESPN subscription for 2015 world cup? if so, I have a question. Would I be able to stream matches on-demand after the world cup? (Meaning after March 12)

 

[War]

sadly these suggestions are just the sort of thing that need to happen, but never will.

Yes cricket administrators are a bit busy coming up with brilliant ideas like Big three takeovers and this - ECB moots four-day Tests, 40-over World Cup | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Satan666]

4 groups of 4 teams is the sweet spot. No idea why it can't happen. It also comes down to scheduling too, because it seems odd to me that we're not playing 2 matches every day. One in NZ and another in Australia, given the time difference there's never going to be any clashes and there's enough grounds with lights you could potentially have 3 matches on some days. It's just been poorly scheduled. There's not any logical reason for NZ and Australia to be in the same group, for example.

I've read an interesting theory online that the Associate Nations are performing as well as they have this tournament because they've all been stuck playing an Irish team at the top of their game for the past 7 or so years so they've all had to raise their own game to compete with them... I'd love to have Ireland tour NZ, or Afghanistan come down for a T20 series. Sure it's not going to sell-out Eden Park but you'd get a pretty packed house in a smaller venue for a 50 Over Tri Series or something...

Hey werent the 07 cup of this format? I know it had 16 teams for sure, agreed 4 groups of 4 teams best format!

 

[bigred]

The grounds in Australia are significantly bigger than the ones in New Zealand, that's why the crowds look more sparse in Australia.

I like the games that start at both 10pm and 3.30am, the latter because they go on until about 11.30am and I can watch them when I get up in the morning. I see next week we have some 6.30am games starting.

That's what I'm saying. The grounds in Australia are too big to create an atmosphere for the majority if the matches in the WC. Why play UAE vs Ireland at The Gabba?