Duty and Money

Playing cricket , like many other occupations , is a job for its people . Of course , there is the part of doing what you enjoy , but it is also the work that brings food to the table . Various players have been motivated to take up a bat or ball for their love of the sport or the dream to represent their country . To prove that they are the best the world has to offer .

But what if the money making part takes precedence over the pride ? As strange as that may sound to some of you , that is precisely the pattern that is emerging in the past few years . As more and more countries have started announcing their own domestic leagues ( as recent as last week for South Africa and UAE ) , players find it a better option financially to forgoe the guarantee of a central contract ( or a contract for playing in international games ) and instead just cycle through the domestic leagues . A prominent player to do this is Trent Boult , New Zealand’s ace pace bowler . He is skilled enough to be chosen for every league , and yet if he throws his cap in the international ring he will be picked for the country .

This is the core problem many cricketing boards of countries are facing . They do not have the talented teams or the budgets to maintain a cricketing nation to the caliber of India or England , and the few talented players they manage to find are now playing yearly across the private leagues all around the world . National pride means very little if the citizens they play for care very little . The chairman of the South African Cricket Board put the matter directly into words , “ Unless we play India , the revenue from the games is not significant “ . If South Africa has these problems , smaller non-Test nations are worse off .

Unlike other sports , cricket cannot maintain a domestic first , international second method , because of the existence of ODIs and Tests . The former is played over a day , and the latter takes 5 whole days . A tournament format over the year is simply unfeasible , and the cricketing world is hesitant to move on .

In my opinion , in order for cricket to thrive , Tests and ODIs have to take a backseat . While it may sound sacrilegious , cricket is a dying sport outside of a select few countries. A push towards T20 leagues and mainly concentrating on them over a year-long format will reinvigorate interest in the game and also start a domestic talent pool to rise .

Whatever happens , going forward , I hope cricket continues on to live . It is my favourite sport and watching it slowly being sidelined is a very sad occasion for sports . Have a good week going ahead .