Seems Ashwin did not hit it.

Yep, Watson and Haddin to be dropped for the 4th test at the very least.

-PB

Joe Burns. :cool:

State of the game puts cricket first in Australian psyche
Geoff Lawson - 22 Dec 2014 05:59:03

Geoff Lawson is a former Australian Test cricketer and was coach of the Pakistan cricket team. Photo: Adrian Murrell / Allsport
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In October, the peak body for the running of cricket, Cricket Australia (CA), proudly announced that participation rates in the summer game had passed the 1 million mark and that cricket had become Australia’s favourite sport, once again.

The AFL administration will have you believe they have the most watched sport. And the NRL that they have the most watched television event (State of Origin) and the most television and device watchers across all levels.

The A-League soccer bosses are spruiking the coming domination of the world game within the boundaries of Terra Australis. An Australian soccer team, Western Sydney Wanderers, is now the champion of Asia and, coupled with the hosting of the Asian Cup, this event – and the champions title – will be seen as another vehicle to get every child chasing a round ball. (Soccer that is; if you call it “football” in Australia, significant confusion is created depending on the geography and the penchant. The sooner Football Federation Australia recognises this problem the better for soccer’s identity and marketing potential. Anything rather than perpetuating the arrogance that stems from FFA’s global counterpart, FIFA).

Competing sports throw numbers at us in an attempt to paint themselves as the favoured one to watch or be involved with. They want your attention and your dollar, as if the publication of the estimates makes any of the games “better”. Most of the number-crunching is for the benefit of the sponsors: potential and existing. The more supporters that appear on a database, the more valuable the product should be. (Note to sport administrators: you organise an activity that involves real people – your sport is not actually a product – find another noun or find marketing managers with a smidgen of empathy for the players and fans).

The home page banner of the CA website tells us that 1,105,709 men, women and children participated, somehow, somewhere, during the summer of 2013-14. That’s a fair slice of the population to be participating rather than just spectating. Women’s participation is up 183 per cent apparently, which is a good thing no matter how you look at it. (A pity the ABC has cut its TV coverage of Women’s National Basketball League and Westfield W-League. Will the Women’s National Cricket League be next to lose coverage?) Cricket Australia states its goal to be “the most watched, most played, most downloaded, most played game with [the] No. 1 share of viewers October-March”. The figures suggest that can be achieved.

Dream a fading myth

The dream of Australia’s climate-driven lifestyle is a fading myth which is being fought against by a number of sports, and cricket is in the vanguard. Australia has recently been ranked among the world’s most obese nations. Diabetes is endemic – a consequence of children’s sedentary lifestyles, just as the bubonic plague was a consequence of fleas. Both can be overcome with effort and diligence.

There are about 4000 organised cricket clubs in Australia. Those clubs are more than mere collections of 11s who walk out onto the green-and-brown swards every weekend from October to April. They are social networks and communities that have bound Australians together since the early days of the colony. It’s said the first cricket bat arrived with the First Fleet; matches were played as soon as ground was clear enough and spare time allotted. Inter-colonial matches were played with passion and purpose. Then, as now, New South Wales and Victoria had serious rivalries but the “national” team, which first played against England in 1882, was the showcase for colonial achievement, progress and eventual independence.

The Ashes are as passionately fought for in the 21st century as they were in the 19th.

The game had as much importance as a symbol for the welding of the colonies into a Federation – and that Federation’s separation from the nose-thumbing empire – as it had for the virtues of play itself. Cricket is a sport with an unparalleled engagement in the history of Australia. To have your fledgling nation represented by a sporting team rather than an army of independence or militia for defence was unique in the 19th century. The first Australian cricket team to tour overseas, back in 1868, was wholly indigenous. (It was coached by the legendary and complex Tom Wills, who later pioneered Australian rules football.)

New Xtreme sports (can they not spell?) are invented almost daily. But the one enduring team sport of Australia is cricket. Summer doesn’t start until there is cricket on the radio. Governments would fall if the national broadcaster cut costs by cutting cricket broadcasts.

Army of volunteers

The thousands of clubs vary in size from one team to many, from under-eights to veterans’ competitions – there’s even an over-70s interstate competition. It takes time and effort to keep those clubs going. They reckon there are almost 100,000 volunteers to organise competitions, build club houses, make afternoon teas, prepare pitches, do the unenviable umpiring and ferry participants to their venues (not forgetting parents who act as Saturday morning transport captains).
Cricket is an organic game: soil and grass, leather and willow – and that hasn’t changed since the 17th century. Some modifications, such as artificial grass laid on cement pitches which preserves leather balls and requires little maintenance, have evolved but the essence of the game is retained.

Local councils want lower cost and wider community care but as they build skate parks and basketball courts (it’s cheaper to lay a rectangle of concrete which has virtually zero maintenance), cricket nets are being dismantled and back yards shrunk.

As populations concentrate and city dwellers retreat indoors to focus on TV or peer at tablets and mobile phones, a nation once renowned for its outdoor lifestyle is spiralling into the American model. (Ironic: Australia’s climate and lifestyle were often referred to as tipping points that gave rise to disproportionate successes on the world athletic and sporting stage.) Child safety in the nanny state decries the physical risk of outdoor pursuits while paradoxically creating the systemic risks of poor diet and lounge room apathy.

The major sports all employ development officers to attract young people to their sports in the hope they’ll be rusted on as players or fans. Cricket Australia employs multicultural and diversity development officers, who visit schools primarily and do the jobs that PE teachers do (or did when I went to school). There once were specialist teachers who dealt with the physical health and welfare of the students through drills and games; now private companies have been forced to provide a service that governments should do as a central part of education. Is it any wonder the habits of obesity become ingrained in primary school?

On the downside, cricket has become an expensive sport. Cricket bats can cost near $1000 and sometimes last just a few deliveries. A high percentage of the cost of a bat goes to paying professionals large endorsement contracts. Some of these players earn millions of dollars. But players all came through junior competitions, and it would be nice if their contribution towards the base of the pyramid was more concrete.

The preparation of turf pitches takes time, expense and expertise. Liability insurance is taking its toll on the game. Local councils are spending more of their hard-earned rates on community gardens, cycle paths and recycling than they are on mowing fields and fixing up public dressing rooms.

Ashes to Ashes

Space in the cities is diminishing and public recreation areas are at a premium. (I’m a country boy who had plenty of space and local council or school nets in which to waste away a few hours until sunset.)

The playing strength of Australia’s various representative teams has been forever discussed, and it be will forever more. The Ashes will be won and lost, and cared about, for centuries to come. Beating England at anything, anytime, is nice . . . but winning at cricket is special.

The Big Bash League attracted a significant free-to-air television deal of $10 million over five years, signed in June 13, which has swelled the coffers, and the grandstands have followed suit. Now there is a domestic competition to supplement the usual international fare.

The average viewing numbers on free-to-air television for BBL 03 were a tick under 932,000 which justified Channel Ten’s breath-catching investment and also cemented 20 Twenty’s short form game in the hearts of young (and not so young) Australians. Limited-over cricket is paying the bills that Sheffield Shield cricket creates. The paradox here is that without four-day domestic matches providing the proving grounds for emerging Test cricketers, we wouldn’t have Test cricket. And Test cricket is massively popular and pays a significant dividend – both in financial and cultural terms. Test cricket is still voted as the most popular form of the game across all age groups.

Cricket gets a substantial grip on the television viewers in the summertime non-ratings period and Channel Nine has been paying broadcast rights since Kerry Packer called the Australian Cricket Board’s bluff in 1977. Nine re-signed in June 13 for five years at $450 million. Network Ten missed the chance to cover the national team but managed to drive up the price before settling for Big Bash League coverage.

The revenue at the apex feeds the roots at the base, and that is a sustainable model – as long as those near the canopy don’t get too greedy. Australia has just 24 million people to sustain not only cricket, but 46 professional male football franchises, not to mention women’s competitions, and that kid-magnet: baseball. No wonder many professional sports are struggling to keep the collective heads above water. How do you find sponsors and patrons to make them all work? The beauty of the diversity of Australian sports doubles as an albatross.

The 2013-14 CA annual report says that revenue was $292 million, of which 26 per cent went to players; the rest is invested in elite programs, grass roots participation, administration and commercial activity.

Cricket strives to engage all Australians through its Social Inclusion Week and the National Community Engagement Framework. All styles of cricketers are catered for: blind cricket, disability cricket, indoor cricket; the drive towards inclusion of all of Australia’s multicultural and multifunctional citizens is significant and it costs a lot. Cricket has taken on many forms in society which has demanded an evolution to reflect society’s evolution.

Ultimate expression

A higher indigenous participation is sought. The Tom Wills tour of 1868 was a brilliant beginning but the follow-up has been appalling. Indigenous cricketers are under-represented, especially compared with football codes, although the Imparja Cup is growing in stature and quality.

Perhaps the ultimate expression of the state of the game didn’t come through raw statistics, it didn’t come through participation rates or Big Bash attendances or television ratings or International Cricket Council rankings or merchandise sales.

The ultimate value of the game can’t be measured by market share. And those MBAs who believe “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” should take a good long look at themselves.

The value of cricket to the Australian nation was highlighted, underlined and deeply carved into Australian ethos by the response of all Australians to the tragic death of Phillip Hughes.

The profound emotion expressed by all levels of the Australian cricket family was surprising enough. But the amazing breadth of recognition that came from the wider community, from other sports and from other nations was a phenomenon. Cricket’s place in the Australian psyche runs strong and deep. That is the real “state of the game”.

Geoff Lawson is a former Australian Test cricketer and was coach of the Pakistan cricket team.

The Australian Financial Review

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India need to sack their fielding coach.

-PB

nZ 426/7 in 1 day. B McCullum scoring 195 with like 127462 boundaries. Watched a bit. Someone needed to tell him it wasn't a limited overs game.

nZ 426/7 in 1 day. B McCullum scoring 195 with like 127462 boundaries. Watched a bit. Someone needed to tell him it wasn't a limited overs game.