Today has seen both good and bad news for cricket in different parts of the globe. On one hand, the UK public are eagerly awaiting the expected announcement of England Test match cricket returning to free-to-air TV; as Channel 4 look likely to secure the TV rights for the India series. Elsewhere Australia have pulled out of their South Africa tour at the last minute, blaming worries around Covid as their reason.
So on one side of the world, it is great news for the growth of cricket, whilst the other side the world see’s a big blow to the finances and popularity of the game in one of its major countries. It often feels like this is the reality of cricket across the globe, with a very small number of countries prospering whilst the rest struggle to survive; as the ICC ensure the BCCI (and to a lesser extent the CA and ECB) rule the roost and ignore the wider picture.
If you’d like to learn more about the governance of world cricket by the ICC, then there is plenty of articles out there to read, plus the amazing documentary ‘The Death of a Gentleman’ to watch.
But we aren’t going to go into that, instead we’re going to share our 6 ideas for improving world cricket!
1.) Equal power and equal financial support.
Currently, the majority of the power and thus the financial support of the ICC lies with the 3 ‘big’ countries, with the BCCI having the lions share and Cricket Australia and the ECB being also big beneficiaries in comparison to the other nations.
This just simply isn’t right, and has led to these big 3 countries being able to control the whole game across the globe; using their teams, players and money to ensure the smaller countries do as they say.
The ICC should offer equal power to all nations, and also equal financial support (this could of course be based on what formats they are playing in and what domestic structures they have) so that each country has a fair chance to develop and challenge the bigger nations.
The bigger and more successful the game is in every nation across the world, then the better that is for the game. This is what the ICC should be thinking about, not considering what guarantees the best results for the BCCI (and also CA and ECB to an extent.)
2.) Fair and equal TV deals; including global coverage for all series and free to air coverage in all countries.
One of the biggest issues in cricket is that host nations are in charge of TV deals and take home the money from them. This leads to arranging tours being increasingly difficult for the smaller nations, and often means they get much shorter tours and make much less money from them.
TV deals for all series should be split between the two sides, and should also be ratified by an independent party (the ICC should it become less of a private members club.) As part of the deals, it should also be ‘suggested’ or even enforced that all countries ensure that some cricket each year is available on free-to-air TV so as to boost the image of the game.
The ICC should also then launch an ‘ICC TV’ where all international cricket (and possibly some domestic cricket) is available to watch in all corners of the globe if not already available on TV in that country. This could either be a subscription service or funded by adverts and see the extra revenue split evenly amongst the member nations.
3.) Larger T20 World Cup and become a part of the Olympics.
The World Cup should be exactly that, a cup competed for by the world. Of course, all countries do have the opportunity to be at the World Cup and to win it; but it’s an exceptionally long journey where very few ‘minnows’ even make it to the main event.
This simply isn’t right for a global event and it should not be restricted to a handful of countries in the shortest format. Expand the World Cup to ensure that many more associate nations appear at the main event.
To aid this, cricket also needs to become part of the Olympics, so that both funding for the sport and the visibility of the sport are much increased across the world; even if the rules are set so that younger players are mainly used by the larger nations as is seen in football.
4.) An improved World Test Championship.
The World Test Championship is a great idea, but a mixture of the points system and Covid has led to it feeling like a little bit of a failure.
The solution needs to be all about making it simpler. Keep the points system simple and ensure every match is worth an equal amount if it is classified as a WTC match.Offer bonus points for winning away. Ensure every team plays each other for at least 3 tests in a 4 year cycle. Nothing crazy, just easy to follow and fair on all nations. Then test match cricket has a context and people will be come interested and follow the standings.
5.) Fairer scheduling.
Hopefully the 4 points above lead to this naturally happening. But all countries should be given a fair crack when it comes to scheduling; allowing them to play a reasonable amount of matches against all teams. It shouldn’t be just down to what the big three want, and it certainly shouldn’t see any countries’ domestic/franchise league taking preference over international cricket. The IPL is a fantastic competition but it should not be allowed to control the global game for two months or more; and any infringement it causes on other nations should lead to financial compensation.
6.) Provide resources to as many schools as possible across the globe.
A huge problem in the UK, and so we assume many other parts of the world, is that children struggle to access cricket; with school being the most important place where they should be able to access it. The ICC should set up a separate money pot to provide cricket resources for schools and teachers in every country. How each country then uses this money may differ, but a set amount should be given to them to help provide the sport as part of their national curriculum at every school. Therefore, every child will have access to and experience cricket during their childhood, increasing the chances of them playing and watching for life.
We’re sure that some of these ideas may be controversial and many won’t agree; the BCCI and the many India/IPL fans are two groups who we doubt will take kindly to them. But we believe that these are six steps that cricket and the ICC could take to improve the global game and make it the biggest sport in the world.
Let us know your thoughts and if you think we have some great ideas, or if we’re just talking rubbish!
Don’t forget our second Down At Third Man podcast episode ‘Hales and Helmets’ is out now on all of your favourite platforms! It is also available on our homepage through the embedded player!
And our third podcast will be out on Thursday; featuring an interview with James Bracey, our India vs England Previw and some club cricket chat with Betley CC’s Andy Mountford!
Until Thursday, Go Well!
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Good stuff as usual from you. I understand that player welfare must come first, but I suspect that had the destination been England or India nothing would have induced Australia to cancel, and it is a development that adds weight to suspicions of an unofficial two tier system developing in test cricket.