The Best Domestic Cricket System

[tech.007]

as an indian i want the indian domestic cricket system to be the best
but seeing the english county cricket system ,many thoughts come to my mind..
why are not the domestic systems of south africa,west indies,zimbabwe,india,sri lanka,pakistan..doing something to raise the level?
in india every indian knows there is corruption all over...you cant even think of getting in the team if you are not politically strong or have some power.
recently the chief minister of up announced to destroy one of stadiums(in which i used to practise) and built a statue there...'
isthis the good thing to do??????

i have inserted one of the pictures of my hometown cricket ground from cricinfo

 

[Animator!]

Australia have the best domestic system in my opinion. Club cricket means something over there. It's the only means of getting into state cricket and then onto international cricket. Whereas in England club cricket isn't the branch to success, you have to perform brilliantly as a youngster. Those players who do not blossom to their full ability until their 20's can be missed byt his system.

The Australian system also provides very competitive cricket with a game result always being contested. Whereas in England, bonus points etc can make it very difficult for results to be forged.

I'm in different on Australia's lack of overseas players. They add a very good quality in England I feel. It's good to have English youngsters bowling to the best that Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan etc can offer. But I'm against the number of Kolpak players we have, although we can do very little about that, EU laws.

If what you have outlined in your post is the truth then your biggest problem is the corruption. It has to been erradicated before anything else could be done to your domestic system. Because the corruption will only breed people coming into power who are interested in the money they can make, not in the quality of cricket.

 

[sohum]

You know the first step to helping our state cricket associations is making sure a politician isn't at the head of it. This is too bad seeing that of late it seems that cricket has become just another ministry.

 

[Kev]

If you have some spare time on your hands you could consider reading the Leicestershire Chairman's 69 page document entitled An evidence based approach to the identification and development of England Test cricketers
in the County Championship.

 

[sohum]

India need to revamp the system. The shake-up in the Ranji Trophy was good as it made the matches more competitive and meaningful. However, we still lack a proper limited-overs tournament. Besides, the standards of cricket in some teams is low that even some statistics lose their meaning.

 

[sd92]

Australia have the best domestic system in my opinion. Club cricket means something over there. It's the only means of getting into state cricket and then onto international cricket. Whereas in England club cricket isn't the branch to success, you have to perform brilliantly as a youngster. Those players who do not blossom to their full ability until their 20's can be missed byt his system.

The Australian system also provides very competitive cricket with a game result always being contested. Whereas in England, bonus points etc can make it very difficult for results to be forged.

I'm in different on Australia's lack of overseas players. They add a very good quality in England I feel. It's good to have English youngsters bowling to the best that Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan etc can offer. But I'm against the number of Kolpak players we have, although we can do very little about that, EU laws.

If what you have outlined in your post is the truth then your biggest problem is the corruption. It has to been erradicated before anything else could be done to your domestic system. Because the corruption will only breed people coming into power who are interested in the money they can make, not in the quality of cricket.

As an englishman i agree with that!! The australian system offers many more oppurtunities than the English one!

 

[smssia0112]

The Australian one is the strongest because it has less teams and is producing better players. The county system is too monetary based and overseas players are too important at raising the standard.

 

[RoboRocks]

Well the problem also is that teams can choose as many Kolpak plays as they want which is just terrible, they should be either considered overseas players or qualified for England.

I also think teams should have only 1 overseas player per team and of course a change in the bonus points system so that teams only get bouns points if there is a result.

 

[Animator!]

I don't neccesary believe that Overseas player and Kolpak players are a bad thing. They provide a lot more competitiveness for places. If an English player is good enough, he'll get picked over them. Although I don't want Kolpak's to spiral out of control. I wouldn't like to see more than 2 players in a county team born outside England (unless they moved at an early age, and were essentially English).

The main problem over here, is the Club Cricket means nothing. It's not the basis in which you get a county chance. You have to be an outstanding youngster. Whereas in Australia Club Cricket is the only way you can get picked up into the State game and from there the international game. Meaning Australian club cricket is a lot more competitive and provides more of a purpose. It aids those players who don't develop fully until into their 20's a chance. Whereas we miss out on a lot of them.

 

[jeromedascorp]

I am no expert on domestic cricket, but if your national team is anything to go by, Australia have the best Domestic System.

I would like to comment on the Indian Domestic though. I feel that India needs to create better infrastructure in many areas on the county where we have the talent. The best example I can come up with is Kerala. The main thing is the mentality and in Kerala you will find that people in general are more modern in their ways of thinking. Because of this there are more men and women playing sports in Kerala. The problem they face though is that they lack the facilities that are required at the school level. Most people dont play any serious sports in Kerala until they get to 11th standard. Kerala has produced some great athletes in many other sports for India. But when it comes to cricket, Sreesanth has been in the team longer than any Kerala cricketer. This is because all sports are given the equal and unbiased LOW QUALITY infrastructure.

Kerala is just one example. India is a big country in terms of sports talent. But if cricket is concentrated only in the Mumbai and Delhi regions, India will never produce a World Cup winning team.

 

[sohum]

I think apart from the domestic system it is about the sports culture. India doesn't really have a sports culture because education and career is rated far, far above sports in India. In fact, most parents only like their children to play sports for some exercise and as a hobby. Beyond that, it's back to concentrating on studies so that they can get a good job. This is almost exactly the opposite of Australia, I feel, where kids are encouraged to play sports. When I visited Australia half a decade back I heard that you have to take up something like 3 sports and then you end up playing them after school? Not sure, but just the sport culture goes a long way. In India, that culture is mainly confined to the metros where there are soooooo many people.

 

[angryangy]

I definitely don't think the domestic systems of South Africa, New Zealand or Sri Lanka are in any way broken.

Definitely, in terms of population, land area and results, countries should pay more attention to what Sri Lanka and New Zealand are doing. The country with the smallest population is able to produce what is currently the 3rd best ODI team. NZ are able to spend a considerable amount of money, but definitely not the most, so clearly the processes involved are the beneficiaries of remarkable efficiency.

I doubt India can escape the staggering corruption, but through the examples of smaller nations, it is evident that they don't need every single cricketer; if they can identify a smaller number of good developing cricketers, they can level the maximum resources at those few. Of course directing of resources means bureaucracy, which means corruption. Unless the corruption can be suppressed, there may be no way out for India.

Perhaps the first class structure is too vast. I've often thought The Duleep Trophy structure of five zones would be an ideal composition for the major tournament, with the best of the best battling it out and the remaining fixtures reduced to second class, but players still vying for a position in the zone team. Whether or not that would be practical is another matter, it might adversely affect supporters and it might prove every bit as difficult in organising players from many different cities.

 

[sohum]

Perhaps the first class structure is too vast. I've often thought The Duleep Trophy structure of five zones would be an ideal composition for the major tournament, with the best of the best battling it out and the remaining fixtures reduced to second class, but players still vying for a position in the zone team. Whether or not that would be practical is another matter, it might adversely affect supporters and it might prove every bit as difficult in organising players from many different cities.

The Ranji Trophy was recently reorganized into something that is much better than what it was. Earlier there used to be 5 groups (zones) and each zone had 4-5 teams. This resulted in many useless fixtures. The current system has a super league and a plate league so each team is playing for something. Furthermore, the leagues are divided into two groups so each team doesn't have to play a ton of fixtures. I think that system is pretty decent for first class competitions because you end up having to play against better teams while also holding onto a sense of community with your team.

The Duleep/Deodhar trophies are supposed to be a showcase for the best in India and they should be looking to expand that. However, Duleep Trophy selections are largely based on Ranji Trophy performances. I don't think club cricket is that highly regarded in India. Also, they recently have taken to inviting an international team (for example Sri Lanka A, BCB XI, Zimbabwe BP XI) to the Duleep and splitting it into two groups. This means even fewer matches.

I think for the while the Ranji/Duleep system is good enough for first class cricket. What we really need to improve on is OD tournaments. We have the Ranji OD tournament which has the mindless structure of five zonal groups and 27 teams. We need to get rid of that and concentrate on the Deodhar. We could use performances from the first class competitions to select players to their Deodhar zones and go from there.

I doubt there is going to be any change, though. Just look at the BCCI's reaction to the ICL, it looks like they really just want to keep treading water.

 

[angryangy]

The Ranji Trophy was recently reorganized into something that is much better than what it was. Earlier there used to be 5 groups (zones) and each zone had 4-5 teams. This resulted in many useless fixtures. The current system has a super league and a plate league so each team is playing for something. Furthermore, the leagues are divided into two groups so each team doesn't have to play a ton of fixtures. I think that system is pretty decent for first class competitions because you end up having to play against better teams while also holding onto a sense of community with your team.

The Duleep/Deodhar trophies are supposed to be a showcase for the best in India and they should be looking to expand that. However, Duleep Trophy selections are largely based on Ranji Trophy performances. I don't think club cricket is that highly regarded in India. Also, they recently have taken to inviting an international team (for example Sri Lanka A, BCB XI, Zimbabwe BP XI) to the Duleep and splitting it into two groups. This means even fewer matches.

I think for the while the Ranji/Duleep system is good enough for first class cricket. What we really need to improve on is OD tournaments. We have the Ranji OD tournament which has the mindless structure of five zonal groups and 27 teams. We need to get rid of that and concentrate on the Deodhar. We could use performances from the first class competitions to select players to their Deodhar zones and go from there.

I doubt there is going to be any change, though. Just look at the BCCI's reaction to the ICL, it looks like they really just want to keep treading water.

Yeah, with what I was thinking, the Ranji trophy could function as the premier cricket level and thus the gateway to the elite zonal team. However, as you point out, the current system has improved and seems to be emulating the English system. I agree with you, though, the BCCI doesn't seem very proactive.

 

[jeromedascorp]

I think apart from the domestic system it is about the sports culture. India doesn't really have a sports culture because education and career is rated far, far above sports in India. In fact, most parents only like their children to play sports for some exercise and as a hobby. Beyond that, it's back to concentrating on studies so that they can get a good job. This is almost exactly the opposite of Australia, I feel, where kids are encouraged to play sports. When I visited Australia half a decade back I heard that you have to take up something like 3 sports and then you end up playing them after school? Not sure, but just the sport culture goes a long way. In India, that culture is mainly confined to the metros where there are soooooo many people.

I would not entirely agree with that. Most of India I agree does not have a sports culture. But Kerala does have one. It may not come anywhere near the culture in Aus, but there is still a small one. Studies does come first, but kids play football and cricket in Kerala everyday. And not just in metros. All across the paddy fields you see these kids. And this is for the State in India that has the Highest literacy.

India needs to see this and take the sports infrastructure to these area where kids love the game. We can produce a world top 10 or top 20 team in every sport, but that can be done only if the government really goes to every corner of the country and spends money to build up the infrastructure. We know there is a lot of money but as we all know corruption will always be there.