Cricket Australia discussing moving Sheffield Shield to winter to expand Big Bash

sherb

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#51
Quite simple. The state boards own 50% of the franchise teams. Each board gets more money as a result, More money to spend on coaches and training facilities, more money to pay players. More money around means more young blokes are going to choose cricket.
And by relegating the Shield to a winter competition behind the football codes it is made stronger how?
 

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Bradesmaen

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#53
I doubt that Shield cricket could fund the airfares and hotel accommodation from the revenue it generates. It is unsustainable without some other source of revenue to cross-subsidise it.

The way I see it we can have both a strong Shield competition and a thriving T20 competition if CA get it right. I don't see the success of the T20 format will necessarily be at the detriment of the rest.
They had it right. Now they are just trying to milk it for all its worth. I'd be interested to see the financials of the big bash, as most teams struggled for sponsors, some having pretty average ones at that who wouldn't be paying large sums for it.

You've made some pretty dumb points in this thread, but this takes the cake.
Cool story bro. You think they are dumb, I do not. Your opinion is noted and discarded in the waste where it belongs.

With less and less people caring about cricket
Recent crowd indications would beg to differ, both in T20 and Test format. Hell, even the shield crowds have been better this year than last for the few games I have been to.
 

Bucking Beads

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#54
Not many watch Shield cricket so I can't see the harm in starting the season in September. I still don't think expansion of the Big Bash is in order yet. They want each team to be playing each other twice though.
 

Admiral Byng

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#55
And by relegating the Shield to a winter competition behind the football codes it is made stronger how?
I don't think that "winter" is a realistic proposition, there's nowhere to play in that time. But I can't seen any harm in running the entire Shield competition (including the final) between October and early January. Then going into the separate T20 competition.
 

Matt_TY

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#56
And by relegating the Shield to a winter competition behind the football codes it is made stronger how?
Because the cashed up T20 league will make the cricketers more likely to want to become better... er.. Test players? Yes, of course, that's it, after all, it worked so well for the Indians this season XD
 

RIOLIUSTAR

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#57
To winter??

Ok so who's gonna put a roof over the grounds or do we just play it up north. Move everyone into north WA / QLD and Darwin...I don't think so.

Why don't they put the shield on TV and create some extra interest/cash....

I'd watch it before that T20 crap
 

R00StaR

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#58
Because the cashed up T20 league will make the cricketers more likely to want to become better... er.. Test players? Yes, of course, that's it, after all, it worked so well for the Indians this season XD
It will make more of the most talented youngsters chose cricket, which adds to the depth of T20 and SS. Theres some serious coin for these guys to make even if they dont make the test team, thats great for Australian and world cricket (as its not only happening here).

Id like to see a cap on how much the BBL teams can spend on Internationals so more reaches the Aussie players. Ive loved the BBL, this time of year is often boring for sport. I love the tests and ODIs but theres never been enough, now we finish watching a test and tune in for a BBL game. As the depth of player improves so will the games, it will grow bigger and better.
 

Underarm

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#59
I don't think that "winter" is a realistic proposition, there's nowhere to play in that time. But I can't seen any harm in running the entire Shield competition (including the final) between October and early January. Then going into the separate T20 competition.
the biggest issue with the domestic scheduling is
a) playing domestic matches during the time period of Test matches
b) playing T20 matches when best suited to maximise ticket sales/Revenue.

Sadly, the best time for both of these is dec 20 - jan 10 where people have time off work, and test matches are played in Melbourne and Sydney.

I don't think bringing the SS forward is the way to go. realistically, the BBL could be run much tighter - at the moment, they havent played a match since Thursday, and the final wont happen until the end of the Adelaide test. theres a good 2 weeks where they could be playing at least 10 more games without moving any FC games!

the current system, whilst not Ideal for Test cricket, works pretty well. FC and List A games take a month/6 weeks off over christmas/newyears to play T20D stuff then get back into the business end of the competition for the last 6 weeks. trying to have all of that finished by November leaves a big gap at the other end of the season.
 

Tiff

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#60
Sadly, no one turns up to shield cricket games, so of course it'll get a shove aside from a tournament that at least attracts enough bogans to buy a few beers.

No point complaining if you didn't do your part to support it in the first place.
 

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Admiral Byng

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#62
the biggest issue with the domestic scheduling is
a) playing domestic matches during the time period of Test matches
b) playing T20 matches when best suited to maximise ticket sales/Revenue.

Sadly, the best time for both of these is dec 20 - jan 10 where people have time off work, and test matches are played in Melbourne and Sydney.

I don't think bringing the SS forward is the way to go. realistically, the BBL could be run much tighter - at the moment, they havent played a match since Thursday, and the final wont happen until the end of the Adelaide test. theres a good 2 weeks where they could be playing at least 10 more games without moving any FC games!

the current system, whilst not Ideal for Test cricket, works pretty well. FC and List A games take a month/6 weeks off over christmas/newyears to play T20D stuff then get back into the business end of the competition for the last 6 weeks. trying to have all of that finished by November leaves a big gap at the other end of the season.
I think there's room to tweek it a bit.

The attraction of T20 cricket for me is that you can sit down and watch a whole match after work. Either going to the ground or at home on TV/dodgy Indian internet stream. For that reason I don't think it necessarily needs to be in the peak Christmas holiday season, I can see it still being successful over January or February.

For the test matches we are always going to lock in Boxing Day in Melbourne and then the Sydney test early in the new year. For that reason I'd like to see Shield cricket going on right up until Christmas, so the fringe test players, or players coming back from injury can find some form at domestic level.

I reckon we could get all the test matches and Shield matches done and out of the way by early to mid-January, and then clear the decks for the T20 stuff.

I think that would work fine.
 

swingdog

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#63
In purely cricket terms, February makes most sense for T20 but CA is scared of the AFL. The season starts earlier and earlier each year and sucks all the media air time.

Why not October for T20? The only sporting competition is the racing carnival and it would be a great kick start to the cricket season.

Then run the Shield and a full 5 test series followed by the usual meaningless one dayers in February.

The other advantage to October is lack of international cricket competition, drawing in more players from overseas for T20.
 

swingdog

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#65
I thought CA didn't care about the crowds, it was all about the TV viewing figures. Schedule enough matches (including some double-headers) on weekends.
 
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Moderator #66
This is a good idea.

The weather in Queensland and the NT would allow matches on turf to be played in the winter months. You could play a season that finishes in November and frees up Dec/Jan for the international tests and the BBL.

In fact NT and northern Queensland play winter seasons as it is.

As for District Cricket not coinciding and making it impossible to pick teams... that doesn't happen now. Players judged more on their performances in Future's Cup games and internal matches than they are on district cricket. In fact, the increasing gap between district cricket and first class level has long been highlighted as an issue.

A weekly competition through summer like the football codes offer would be ideal.

Nothing Cricket Australia does would surprise me these days.

Slogball seems to be their over-riding priority, nothing else matters.

How can you have Test cricket in the summer here with no four-day cricket?
We tour England in the winter and other countries out of season. We just toured Sri Lanka and South Arican on the back of minimal local first class cricket (Sept/Oct).

Someone on another forum pointed this out. If for some reason this happened that would make it much harder for our players to get County contracts, given they couldnt commit to a season. County Cricket has long been a good honing ground for some of our players, from the Waughs to Warne to Katich Jaques Mcgrath etc etc
South Africa... New Zealand... they'd find a place to play if they weren't going to be in the BBL.
 

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#69
The admin needs to be replaced by one that puts the game as its primary concern; not the dollars.
I think CA need to be mindful of both, and try to find the right balance. It's not like Sutherland and co are doing it to buy themselves ivory back-scratchers and leather sofas, the money ultimately gets re-invested in cricket and cricket development.
 

PykeDream

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#70
How about:
Kill off the domestic one day competition - crowds are piss poor and it doesn't really serve any purpose.

Retain Sheffield Shield - A must, is the feeder competition for International cricket. Should be played concurrently with tests, however season should be split in two. October 1 - October 31 and December 1 - January 31.

Kill off Australian participation in International T20. I support the Domestic T20 concept, but I don't believe this form of the game belongs at International level.

Retain International One Day participation - Second tier form of the International game - however have it bookending the test series('), with an equal number of games either side of the Test series' (helps with the build up to the Summer and keeps people interested - Poms had no interest in the 2010/11 series.

Have the Tests spanning the period from 1 December - 31 January. Thats 62 days, which would fit 6 tests (30 days) in nicely. Three games each against two opposition teams. This may not work for South African tours.

Big Bash League - Retain this, and have it concurrent with the One Day series (November 1 - November 31 and February 1 - 28/9). Should help get Internationals playing more games. Two games per week - each team plays one on the weekend and one during the week (two games played on Saturday and Sunday, one game played on four of the five weekdays). Long term plan should be made to introduce a Canberra and second WA side - maybe).

Tour Matches - Big increase in tour matches required. Mandate that all visiting test teams must play three tour matches against Australia A sides in lead up to Test series. Doesn't matter if they are a full strength of virtual seconds side - however all games must be either three or four days - none of this two day rubbish.

You'd have something like this:
October - Sheffield Shield/Away Tests
November - Big Bash League/ODIs
December - Sheffield Shield/Home Tests
January - Sheffield Shield/Home Tests
February - Big Bash League/ODIs
 

R00StaR

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#71
The schedule for domestic cricket becomes tight, but the imo the BBL must stay and has the time slot right now (Dec-Jan). Im not sure it needs expanding beyond what it is currently, but would be willing to give it the full 2 months.

What our Domestic players then need is a quality comp to hone their skills for the international scene which should be mainly Tests and ODIs (im not against a short international 20/20 series of say 3 and world cups). Rather than move to winter months, id prefer the SS to become a combination of 3 days games (2 innings @ 75 overs ea, 100 overs/ day) plus One Day games.

75 overs is enough to ensure batsmen are positive at the crease while having to value their wicket and wont flog the youngsters coming through. We condense the longer version to fit in more games while incorporating 50 over games into the comp and play it either side of the BBL.

With the money from BBL and SS hopefully most at this level can become full time professionals. Many of course will pick up IPL contracts and play 20/20 elsewhere in the off season. The more money into system the more talented kids are drawn to cricket. The BBL puts our domestic players in the public spot light, so hopefully with an increasing talent pool and fans becoming more familiar with the players the SS comp could grow in popularity.

The more professional, the more talent we can jam into the SS comp the better feeding ground it becomes, even at 75 and 50 over innings.
 

masai

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#72
I guess WAFL should stop playing in winter
It makes no money, theirs very little interest.
So WAFL can be played in the summer months Sept- March
An cricket can be played in the Winter months May - October
Now this is what I call forward thinking ( tongue firmly in cheek !!! ), watch AFL & cricket in winter and that leaves me summer to watch a rejuvenated WAFL competition.

Now that is how Freo & Eagles can field their reserves team.

Masterstroke of genius.
 

The Passenger

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#73
the problem for CA is they don't seem to want to acknowledge that although the shield runs at a loss, it's place in the cricketing calendar is there to strengthen the australian cricket team, and it's a strong australian team that brings money into cricket australia.

just out of interest has anyone played winter cricket?? i haven't. some of my brothers mate started a team in a league in sydney a fair few years back. i went to one game. i lasted five minutes before getting back in the car and went home. they pulled out of the competition after playing two games. it was without doubt one of the stupidest things i've ever seen.

unlike footy, you can't just run around like a headless chicken if it's cold while you're out fielding. the ball gets smashes into your freezing cold hands.... cold days in october can be brutal enough. cold days in august are torture.

and do we think that is going to keep players in the game... their reward for being one of the states best grade cricketers... a promotion to play cricket in the freezing winter of melbourne. alex keath would almost certainly be at the Gold Coast suns if this was in place... footy in the nice sun shiney gold coast?? cricket in freezing melbourne.... tough choice that one :-/

very very poor idea.

the domestic schedule is good right now, just need to tweak it so that there is shield on while the tests are on, but that should be easy enough.

as someone said i'd like to see the financials of this big bash league .i know crowds and ratings are high, but the outgoing on this competition are massive. the figure i've read and heard thrown about is in the 30 million dollar mark. i really can't see how they're even got close to getting that back.
 

nick1408

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#74
I was reading the Argus Review today and this move is actually suggested within that. Whilst I don't agree with the move if it is for the betterment of cricket then I am for it.
 

PrideOf

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#75
"It could definitely happen. It is probably a matter of not if, but when. A lot of Shield cricket could be played in August, or around that time."
August? When the footy states are gearing up for the finals series?

It's getting harder to tell if these guys are money hungry pricks like the BCCI or just ****wits, like the BCCI.
 
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