You think the cricket world cup couldn’t get any worse? Well, for England it really could. As things stand, we stand a proud fifth in our group of seven teams but if we lose to Afghanistan and Scotland defeat one of Sri Lanka and Australia, we could finish last. I do not know the first thing about Afghan cricket but I am guessing the people of Kabul have other things on their mind as this tournament goes on (and on). Doubtless England will win by 250 runs or by 10 wickets, but will be the hollowest of hollow victories. And what are the odds of the Scots defeating Sri Lanka or the Aussies? Remote and none in that order. People who know about these things tell me that the minnows of the tournament – and I suppose that includes England these days – would struggle in county cricket. Well, perhaps county cricket is the problem?
We’re crap at One Day cricket, that’s for sure. India has its Indian Premier League (IPL), Australia has its Big Bash. The crowds at both are huge and they appear to include those who are not your usual fans, like women and families. We have a few weeks of T20 cricket featuring the same old county teams, directly marketed at cricket fans and no one else.
Dominic Cork, someone I normally avoid like the plague, was on Sky TV early offering his ‘expert’ opinions and for once he said something with which I agreed. Let’s have a summer One Day T20 competition by way of franchises and instead of having the old fashioned county teams playing, why not have Bristol, Manchester, London, Birmingham, Southampton and all the rest of them playing? Surely it’s not beyond the wit of the money men to come up with something attractive that those who might not otherwise attend might enjoy? I cannot imagine this ever happening because those who run and support the claim cling to their long-held traditions and won’t allow it to happen but surely there could be another way of developing one day cricketers and more interest? And if anything can be sorted, make sure it’s on terrestrial TV, at least in part.
I am not sure whether England’s humiliation will matter to most people since the game is increasingly viewed and played by fewer people and I didn’t notice many people, in our cricket mad village, talking about the world cup. It’s an irrelevance to many people and I don’t see Sky attracting record viewing figures for a world cup without any home interest.
I don’t know enough about the players, coaches and selectors to pronounce on who should be sacked and I don’t really care either. Apart from Anderson, Broad and one or two others, I have little idea who most of our players are. What a contrast between the golden days when almost everyone knew who Ian Botham, David Gower and Bob Willis were.
Now the question is: should I get up at 3.00 am to see the England v Afghanistan game. Hmm. That’s a tough call.
