And yet there have been some fantastic test matches in the last few years.
2 Likes
I don’t think that will ever be a problem in Australia at least. Summer cricket is very much in the culture as much as a summer barby. 5% growth year on year here - which to be honest is likely growth driven from the south Asian population - compared to 12% growth in football which is currently still receiving a mehassive boost from the Mathilda’s success. Football is the only competition to cricket as it’s the only major sport that has overlap in the months played.
Which is great.
I was only referring to its popularity and growth. I would say that eventually, cricket will just be too much hassle - the time taken to play a game, the kit, the facilities and the maintenance of those facilities and cost in general… Eventually it devolve to be like Lacrosse in the UK - played by elitist schools to maintain elitist image.
I could be wrong and hopefully I am.
Have you ever been to India?
It has to adapt.
Walk around here and you have kids playing it but those kids are not reflected in the England team in any sense whether be education or race.
I will say I think it’s healthier than Rugby especially Union.
Football is all consuming hence why I’m mentioning here. Oddly FIFA don’t seem to realise this. Especially amongst women the chance to grow it there is massive. Where FIFA direct it towards petroleum fuelled dictatorships and ideas about 30 minute half’s.
He’s off Indian descent , if not an Indian.
So I would say. Yes.
1 Like
While the relative strength of the other teams is a matter of concern , Pakistan has been dire in cricket for a long time.
It’s just not the cricketer’s they have at their disposal. It’s the approach and attitude.
Most teams have started eschewing the safety first approach. Pakistan still approach cricket as if it is the 90s and early 2000s.
Yes.
Pakistan cricket, to a large extent, was suffocated by India. Not allowing Pakistani players access to the IPL and have bi-lateral series, may, have killed cricket there.
Pakistan still has a large captive audience and hence money(which they can bring to the fore potentially)
There’s no doubt that IPL has improved Indian cricket. But that isn’t responsible for the killing of Pakistani cricket.
Nothing really stopped them from making their T20 league a success. They have the resources , they’ve got the sheer population (fandom). The Pakistani administrators need to be blamed more.
As far as bilaterals are concerned , yes. Pakistan do lose out on money on account of not hosting India.
Still doesn’t mean they can’t monetize cricket elsewhere.
There is no need to “blame” as such, as I’m sure there enough to go around in any case.
The point being that historically the biggest game in both the Indian and Pakistani cricket calendars was the bilateral games. It always felt like cricket in Pakistan was heavily linked to politicians, who viewed it a matter of prestige to win against India. W/o the games, the interest by the hierarchy was not there and that probably had a knock-on in terms of not capitalising on any spin offs…
I tend to think of the state of cricket being the reflection of how economically sound the country is. Cricket isn’t the only sport in the doldrums for Pakistan. They were very strong in Hockey as well. And now not even close to qualifying for the Olympics (forget about winning medals)
The underlying corruption and the state of the economy does play a huge part. There are other countries which still put up a reasonable cricket team.
But their india centric approach might as well play a part as you’ve said.
Pakistan cricket team was stronger than India in the 90s. The Indian administration etc adapted to the times. Don’t see the Pakistan administration doing the same. And that’s reflective of the cricketers who are turning up for them now.
So were the WI, Aus, Eng, SF and probably NZ. Zim had a pretty good team also. India have done well. WI, Pak, SA and Zim - not so much. Maybe it is evolution. Countries evolve and what passes as pass-time can change. As I mentioned, ultimately, cricket will go extinct or will have to adapt. We may lose the best of it (Test cricket) and only retaining the Frankenstein’s monster that is T20 or (dread the thought) the 100 - father time is on it!
1 Like
7 wickets for Leach in the match was a great effort, won’t get spoken about much what with all the batting records being smashed.
Good chance Pope could get dropped for the next match in order to bring a fit again Stokes back in.
1 Like
I agree, there has to be some adaptation.
Also agree with the second point, cricket (like football) is seen as game - as it should be - and not as a path to follow in life. I knew a number of footballers, cricketers and athletes in general at my school (which had a 30:30:30:10 ratio of WI;Sihk:Muslim:Hindu/white/chinese/other) that were good and had trials at various places for various sports - none were successful. This was for a number of reasons, one of which was the calculation that the chance of succeeding was very slim indeed and commitment for trying would be detrimental to pursuing other more likely paths and/or in direct conflict to immediate “real-life” situations.
1 Like
Football is an interesting one in that context as clubs have got more professional some of that especially higher up has been negated.
I doubt the money is there in other sports. Places like Swansea and Cardiff Uni bend over backwards to support their gifted Rugby players I noted when I worked at the former.
Also a lot of Olympic athletes tend to belong to Universities especially outside track and field.
Weirdness…