Ha! it HAS been a while since SA played a Test. Not even sure I can remember that far back... err, March against the West Indies? Honestly, who is watching the Lanka Premier League, or the MLC, or the Canada League? Who is watching? Who is sponsoring and advertising? and is it really sustainable? I don't think so...
The race for franchise cash is becoming quite comical. Most of the opening matches in the 100 have been one sided bores which suggests that once a team falls behind they don’t have enough juice in the tank to attempt a recovery. Looking forward to the WI/SA tests.
It's as amusing as it is sad, really. The notion that it's so important to have a player in your team whose just spent the night on a long-haul flight and is switching teams, and competitions, at 24-hours notice. The level of ennui amongst the cricket-watching public is gathering pace at an alarming but understandable rate...!
What gets me is that players are often rested because they're "tired" because they play lots of International cricket. Get rested for tests and other games. These mostly players in the prime of their life. Then players get older and want to supplement their income. Now they're no longer tired and play as many games as they possibly can. These are players that are physically supposed to be past, or near to, their sell by date. Seems that the older you get the fitter and more healthy you are. Sick of hearing how players are tired and have to be rested.
And it's very true about the T20 carousel. I feel like one of the reasons we watch sport are stories and storylines. What makes people watch is the context. This is especially true for people who are new to the sport, like I was once. A cricket novice might not be able to appreciate the full range of strokes involved in compiling a Test century or exactly why it's tough to bat out a period where the ball swings a lot. But we can all understand a redemption story and, if they know that the person in question is, say, a player going through a slump batting for their place in the team and they saved themselves through this century, they are more likely to watch. Likewise if they know a lot of other people are watching:)
What exactly can be a storyline of a player parachuted into the Global T20 on the way to the next thing? Why should people care who wins? What's the reason for them to watch (other than to entice them to bet, which is another cancer on sport)? I struggle to see how this is beneficial for the sport as a whole.
The other thing that puzzles me is this. Just from reading about cricket history, I realise that this debate of Test cricket vs cheap thrills of Lancashire League or what have you seems to be going back to the 19th century, but at least at that time, clubs were still affiliated with their communities. At least with the IPL, that's somewhat the case - each club plays in their city and fans actually do care about the fortunes of the Chennai Super Kings or Kolkata Knight Riders. Whereas now it seems like these other leagues are almost created using ChatGPT - make a whole bunch of teams with the names of cities in the country, play all the games out of the one central facility available, fill your team with the available superstars, play out the season, on to the next league. Are any non-cricket fans in Canada aware of this league? I highly doubt it.
I don't even watch all this t20 cricket, its just too much. as you said if they perform or fail, they still get paid.
watching the recent tests was refreshing, and may it continue for many years to come. hope the boys do well, been a while since we played a test.
Ha! it HAS been a while since SA played a Test. Not even sure I can remember that far back... err, March against the West Indies? Honestly, who is watching the Lanka Premier League, or the MLC, or the Canada League? Who is watching? Who is sponsoring and advertising? and is it really sustainable? I don't think so...
Not sure why they couldn't combine some of these leagues? The mlc, Canadian and Caribbean in one?
And when are the poms and aus going to stand up to the Indians? Let's not even talk about the icc.
If they want all this T20, then surely they will have to get rid of 50 overs?
The race for franchise cash is becoming quite comical. Most of the opening matches in the 100 have been one sided bores which suggests that once a team falls behind they don’t have enough juice in the tank to attempt a recovery. Looking forward to the WI/SA tests.
It's as amusing as it is sad, really. The notion that it's so important to have a player in your team whose just spent the night on a long-haul flight and is switching teams, and competitions, at 24-hours notice. The level of ennui amongst the cricket-watching public is gathering pace at an alarming but understandable rate...!
Looking forward to the test series
Wish, it was a three match series
Nortche should have played along with Jansen.
Windies should find a decent top 6 in order to pose a challenge. Their bowling seems alright.
What gets me is that players are often rested because they're "tired" because they play lots of International cricket. Get rested for tests and other games. These mostly players in the prime of their life. Then players get older and want to supplement their income. Now they're no longer tired and play as many games as they possibly can. These are players that are physically supposed to be past, or near to, their sell by date. Seems that the older you get the fitter and more healthy you are. Sick of hearing how players are tired and have to be rested.
Looking forward to the test series. Not watched any franchise cricket. Eyeballs only on the Paris Olympics.
That really was an amazing Test! :)
And it's very true about the T20 carousel. I feel like one of the reasons we watch sport are stories and storylines. What makes people watch is the context. This is especially true for people who are new to the sport, like I was once. A cricket novice might not be able to appreciate the full range of strokes involved in compiling a Test century or exactly why it's tough to bat out a period where the ball swings a lot. But we can all understand a redemption story and, if they know that the person in question is, say, a player going through a slump batting for their place in the team and they saved themselves through this century, they are more likely to watch. Likewise if they know a lot of other people are watching:)
What exactly can be a storyline of a player parachuted into the Global T20 on the way to the next thing? Why should people care who wins? What's the reason for them to watch (other than to entice them to bet, which is another cancer on sport)? I struggle to see how this is beneficial for the sport as a whole.
The other thing that puzzles me is this. Just from reading about cricket history, I realise that this debate of Test cricket vs cheap thrills of Lancashire League or what have you seems to be going back to the 19th century, but at least at that time, clubs were still affiliated with their communities. At least with the IPL, that's somewhat the case - each club plays in their city and fans actually do care about the fortunes of the Chennai Super Kings or Kolkata Knight Riders. Whereas now it seems like these other leagues are almost created using ChatGPT - make a whole bunch of teams with the names of cities in the country, play all the games out of the one central facility available, fill your team with the available superstars, play out the season, on to the next league. Are any non-cricket fans in Canada aware of this league? I highly doubt it.