It will come as no surprise to regular readers of BtC that I am rather fond of my cricket. Moreover, like most fans in this country, I am particularly fond of my Test match cricket, particularly in light of England’s recent success, becoming the Number 1 side in the world. But questions need to be asked of the rest of the world’s cricketing fraternity – who else really cares? Does Test cricket really have a future outside of England and Australia and, if so, for how long? Will the behemoth and cashcow that is Twenty20 cricket soon overshadow its’ purer (much) older brother to the extent that men in whites will be a phenomenon confined to the village green rather than Eden Gardens and the SSC in Colombo?
Those of you who have started following the new Twitter feed (@BtCliche) will know that I intended to write a piece on how the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is killing cricket at some point at the end of last week. Recent developments have made the points I was originally looking to make all the more pertinent. The ICC had originally scheduled a World Test Championship to take place in England in 2013 as part of the latest Future Tours Programme (take a look, it will make your brain run out of your nose if you try and make sense of it), featuring the 4 top ranked teams in the rankings (currently England, South Africa, India and Australia). However, owing to contract agreements with broadcasters, they have been forced to admit that they will more than likely have to stage the obsolete 50-over Champions Trophy (essentially the Diet Cricket World Cup) in its’ place, because the loss of revenue would be unpalatable to many of the national boards in these times of austerity. Now, have a guess which board could afford this loss but also stands to make the most from advertising and viewer subscriptions? Yep, that’d be the BCCI
If anybody watched England’s whitewash of India over the summer, it is pretty clear to see where the BCCI’s priorities lie. With the massive global financial success of the IPL and the sense of fervour surrounding their 50-over World Cup win back in April, it makes a lot of logistical sense for the BCCI to focus on these shorter forms. As a result, there was such apathy and nonchalance from many of those who took to the field in the four match series a few months ago. We can probably absolve Rahul Dravid and Praveen Kumar from such accusations, but for all their sterling batting line-up, did anybody else really live up to their billing? The old guard are beginning to creak and there are few signs of anyone able to step up into their shoes and adapt their game to the longest form. Young guns such as Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli are household names due to their exploits in limited overs cricket. However, Kohli didn’t even make it to England so poor was his debut Test series in the West Indies and Raina was given such a horrible working over by the short ball and even by Graeme Swann. This from a man who excels at smacking spinners out of the park in the IPL. Yes, the bowling was also crap, but nothing’s really new there – Swann is a rare breed in that he can be effective in English conditions, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra’s efforts were pretty much par for the course for a visiting spinner, especially ones in a team whose focus is so clearly elsewhere.
As far as I’m concerned, if India want to recede in Test cricket, they can go ahead. So long as they fulfil their FTP (readers in Glasgow, that’s the Future Tours Programme again, not Protestant fundamentalism) obligations, then that’s great. However, the BCCI must stop using its clout to halt the progression of Test match cricket for everyone else. The Umpire Decision Review System has been around for a few years now in some form or another and has fulfilled its main purpose in raising the percentage of correct umpiring decisions made during a game. There are really only three main incidents that stick out – Daryl Harper being a tit as usual as 3rd umpire in a Windies v England match in 2009, Hotspot failing to detect a couple of nicks from Dravid and VVS Laxman this summer and Hawkeye providing one tracking error in several thousand attempts in a Philip Hughes LBW decision against Sri Lanka a few weeks ago. You can never be 100% accurate – but when the technology exists and has been proven to be effective in coming to the right decision, it should be persevered with. However, the BCCI has been continually suspicious of the technology. So much so that when the initial recommendations by the ICC were made for the rule changes that came into effect last week, only Hotspot was to be part of the mandatory DRS package for all bilateral series. A few incidents such as the Laxman vs Michael Vaughan Vaseline-gate saga (basically the Indian public made a mountain out of a molehill and Vaughan is no longer welcome in Mumbai) and their suspicion of Hotspot began to grow. Cue more pressure on the ICC and lo and behold, DRS is no longer mandatory at all – we are back to where we started.
The truth is that for cricket to expand and reach new markets, the ICC needs the support of the BCCI. Everyone in world cricket knows this. Especially the BCCI themselves. They will always pull in the fanatical crowds for the IPL, they will always find ways to bring more money from more sponsers into their coffers. So long as the rules allow a competitive Indian side in 50 and 20 over cricket, then they and the rest of the screaming Indian nation will be happy. If the ICC put their foot down and alienate the BCCI for the good of Test cricket, then they will lose a lot of their own revenue from a billion cricket fans, and the long-term future of the entire game looks bleak.
Talk about a rock and a hard place
RM
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