It is with a dose of mirth and a dollop of bemusement that the mayor of Perth and the premier of South Australia both should lend their political heft to the Test cricket debate.
Basil Zempilas (Perth) and Peter Malinauskas (South Australia) look to be typical Aussies, who follow their sport closely and no doubt have a special spot for the summer game. Well done to them. But if you don’t make some meaningful contribution to Test cricket in your states then there will be no need for social media combat at all – the game will cease to exist.
You have to love the Victorians who turned up in significant numbers, once again, to the Boxing Day Test. Pakistan showed a flicker of fight in Perth and were not quite deserving of an easybeat tag. Yes, they have a dreadful record in Australia going back 40 years, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t come here for a contest. Their mettle at the MCG was strong. They were knee-deep in it until they couldn’t resist the irresistible Pat Cummins late on day four. The crowds appreciated the battle.
Test cricket in this country certainly has the outward appearance of being alive, but what of the invidious advance of 20-over tournaments throughout the globe? The mayor and the premier might be squabbling over an empty pot.
The record IPL contracts for Pat Cummins ($3.67 million) and Mitchell Starc ($4.43 million) are not simply talking points. The cash is the reality of modern cricket – and there’s nothing unusual or wrong with that; it is life. Australian cricket has been fortunate that Starc has eschewed the IPL for a number of years and that Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who both played the recent IPL seasons, have also chosen to prioritise Test cricket. Those three great fast bowlers have been the engine room of sustained Test success, and quality replacements take years to develop.
The creep across the calendar of T20 competitions is certainly a concern for Test cricket, but it is not an issue for the game as a whole. Cricket, in some form or another, is thriving.
David Warner will back up with the Delhi Capitals in the 2024 Indian Premier League.Credit: AP
Private ownership of cricket is also not a new concept. International cricket was privately financed and owned as far back as the 19th century; tours had to be profitable or there was no cricket at all. The wheel has turned full circle in that respect. Cricket authorities invented themselves to bring some order to the chaos that the competing professional game had conceived. We are returned to the chaos of private team ownership in private tournaments. The official cricket boards are up against the unstoppable force of money, and they had better evolve or perish.
Even the omnipotent Board of Control for Cricket in India is being challenged by Saudi money, and we know what they did with golf – offering not tens but hundreds of millions of dollars to procure talent.
However, the Saudis can’t produce golfers or cricketers. India produces local talent, but they and the Saudis buy off the top shelf. This is unsustainable without a broad crop being sown and grown somewhere underneath.
Cameron Green keeps the scoreboard ticking over for the Mumbai Indians.Credit: Getty
Of course, filling cricket team sheets is about supply and demand. Presently, the elite players can populate a tournament, but what happens at the next level down? If Australian cricket no longer ran (financially) successful bilateral Test series the funding to the states would dwindle. The top of the pyramid stands on the wide base of community cricket, which is largely funded and subsidised by international series. Club and junior subscriptions are kept at manageable levels by the state bodies.
If the cricket world diffuses into a morass of privately owned and run tournaments, then the base of the pyramid is going to suffer badly. There will be fewer youths playing the game and less making elite teams, and, therefore, fewer players available for the highly paid franchises. A vicious cycle indeed.
This cascade might take a few years, but it would happen.
There is one ameliorating factor, however. When the IPL began signing players who were on central contracts with Cricket Australia, the governing body got 10 per cent of the IPL deal. This still happens, but CA has just gone a bit quiet on the windfall.
It’s a great theory: money back to the system that has invested heavily in the production of the player, but will private owners continue to agree? No other T20 tournament pays this premium back to CA. Perhaps they should.
Producing cricketers takes years of fertiliser and water from mums, dads, coaches, ground staff, councils and a myriad of volunteers, so the cashed-up privateers should be making a serious contribution to the bottom line. After all, cricket to them is a business; it must be financially sustainable. If you run out of a quality primary resource your business is doomed to mediocrity at best; complete collapse at worst. You cannot buy what doesn’t exist, no matter how deep your pockets.
There is a way to increase local finances to support the whole cricket pyramid: introduce private ownership of BBL teams – maybe one each of the Sydney and Melbourne teams to start with?
The valuation of these clubs to private equity must be $30 million and more. That kind of cash well used could be the fertiliser that nurtures, sustains and grows Test cricketers. Careful licensing agreements in the manner of the BCCI with its private franchises would maintain the integrity of the system. CA has resisted private ownership in the past, but the future has arrived early, and a rethink is necessary.
Because “big cricket” is strangling the grassroots.
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Money is an unstoppable force in cricket, and the game needs to evolve or perish
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30.12.2023
It is with a dose of mirth and a dollop of bemusement that the mayor of Perth and the premier of South Australia both should lend their political heft to the Test cricket debate.
Basil Zempilas (Perth) and Peter Malinauskas (South Australia) look to be typical Aussies, who follow their sport closely and no doubt have a special spot for the summer game. Well done to them. But if you don’t make some meaningful contribution to Test cricket in your states then there will be no need for social media combat at all – the game will cease to exist.
You have to love the Victorians who turned up in significant numbers, once again, to the Boxing Day Test. Pakistan showed a flicker of fight in Perth and were not quite deserving of an easybeat tag. Yes, they have a dreadful record in Australia going back 40 years, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t come here for a contest. Their mettle at the MCG was strong. They were knee-deep in it until they couldn’t resist the irresistible Pat Cummins late on day four. The crowds appreciated the battle.
Test cricket in this country certainly has the outward appearance of being alive, but what of the invidious advance of 20-over tournaments throughout the globe? The mayor and the premier might be squabbling over an empty pot.
The record IPL contracts for Pat Cummins ($3.67 million) and Mitchell Starc ($4.43 million) are not simply talking points. The cash is the reality of modern cricket – and there’s........
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