Cricket: ODIs Are Proper Cricket Edition

[Jeor]

They need more Test revenue for two reasons:

1. So that they can keep Test series alive and financially viable

2. So that they can pay Test players good enough salaries that they still want to play Tests instead of taking mercenary T20 contracts.

I don't envy the people who are trying to solve that problem. The idea of a slow-moving five day game, with potentially 40 hours of television per match during the daytime hours is a much harder sell than a 3-hour T20 primetime match of whizzbang action. The main match revenue streams would be ticket revenue and broadcast rights, and both of those are much firmer with T20s than they are Tests.

[Paxter]

I guess sponsorship is another avenue: Magellan paid $20m for sponsorship of the test team (not ODIs or T20s).

But perhaps the other test sides don’t get quite as much joy with those sorts of deals.

[The Anti-Targ]

3 hours ago, Jeor said:

Well, one might argue that population hasn't really been a factor in All Blacks dominance of rugby, but it would be greedy to think that NZ could buck the trend in two different sports...!

I really wonder how many Test series make a profit. Even watching the South Africa vs Australia series, there weren't massive attendance figures. It seems clear that the reason we don't have long Test series anymore is because they don't make money. If they did, we'd see more of them. I guess they're trying with pink ball Tests to have more spectator friendly hours, perhaps they get more TV revenue if it's in primetime etc. But somewhere in the ICC and on national boards they've got to have someone thinking about how to get more revenue from the Test matches.

Yes, but I think it's probably the case that NZ has the highest player base as a proportion of population in rugby compared to any country, other than some of the Pacific islands; which unfortunately for those Pacific Island countries but fortunately for us act as feeder countries to the All Blacks, which artificially bump up our player pool. And we have a very high proportion of Pacific Island residents and citizens. And the archetypal Pacific Island physique virtually purpose evolved for rugby (which applies to a certain extent to Maori as well). If one was looking for proof of God, Pacific Islanders being basically purpose built for rugby would be damned close to the proof you're looking for. At least New Zealand rugby fans thank God that we pretty much have first dibs on rugby talent coming out of the Pacific Islands. Which of course is why rugby is more or less our state religion. That perfect storm does not exist for cricket.

[The Anti-Targ]

The thing is, revenue from T20 and ODIs should be cross-subsidising test cricket. I think it's crazy to think that test cricket needs to be sustainable on its own. But it is and will always be the greatest form of cricket. Therefore, it must be sustained through the revenue generated from the other forms of the game.

[Paxter]

9 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

The thing is, revenue from T20 and ODIs should be cross-subsidising test cricket. I think it's crazy to think that test cricket needs to be sustainable on its own. But it is and will always be the greatest form of cricket. Therefore, it must be sustained through the revenue generated from the other forms of the game.

Ideally though we’d want test cricket to stand alone. The cross-subsidisation model works only to the extent that administrators are putting the test game first. If and when that changes...we are in trouble.

[Paxter]

Oh just on Pakistan: Sarfraz has come out pretty strongly in the aftermath of the West Indies T20 matches in Karachi. We may see a return of international cricket in Pakistan before too long if he and others can start building a consensus that it is safe to tour there. Nearly ten years have passed since the Sri Lanka bus shooting.

[The Anti-Targ]

6 hours ago, Paxter said:

Ideally though we’d want test cricket to stand alone. The cross-subsidisation model works only to the extent that administrators are putting the test game first. If and when that changes...we are in trouble.

Ideally, yes. But every time a shorter version of the game has gotten an international programme the independent financial viability of 5 day tests has taken a hit. And I don't see where a reversal of (mis)fortune is going to come from.

If administrators are not putting the test game first (or at least equal) in importance, then they all need to be tarred, feathered and excommunicated.

[Paxter]

The winds of change continue to blow with Channel 9 losing the cricket for the first time in my lifetime. Hopefully 7 and Foxtel use this as a rare opportunity to shake up the current insipid and homogeneous commentary team of former Australian test captains.

[lmanion]

12 months ago Tim Paine was reportedly about to retire and was not even the number 1 for Tasmania. He is now the Australian cricket captain and reportedly going to be on a contract over 1 million a year plus match payments. Thats quite a turn around in fortunes.

[ljkeane]

So County Cricket's started and we can find out who England's next generation of batsmen are to draft in to save English cricket.

Some guy called James Vince just got 75 off 74 balls for Hampshire, get him in the team! Oh, wait.

[Paxter]

Haha yeah Vince is a bit of an enigma. I assume he will play in the first test of the English summer after scoring in the last NZ match.

[williamjm]

16 hours ago, Paxter said:

The winds of change continue to blow with Channel 9 losing the cricket for the first time in my lifetime. Hopefully 7 and Foxtel use this as a rare opportunity to shake up the current insipid and homogeneous commentary team of former Australian test captains.

Does Australia still have cricket on Free to Air TV?

1 hour ago, Paxter said:

Haha yeah Vince is a bit of an enigma. I assume he will play in the first test of the English summer after scoring in the last NZ match.

It wouldn't surprise me if that was true, although I think it would be a mistake. I'm not convinced he's ever going to be a consistent performer at Test level, although maybe he might have a future in limited overs cricket where playing nicely for a couple of hours then getting out isn't such a bad thing.

[Paxter]

7 hours ago, williamjm said:

Does Australia still have cricket on Free to Air TV?

It wouldn't surprise me if that was true, although I think it would be a mistake. I'm not convinced he's ever going to be a consistent performer at Test level, although maybe he might have a future in limited overs cricket where playing nicely for a couple of hours then getting out isn't such a bad thing.

Yeah, next summer will be the first time that international cricket played in Australia goes behind a paywall.

On Vince, I guess the odd elegant 50 is probably better than consistent single figure scores (thinking back to the performances of Lyth and Jennings).

[Hereward]

At least Lyth and Jennings have Test centuries!

[ljkeane]

Jennings hasn't been dismissed yet this year! (6 balls and counting).

In the interests of identifying a player I'm going to be adamant is incorrectly not being selected this year on the basis of having watched them play once I thought I'd watch a bit of County Championship cricket this morning. Sky only have IPL games on tv.

[Hereward]

Don’t let that stop you, it doesn’t stop Bayliss. I have chosen to rail against the exclusion of Dan Lawrence.

[Yukle]

On 4/13/2018 at 11:56 AM, Paxter said:

The winds of change continue to blow with Channel 9 losing the cricket for the first time in my lifetime. Hopefully 7 and Foxtel use this as a rare opportunity to shake up the current insipid and homogeneous commentary team of former Australian test captains.

Do you reckon that the new commentators will have a series of new books coming out, filled with all sorts of anecdotes and funny stories from tour? Or that there'll be rare, limited series (only 300, don't miss out!) signed photos of players reaching milestones?

[Jeor]

Re: the Australian media changes, as I understand it there will still be free-to-air TV coverage of the home Test matches, most Big Bash games and women's international games (a nice change). The matches going behind a paywall (Foxtel) are the ODIs, T20s and the rest of the Big Bash games. (As a Foxtel subscriber it makes no difference to me)

In other words, not a whole lot of change for the average Australian without cable, except that they'll lose the ODIs and T20s. Lots of speculation on what the commentary teams will look like but as Paxter said, this is a good opportunity to get some more diversity into the commentary box with some women and hopefully a few international voices for variety as well.

Word on the street is that Steve Smith might play some county cricket for Surrey if he's allowed (former Australian player di Venuto being the coach). Probably not a bad idea if CA want to get him some matches without having to actually back down from their ban. He's lost the IPL contract and his CA salary so I suppose you have to let him earn a living somehow. Harder on Bancroft, who is a lesser light and probably won't have those options. Hard to know what would happen to Warner, he's talented enough that someone might pick him up...but a dark side of me still wants him to be destitute and poverty-stricken by the time the ban is up.

[ljkeane]

22 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Word on the street is that Steve Smith might play some county cricket for Surrey if he's allowed (former Australian player di Venuto being the coach). Probably not a bad idea if CA want to get him some matches without having to actually back down from their ban. He's lost the IPL contract and his CA salary so I suppose you have to let him earn a living somehow. Harder on Bancroft, who is a lesser light and probably won't have those options.

Bancroft did have a deal to come to Somerset over the summer before all the ball tampering stuff but it's already been cancelled. He's been replaced with Renshaw.

[Jeor]

57 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Bancroft did have a deal to come to Somerset over the summer before all the ball tampering stuff but it's already been cancelled. He's been replaced with Renshaw.

Poetic justice, I guess.

How much do county cricket players make, anyway? I guess it varies widely and international stars would make lots, but it still wouldn't compare with the IPL money.