Has the Big Bash failed to Deliver?

Blessed

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Thread starter #1
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/why-t20-comes-up-short-20120127-1qllu.html?rand=1327676733487 Illustration: Jim Pavlidis




It is problematic how often a game can be fined down, bastardised and bowdlerised before it disappears altogether. Taking the death notices at their word, Test cricket's half-life was around 100 years, one-day cricket's 25. It bodes poorly for the latest fad. I know Cricket Australia strongly maintains that there is a place for all three forms. The question is whether there is the appetite.


Two quirks of this season's BBL surely will exercise the mind of promoters. One is the unexpected dominance of slow bowlers. This was thrilling for aficionados but I wonder if ultimately it will satisfy the market supposedly sold on combustible stumps and bolts of lightning flashing out of their television screens. Fast bowlers as often as not had their pace turned against them, devastatingly. But slow bowling is so, well, Test cricket. Slow bowlers were quickly called upon in Tests in Adelaide and Abu Dhabi this week, and in both instances took early wickets.


The other quirk, overlapping the first, was the prominence of superannuants. Forty-pluses Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden and Stuart MacGill all played leading roles for their teams, and Brad Hogg proceeded in one month from retirement to a place in the Australian team. Brad Hodge must have been tempted to change his name by deed poll; it wouldn't take much.

Finally, the suspension of all other interstate cricket for the duration of the Big Bash creates a structural weakness in Australian cricket. It has been disguised this summer by the galloping success of the Test team against India, necessitating minimal change from the start of the series to the end.

But imagine if this was last summer and Australia was crashing to one inglorious defeat after another against England. From what pool would reinforcements come, and in what form? Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja have been lost to sight since they were dropped by Australia. Hughes forewent a BBL contract and Khawaja seems ill-suited to the format. Nic Maddinson looks the goods but hasn't played a first-class game for six weeks. For Australian cricket, it has been six exciting weeks. To the Trojans, that horse looked pretty exciting, too.
 

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Alexwce

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#3
He should name himself Captain Obvious.

Easy fix. Start playing test match cricket in October then you have room for Big Bash competition.
 

Tiff

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#5
Well that's all pretty obvious.

Besides, it pulls the big crowds, filling up CA's wallets, and as long as it's doing that, it's here to stay.

This thread will spiral downward.
 

R00StaR

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#7
Dont see how Shield cricket played while tests are on is that big a problem. The Aussie team plays year round, what now we cant win anywhere but at home while SS is on? Of course not, players perform in the SS, usually get a crack at ODIs then tests. Performance pushes them into the squad.

If long term successful what the BBL will do is bring in more talented youngsters and bolster the depth of Australian cricket. Before long the better SS/ BBL players might be on AFL type salaries creating a very real career path. Then of course make it to International level and nail an IPL contract they'll make way more than any player in the football codes, they already do.

We see players still doing well and getting international 20/20 contracts well past 35, cricket is showing it can provide a great career path. The more talent drawn to the game the better the standard of all forms we get to view. The BBL has been a huge success, hard to see it going anywhere any time soon.
 

MisterMarcus

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#9
I think it's lost something now it's become just a franchise system with blow-ins from every state and overseas. The state-by-state rivalry that makes for engaging matches just isn't there.
 

R00StaR

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I think it's lost something now it's become just a franchise system with blow-ins from every state and overseas. The state-by-state rivalry that makes for engaging matches just isn't there.
We'll get used to it, problem wouldve been too few games in Melb and Sydney for their populations.
 

Tiff

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#11
Dont see how Shield cricket played while tests are on is that big a problem. The Aussie team plays year round, what now we cant win anywhere but at home while SS is on? Of course not, players perform in the SS, usually get a crack at ODIs then tests. Performance pushes them into the squad.

If long term successful what the BBL will do is bring in more talented youngsters and bolster the depth of Australian cricket. Before long the better SS/ BBL players might be on AFL type salaries creating a very real career path. Then of course make it to International level and nail an IPL contract they'll make way more than any player in the football codes, they already do.

We see players still doing well and getting international 20/20 contracts well past 35, cricket is showing it can provide a great career path. The more talent drawn to the game the better the standard of all forms we get to view. The BBL has been a huge success, hard to see it going anywhere any time soon.
I see what you're saying, but the majority of BBL's big draw cards made their name playing test cricket.

My issue is in 20 years time, where are the 35 year old "legends" going to come from? You'll say, well duh, it's going to come from the same pool as what the current crop of legends has, but if the true forms of the game keep getting affected by T20, there isn't going to be much of a pool at all is there?

Cricket needs to be taught from a very very young age, for anyone to develop into a half decent cricketer. You need to spend hours in the sun in the up and downs, learning the intricacies of the game. You need to be a good all round cricketer to play 20/20 cricket. Twenty overs isn't enough time to develop into a good all cricketer I'm afraid, and because of 20/20 sucking so much from the other forms of the game, in 20 years time I see the quality of the T20 cricket dropping significantly, also at the expense of the real forms of the game.

Don't get me wrong, I went to the BBL semi at the WACA and I said somewhere else I had a great time, but that'll only last while the standard of cricket is decent. If young'uns start to develop as a pure T20, bowl it and slog it type players, the ENTIRE game is going to be affected, T20 included.

That's just how I feel though.
 

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apollo_creed

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#12
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/why-t20-comes-up-short-20120127-1qllu.html?rand=1327676733487 Illustration: Jim Pavlidis




It is problematic how often a game can be fined down, bastardised and bowdlerised before it disappears altogether. Taking the death notices at their word, Test cricket's half-life was around 100 years, one-day cricket's 25. It bodes poorly for the latest fad. I know Cricket Australia strongly maintains that there is a place for all three forms. The question is whether there is the appetite.


Two quirks of this season's BBL surely will exercise the mind of promoters. One is the unexpected dominance of slow bowlers. This was thrilling for aficionados but I wonder if ultimately it will satisfy the market supposedly sold on combustible stumps and bolts of lightning flashing out of their television screens. Fast bowlers as often as not had their pace turned against them, devastatingly. But slow bowling is so, well, Test cricket. Slow bowlers were quickly called upon in Tests in Adelaide and Abu Dhabi this week, and in both instances took early wickets.


The other quirk, overlapping the first, was the prominence of superannuants. Forty-pluses Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden and Stuart MacGill all played leading roles for their teams, and Brad Hogg proceeded in one month from retirement to a place in the Australian team. Brad Hodge must have been tempted to change his name by deed poll; it wouldn't take much.

Finally, the suspension of all other interstate cricket for the duration of the Big Bash creates a structural weakness in Australian cricket. It has been disguised this summer by the galloping success of the Test team against India, necessitating minimal change from the start of the series to the end.

But imagine if this was last summer and Australia was crashing to one inglorious defeat after another against England. From what pool would reinforcements come, and in what form? Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja have been lost to sight since they were dropped by Australia. Hughes forewent a BBL contract and Khawaja seems ill-suited to the format. Nic Maddinson looks the goods but hasn't played a first-class game for six weeks. For Australian cricket, it has been six exciting weeks. To the Trojans, that horse looked pretty exciting, too.
the unexpected dominance of slow bowlers?

unexcepted?

what a load of crap.

sa won the title last season based on their slow bowling trio.

if it was unexpected then I'd like to know who was doing the expecting.
 

R00StaR

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#13
I felt similar with Warner, but he's worked really hard on his game and pushed on. Question will be if he can last, reflexes and that eye dont stay forever, technique and mental toughness lasts longer.

Now he's only one player, if in 20 years times each BBL has 3-4 of his type then surely at any point in time we'd 3-4 of those guys capable of playing the highest standard. Perhaps the test careers mightnt last as long, perhaps 1 of those 3-4 plays 10+ year. But with more and more talented players coming through we'll find more.

The SS will still be important, but might have to start earlier or more likely either side of the BBL. In another post i suggested condensing the comp, play 3 day games (100 overs a day, 75overs per innings), play em as day/ nighters to, hopefully we'd start drawing more interest into the comp. 75 overs is enough for the top 5-6, keeps them playing positive and a good middle ground for attacking while having to value your wicket.

Juniors, club, sub district and district - the feeders to SS shouldnt change. We've seen test cricket get more and more attacking, faster scoring since ODIs that trend is likely to continue.

As long as the 20/20 comps are played out within 2 months (which keeps the appeal of them up by not totally ODing us on them), it should imo provide a much deeper more talented domestic cricket scene.
 

Underarm

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#14
I think it's lost something now it's become just a franchise system with blow-ins from every state and overseas. The state-by-state rivalry that makes for engaging matches just isn't there.
and yet crowds numbers and ratings are up by a signifcant amount.
the unexpected dominance of slow bowlers?

unexcepted?

what a load of crap.
obviously that guy had never seen T20 before....everyone else had worked out the slow bowling thing for years!
 

Tiff

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#15
I felt similar with Warner, but he's worked really hard on his game and pushed on. Question will be if he can last, reflexes and that eye dont stay forever, technique and mental toughness lasts longer.

Now he's only one player, if in 20 years times each BBL has 3-4 of his type then surely at any point in time we'd 3-4 of those guys capable of playing the highest standard. Perhaps the test careers mightnt last as long, perhaps 1 of those 3-4 plays 10+ year. But with more and more talented players coming through we'll find more.

The SS will still be important, but might have to start earlier or more likely either side of the BBL. In another post i suggested condensing the comp, play 3 day games (100 overs a day, 75overs per innings), play em as day/ nighters to, hopefully we'd start drawing more interest into the comp. 75 overs is enough for the top 5-6, keeps them playing positive and a good middle ground for attacking while having to value your wicket.

Juniors, club, sub district and district - the feeders to SS shouldnt change. We've seen test cricket get more and more attacking, faster scoring since ODIs that trend is likely to continue.

As long as the 20/20 comps are played out within 2 months (which keeps the appeal of them up by not totally ODing is on them), it should imo provide a much deeper more talented domestic cricket scene.
That's another very fair way to look at it. I still believe it's going to affect it in a negative light, but they said the same thing about limited overs, and look where we are now. Massive crowds at the tests this year, and looking back to when we were the greatest team the games ever seen, the crowds were pretty ordinary. What surprised me was the turn out for the period of 3-4 days. Pretty great if you ask me.

We should be able to pull these sorts of crowds against England obviously, SA and India, as we've seen. Which means a fairly regular summer cricket season of good test crowds.

ONLY thing is, again, it's the legends that draw crowds also, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ponting. Test cricket is all about nostalgia when it boils down to the crowds.

With a diluted cricket calender, will there be time for these sorts of legends to develop, for the masses to find a nostaligic connection to cricketing greats to continue to bring interest to test cricket?

I don't know, and that's what can affect the cricket at a grass roots level, T20 as well.
 

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#16
Main thing to do now is give the Melbourne and Sydney teams an identity - to give supporters a reason to choose the Stars/Renegades or Thunder/Sixers. I don't think the Hurricanes, Strikers, Scorchers, Heat have any such issue, basically everybody follows the local team no questions asked.
 

legend166

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#20
Main thing to do now is give the Melbourne and Sydney teams an identity - to give supporters a reason to choose the Stars/Renegades or Thunder/Sixers. I don't think the Hurricanes, Strikers, Scorchers, Heat have any such issue, basically everybody follows the local team no questions asked.
The Sydney teams are split geographically, really.

To put it in footy terms - Sixers = Swans, Thunder = Giants.
 

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#21
it's not the product. we shouldn't have 2 sydney and melbourne teams and cricket shouldn't be played at anz stadium. it's thrived in states that have 1 team
You need to back up opinions such as these. Just saying it doesn't make it so.

I think creating some team loyalties and rivalries will be excellent over the long term.
 

frankrizzo

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#22
Far too early to say it's a success or failure, it's not even one year in it's 6 weeks in.

Test cricket has been declared dead multiple times and yet it is still relevant well over a 100 years after it started, if the big bash is as or more popular than it currently is in 10 years time then we can call it a success.
 

CAS79

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#23
The first half of that article is just pure shite.

The second though raises a good question. If we were losing the test matches the form of Marsh and Haddin would be called much more readily into question. We would want to see obvious replacements striking their form in the first class arena.

The big bash was a success but we need to work out some timing so FC cricket is played in conjunction with the test cricket.
 

frankrizzo

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#24
We could dump the horrendous odi tri series and just play 4-5 one dayers earlier in the summer.

Play tests/first class games in november/december/early jan and then the big bash can have late jan/feb all to itself.

That would mean a better structure for tests but less money for CA so it's no chance.
 
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