Is cricket a closed shop?
The case for Ireland
By John Riordan
IT’S hard to imagine that cricket was more progressive 30 years ago.
Last Monday’s ICC decision to reiterate a commitment to restrict the next 50-over World Cup to Test-playing nations is a backwards step, driven by greed, that will damage the worldwide appeal of a sport already struggling for popular appeal.
And it contrasts sharply with what happened way back in 1981, the supposed dark days of cricketing elitism. That was the year that Sri Lanka were awarded Test status, the eighth country invited to the top table. During the decade that followed, Muttiah Muralitharan grew up dreaming of one day bowling in Lord’s or the MCG.
In 1996, Muralitharan inspired the relative newcomers to an incredible World Cup victory, the last time the event was held in the sub-continent. After last Saturday's final in Mumbai, Sri Lanka's second 50-over decider on the bounce, Muralitharan called time on a record-breaking career.
So the question that the strangely muted ICC must ask themselves as overseers of the game's development is where will the next Muralitharan emerge from?
It’s all very well encouraging high performance programmes among the Associate nations. But surely pressing the emergency red button when the plan works a little too well smacks a little of hypocrisy.
Due to the information vacuum that has greeted the universal outcry, it's not unfair to conclude that 10 cricket boards dividing up the $1billion ESPN Star Sports deal sounds a lot better than 14.
That contract stipulates the amount of games at the World Cup may not be cut. So the decision to cut to 10 teams was not about creating a leaner event. Apart from a few dud clashes (an inevitability in any sport), 2011 was a dramatic improvement on 2007 in West Indies.
The ICC even declared the 2011 event “an outstanding financial success” while also claiming that it had “reinforced the attraction of 50-over cricket”, something which had seemed unlikely after the advent of the Twenty20 format.
Of course Kevin O’Brien’s surreal knock against England will be the standout highlight to make this decision all the more unpalatable but this shouldn’t just be about Ireland. Almost 100 nations have been locked out while Zimbabwe continue to loiter inside, waiting for someone else to make the first move at the buffet.
The case against
By Allan Prosser
PLUCKY underdogs, giant killers, gallant losers. The stuff of legends. We all love ‘em. Even when they’re wearing a protective box and crazy coloured flannels and playing what was regarded for many years on these shores as an old imperial sport with silly rules.
But not, it seems, if you are a panjandrum of the International Cricket Council, the governing body of a sport which, on viewing figures alone, can claim to be the most popular in the world.
If the nation’s cricket team could’ve sent the decision to exclude them from the 50-over World Cup until 2019 upstairs for review, they would have done. In eight years, most of the players who thrilled the country will be past their prime. Unjust. Outrageous. First Thierry Henry’s handball, now a yorker.
Just don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
The ICC board merely confirmed a decision made last autumn to restrict World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand to the 10 full members who play regular Test cricket. That was ever before Kevin O’Brien’s Miracle of Bangalore.
The dominant force in the world game — because of market size — is India and more than a billion people watched their victory over Sri Lanka. That is why it attracts major advertisers and why ESPN Star has stumped up more than €300m for the 2015 broadcasting rights. To gain a return on investment ESPN demanded India appear in a minimum nine matches in an appropriate time zone. That can only reasonably be done in a 10-team matrix.
Ireland still has the opportunity to play in the next two Twenty 20 World Cups and while there is a view the 50 over version is “the cup that counts”, this neglects the merits of more frequent appearances on the world stage, and this version’s huge popularity with youngsters and families. That ought to keep the cause of Irish cricket in the public eye and that should be built upon with more one day internationals. In addition Ireland have not been excluded from qualifying for 2019 which will be played in England.
The mistake the Irish have made is to believe that cricket is a civilised game played and administered by gentlemen. It isn’t. It’s a ruthless pastime which has become a commercial behemoth. Ireland has simply found itself on the wrong end of an unfair, but understandable, calculation, with no chance of appeal. That’s life.
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