Cricket ‘no longer needs to have an Olympic stance’
THE ICC should focus on giving some much-needed context to Test cricket rather than fixating on giving the sport a Commonwealth or Olympic Games platform.
That’s the view from Tim Wright, the former managing director of IMG India and one of the key figures involved in the setting-up of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008.
Speaking exclusively to The Cricket Paper, Wright’s comments come after it was revealed that the sport will not feature at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which were originally scheduled to be hosted by Durban. They will now be held in either Liverpool or Birmingham but, wherever they take place, cricket will not form part of the make-up of the event.
Back in March, Dave Richardson, the chief executive of the ICC, said that ‘the time was right’ for cricket to seek Olympic recognition at the 2024 Olympics. Tony Irish, the executive chairman of FICA, the international players’ association, also said that inclusion in the Games was ‘essential to expanding cricket into other countries’.
Wright, however, believes that the growth of T20 cricket means that cricket no longer has a need to seek to globalise – pointing to the example of baseball, which has appeared regularly at the Olympics but is yet to cement its appeal beyond its traditional heartlands.
“If you look at where we were in 2002, a lot of people were predicting the demise of Test match cricket and cricket generally,” he says.
“The introduction of Twenty20 cricket in England in 2003 and the IPL in 2008, which brought together the world’s best players, has completely changed the game.
“The television rights for the IPL have just been sold for the next five years and an IPL match now has the same value in television rights terms as a Premier League football match.
“I think that tells you that the game – which is primarily a Commonwealth game – is in good shape. Baseball isn’t in every country and it’s in good health, Aussie Rules Football certainly isn’t played in every country and that’s in good health, too.
“There are games that are not global, plenty of sports that aren’t played in every country, but are in rude health. What has come up in the last 15 years is the growth outside of international cricket, it’s the growth of the equivalent of club football.”
Cricket hasn’t appeared at the Olympics since the 1900 Games in Paris and while the sport has made fleeting appearances at the Commonwealth Games in recent years, there remains uncertainty over whether it has a genuine future at some of the world’s biggest sporting events.
For his part, Wright is firm in the view that the ICC would be better served by fixing some of cricket’s most pressing problems rather than seeking to expand the sport’s appeal in markets further afield.
“I think cricket is on a pretty good track at the moment,” says Wright. “I’m not sure about floodlit Test cricket, it seems a bit contrived, and it’s glaringly obvious that there needs to be a Test World Championship.
“It frustrates me enormously. I can’t believe the ICC can’t get it done, it’s pathetic. If the upcoming game against the West Indies counted towards relegation or promotion, for example, then you would have something really meaningful.
“Test cricket is in danger of becoming a series of glorified friendlies because there is so little riding on the outcome.You might go up and down the ICC rankings but, at the end of the day, who cares?
“If England win or the West Indies win then nothing will change. And that’s when people stop caring, which is the last thing cricket needs.”
“Gunner” Gould’s head, as he stooped to pick up the ball there during the 1982/3 Ashes Test, after it had been struck for four.
Keen not to inflame Australia’s hardest, Gould wiped away the biggest chunks and said quick as a flash – “Steady on mate, I’ve just had me hair done (which was true).” At which point several more pies came his way with the rejoinder – “We’ll book you another appointment then.”