ONE- DAYERS IN NO MAN’S LAND It might be over and out for this forgotten format
TWELVE- YEAR- OLD Tuxy would have given you a bemused look had you suggested to him that there was such a thing as too much cricket.
But fast- forward 25 years and it’s got to the point where the “less is more” argument needs to come into play.
As a kid I was cricket mad. When visiting my two grandmothers in Tasmania on school holidays, I’d try to make sure I was staying with the Nan who owned a TV when the oneday tri- series was on.
I’d get cricket magazines for Christmas, would collect those Scanlens cricket cards that came with a piece of gum and stick them in a photo album.
I used to watch all 100 overs of a one- dayer without batting an eyelid, but those days are over.
I barely watched a ball of the just completed 50- over series against England, and it’s not just because the Poms dominated from the outset.
If a sport, or a form of a particular sport in this instance, loses my interest, then it has issues.
There’s not many sports I don’t at least take a mild interest in – and when I’m not immersed in sport for work, I’m usually glued to the action at home or the pub.
The Twenty20 explosion has attracted young fans to the game and the positives far outweigh the negatives, but there’s no doubt it’s put the long- term viability of onedayers in doubt.
Like a bloke in the Simpson Desert who’s misplaced his compass, the 50- over game is stuck in the middle of nowhere with no clue what direction it’s supposed to head in. It’s not the pinnacle which is Test cricket, nor is it a “quick fix” like Twenty20.
Whether you’re at the ground or watching on TV, you only have to devote three hours of your day to watch an entire Twenty20 game.
For 50- over cricket it’s close to eight and in these increasingly busy times filled with kids’ sport, social engagements and so forth, it’s tough to justify wiping out an entire afternoon and evening sitting on the couch.
Teams know they can nudge and nurdle their way to an easy 300- plus score in one- dayers on pitches that are so batsman- friendly it wouldn’t surprise if they came to life and gave them a cuddle.
It’s predictable, it takes a laboriously long time to reach its crescendo and there’s so many played, series become virtually meaningless.
Did Australia win their home oneday series last summer? Who did they play? I honestly don’t know the answer to either without turning to Google, and I cover sport for a living.
The middle overs of an innings – where the fielding captain is allowed to spread his field giving batsmen easy runs to harvest without taking risks – are of particular concern.
How the powers- that- be solve this is tough, but perhaps there’s scope for a third powerplay to be allocated to the batting side to be used between overs 15 to 30.
The international game hasn’t been helped by the fact that it greatly affects the ever- popular Big Bash League. In its infancy the BBL was a convenient bit of hit and giggle which viewers would view as entertainment with little emotional investment in either side.
Nowadays plenty of spectators are decked out in the merch and ride every ball desperate for their team to win. It’s little wonder so many BBL fans get annoyed when the Aussie selectors pick a Glenn Maxwell or Darcy Short, only to watch them sit in the dugout in the subs vest when they could be playing a major role for their franchise.
The Big Bash brings in truckloads of money and new fans. The fixture has expanded this season and is tipped to expand again next summer. It’s going nowhere but something has to give, and 50- over cricket looks the logical scapegoat.
Other than World Cup years, perhaps it’s time we adopt the NFL’s strategy that less is more.
That won’t suit the needs for those with broadcast rights, but fewer meaningless games should result in more sustained interest from fans, and therefore more eyeballs watching.