Despite the ICC’s claims, the reality is that cricket is losing popularity across the globe, a process accelerating over time. New national teams are inconsistent, boards are scrounging to stay financially afloat, and grassroots initiatives have produced underwhelming results. The standard of play has grown more disparate and viewers are often left to watch the same monotonous tours featuring an ever-dwindling round-robin of nations. Even the most historic tournaments have become less inclusive, shrinking the world’s biggest stage to just ten teams.

The irony is, cricket could be in a position right now to encapsulate the globe. The game is more profitable, the T20 format — a three-hour condensed version of the standard contest— has made the sport more digestible to viewers, and revamped domestic tournaments have increased the number of professional contracts. Sponsors are pouring money into leagues like the IPL, which is now valued at $6.9 billion dollars and new broadcasting deals for the ICC have struck unprecedented numbers.

Gday all
jaszyjim,
Can someone post a new topic for the current test v India as I don't know how to do it.
When CA went through it's upheaval I thought we had a chance - how wrong.
They seem to be doing every thing they can to kill the game.
Why do you move from a Covid free state to a Covid state & then face having to play 2 games there.
As usual Perth was left out, yet if they had stayed in Melbourne then Perth Stadium could have been an option.
So they are limited to a crowd of only 25k, Melbourne or Perth even at 50% would be double that
and both places have fine weather. 
I just shake my head & have lost interest in the current test, which is something I never thought would happen.
Regards all & a happy new year

I will never get why Aus likes RL or AFl... with no global competition... and is that why Aus likes cricket also?

Anyway - cricket is a sub continental and Aus sport. Noone else cares enough about it. You can't even watch NZ games on pay tv now - it has to be streamed. Dead. Literally dying here.

Nah - Australia historically and oft continues to be the best team. But cricket is only the national sport in Aus and sub contintental countries who suck at every other sport.

SA and Eng has football. Now they like rugby too. WI has athetletics and football. NZ has rugby. Indians and Aussies like cricket. Noone else does. Want proof? It pay tv to watch a test everywhere bar sub continental countries and England. Forthe rest of us its a hobby of the middle classes.

The structure of CA needs to change. It should be democratised as a cooperative of interested parties, rather than run by a board of directors dictators and their bean counters. Having as--oles enter the dressing room exclaiming "we don't pay you to lose" says it all, re the mindset of these people and the culture it generates.

The fact is, they don't pay anyone and in reality are privileged to administer the game on behalf of cricket fans and players (and who they should be far more accountable to). A meritocracy of (mostly) people who work their way up in administration would be better (especially from organisations representing the interests of players and fans themselves), rather than those who feel qualified by having previously had a snout in some corporate trough. The structure should be changed to have them far more accountable.

Apart from that though (lol), cricket in Australia has had its ups and downs. I can remember a time when Australia beating any reasonable team would have been considered an upset, because we were rubbish. While there are times we have been good also, the recent Waugh/Ponting era of dominance was an anomaly.

intl players are contracted by ACB so you can control whether they goto IPL, CPL, PSL or CPL - let alone natwest blast ahead of playing for their country.

If you dont give those itnl contracts, and pay only per match... youll face whatevery country outside the big 3 faces.... ppl choosing t20 leagues over intls... there's a reason why Gayle, ABDV, Steyn, Bravo, DreRuss, Pollard, BMAC, Flemming, Narine etc retired young and early from intl cricket. And its not the million plus dollar retainers the BCCI, ECB and CA pay...

Gday MS - jj
Some time ago I posted a lengthy note on how cricket should be restructured.
Not that I think it will ever be done.
The guts of it was that it should take after the rugby codes.
That is there are no Australian contracted players by the ACB.
Players are retained by their clubs & paid by same, with recompense from the ACB.
For any international match, players are selected from their clubs, into an international 
squad under the international coach.
This avoids the ludicrous situation that happens where a contracted player is paid but
plays very few games such as Agar.
The overall idea was to bolster state teams, put Shield games back on the map
& have a flow on effect all the way down to junior cricket.
It also acknowledged the part that the shorter forms of the game, love them or hate them
are now an integral part of attracting players to the game.
I'll leave at that for now, but you are correct in raising the issue
jaszyjim

Once that was a time when beating australia consider as up-set to any team . i don't know what happened to aus cricket. but something wrong with our cricketing structure