Potw : A.A.Z

[MenInG]

A vision of the future for the game we love! And we congratulate [MENTION=142755]A.A.Z[/MENTION] for his thoughts on this very interesting thread!

South Asia will become the hub of cricket just like Europe and football. There will a year long Asian T20 league with month long breaks for international series in between throughout the year. The t20 league will be dominated by teams from India, a couple from Bangladesh, and one each from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and maybe even one from Hong Kong, UAE and Nepal. If India-Pak relations improve half a dozen Pakistani teams could be part of the league as well.

Non-Asian nations will lose interest in cricket domestically and won't have the popularity to compete with the Asian league but their international teams will survive with their best players living and playing in Asia. T20 franchises could have their own first-class and list a teams with interchangeable players. First-class and list a teams would have little importance but would be used for practice for international cricket.

International cricket would be played on a 4-year cycle with only 3 match home and away bilateral series between nations serving as qualifiers for the World cup. In a 4-year cycle each team could play all other teams home and away once and facilitate an odi league with the top teams qualifying for the world cup. This would ensure small nations are toured by bigger nations and smaller nations would get to tour bigger nations as well ending the monopoly of powerful boards. Away wins could have slightly higher points than home wins. Lucrative bilateral series could have more than 3 matches but the points denomination would have to be adjusted towards a 3 match series to keep things constant.

Test cricket could have its own league exactly like the odi league. Away wins would garner more points than home wins and a win would have much higher points than a draw encouraging teams to risk losing to win rather than playing out draws. This would promote a more exciting and strategic brand of test cricket, games may even become 4 day games beginning on Thursdays and ending on Sundays.

T20 could have it's own qualification league like the odi league but would be played on a 2-year cycle instead, and all teams would not face each other but rather qualification could be divided into qualifying groups like it is in football. The top teams would qualify for the world t20.

Fast bowlers will be an extinct breed, with variations in bowling being the key for spinners and medium pacers. Chuckers maybe given more margin for arm extension to keep things fair between bat and ball. Power-hitting will be more important than anything else and the best batsmen may just be exceptional sloggers who can put away almost any ball as long as they can read the ball off the pitch as well as off the bowlers hand, and have decent foot movement.

 

[A.A.Z]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate this. I only fell in love with cricket again after years in November 2014 when Pakistan absolutely bashed Australia. I have a passion for history and researched everything I could about our beloved team and ended up stumbling upon Pakpassion in early 2015. I lurked almost everyday till I signed up when I couldn't contain my excitement when Younis scored his historic Sydney ton.

I hope to keep contributing to this wonderful forum where civilised, likeminded Pakistanis (and other cricket lovers) help me keep learning something new everyday. Blog on!

 

[Abdullah719]

Well done [MENTION=142755]A.A.Z[/MENTION]!

 

[world cup captain]

Congrats on the POTW; however, a bit of a scary look for the future of the game.

 

[A.A.Z]

Well done [MENTION=142755]A.A.Z[/MENTION]!

Thanks!

 

[Muhammad10]

Congratulations [MENTION=142755]A.A.Z[/MENTION]! Quality addition to the forum.

 

[A.A.Z]

Congrats on the POTW; however, a bit of a scary look for the future of the game.

Thank you.

Cricket needs reforms, the current structure leaves us at the mercy of powerful boards. Plus too much international cricket is leading to certain bilateral series being called jamodi's which is a disgrace to the highest level of cricket. People will eventually lose interest in watching most international cricket outside the global tournaments, we can't have that happening and need to give relevance and context to international matches again. The only way I see this happening is by following the commercial structure of football with franchises coming to the fore and breaks for international cricket throughout the year.

 

[A.A.Z]

Congratulations [MENTION=142755]A.A.Z[/MENTION]! Quality addition to the forum.

Thanks Muhammad!

 

[BDfanforever]

Thank you.

Cricket needs reforms, the current structure leaves us at the mercy of powerful boards. Plus too much international cricket is leading to certain bilateral series being called jamodi's which is a disgrace to the highest level of cricket. People will eventually lose interest in watching most international cricket outside the global tournaments, we can't have that happening and need to give relevance and context to international matches again. The only way I see this happening is by following the commercial structure of football with franchises coming to the fore and breaks for international cricket throughout the year.

Cricket and Football are two different sports. Cricket is more interesting when international teams play.

Europe might be hub of football but it is dominated by South American players, not to mention every single South American international teams are very strong at the game. Wales is not a minnow in football, they are ranked #12 in Fifa rankings even if Fifa rankings are kind of useless.

NZ has far less population than South Asia, yet they are better than all of the South Asian teams bar India. So I do not follow where you are going with this.

 

[A.A.Z]

Cricket and Football are two different sports. Cricket is more interesting when international teams play.

Europe might be hub of football but it is dominated by South American players, not to mention every single South American international teams are very strong at the game. Wales is not a minnow in football, they are ranked #12 in Fifa rankings even if Fifa rankings are kind of useless.

NZ has far less population than South Asia, yet they are better than all of the South Asian teams bar India. So I do not follow where you are going with this.

South American players may dominate the top leagues across Europe but they come to Europe to get paid because that's where the money is. We cannot forget the economic realities of the world. Similarly, while Australia, England, South Africa, West Indies, and New Zealand produce top quality players there is not enough interest in cricket in these nations for the players to get the economic benefits players in India get because of extremely high broadcasting rights for teams and tournaments who in turn give players a high salary as well as individual endorsement deals for players, from marketing brands, who are hero-worshipped in South Asian nations.

Interest in cricket is falling year by year. Read this if you don't believe me http://wwtw.espncricinfo.com/england/content/story/947713.html

This is not just true for England, but for the majority of non-Asian nations. T20 and expats are sustaining interest and participation numbers in these countries but yet participation numbers have a downward trend. These countries will still continue to produce top quality players because they are developed nations with and their players have a better education, diet, attitude, facilities, discipline, weather, sporting culture and overall atmosphere to become very good at the game. All these nations do not have the exact same trends and reasons for declining numbers in cricket but the next generation is simply not interested. These countries may have high standards of living but they cannot compete with the population and fanfare for cricketers in South Asian nations and the economic benefits that come along with it. Their international teams may continue to be very good just like South American football teams but their leagues will just not be able to compete with those of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, just like how South American leagues can't compete with European leagues. So, New Zealand may continue to be a very good team but its league will never compete with those of South Asian nations.

I know many young adults between 18-22 from India and Australia who have never been to international games but go to a few IPL or BBL games each season. This is the trend in the upcoming generation, who will be the major cricket viewing public in 2050. Myself and most other non-Indians watch a lot of IPL games but only a handful of India's international games. Cricket is only the way it is, dependant on international cricket for most of its viewership, because leagues have only just come around with the recent advent of T20. Every time something bordering a league has come around cricket has gotten revolutionised, first with Kerry Packer's unsanctioned WSC and later with the unsanctioned ICL, which led to the sanctioned IPL. The PSL and BPL are only going to grow and will be much bigger than all other leagues, apart from the IPL, because of extremely high viewership and the economic benefits that come with that. A possible merger amongst the 3 leagues could create an even better product with a monopoly over cricket leagues and they could tie down top players from around the world to only one team each. We saw a blueprint of this in the ICL, which had a Lahore and a Dhaka team. But, that was an unsanctioned illegitimate setup destined to fail. This time it will be done bigger and better, and with the economies of scale in place to make sure it is too big to fail just like the IPL.

I hope you're getting the point so far, now moving onto Wales. Take away a crocked or rested Bale, and Wales turns into a minnow immediately even with Ramsey, Allen, Williams, Collins, Davies, and Ledley. These are the only 6 Welsh players who have a place in the starting eleven of Premier League quality teams. At best these are all supporting players at their teams, without a focal point in Bale they will be a bits and pieces team, an extremely poor man's England, considering half the team will be composed of 2nd tier Championship level players. Wales will go back to being what they have prided themselves on in the past, better than Northern Island and not the worst team in the Union. Dependancy on one superstar player can only take them as far as they have gotten. Their run to the semis while, fairy-tailish, enjoyable to watch and worthy of the highest praise needs to be viewed pragmatically. The expanded tournament gave the opportunity to a few teams to make a few dreams runs in the tournament. Bloody hell Iceland made it to the quarters with an upset over a bits and pieces England team, who are without any of the stars of their previous generation apart from a washed up Rooney. Portugal qualified for the knockouts without a single win in any of their group games and didn't win a game in normal time till they met Wales in the semi. Wales did nothing incredible till they upset an overhyped Belgium who took Wales way too lightly, nonetheless an absolutely incredible achievement. One big upset win and semi run don't take away your minnow status. Ireland didn't become a non minnow when they knocked out Pakistan in the 2007 world cup. Kenya didn't become a non minnow after their semi final run in the 2003 world cup. The less said about Fifa rankings the better. I hope you get the point.