Running down the wrong lane

Sports

“All that glitters is not gold” – I just want to meet this person who first thought of this little adage as it says a whole lot about today’s game of cricket and the anxieties and the heartburn that a lot of people are going through thinking about its very future.

In this narration we may discuss things that we have discussed just a while ago and if we do not go through the motions we may not have the best impact that this little chat could have.

It all began when I was skimming through the internet walloping all that I could about cricket and allied matters when the Sky Sports Cricket Website Cricket365 screamed --
T20 popularity - is it for real?

It had this to say: CSA to investigate poor attendance figures. Cricket South Africa has appointed IFM Sports Marketing Surveys South Africa to look at possible reasons behind poor attendances at the opening International matches against England.

Bidvest Wanderers Stadium attracted 16,600 spectators for the first Standard Bank International Pro20 match, while 7,934 spectators attended Super Sport Park in Centurion where South Africa won the second Pro20 in record-breaking fashion to draw the series 1-1 all with England.

Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola said: "We like hearing from the fans. The last fan survey we ran provided some interesting insights. Some of which we have already followed up on.

"People asked for more information so we launched our Facebook and Twitter platforms which have been extremely popular and has dramatically improved our interactions with fans.

"The Proteas deserve to play in front of capacity crowds and we will do our utmost to rally the nation to show 100% South African support to Graeme Smith and his charges."

Marc Jury, managing director of IFM, said: "Through our research across different sporting codes we have always encountered the response that the 'energy and atmosphere' of live sporting events is a critical element in drawing supporters to the ground. "Something that is evident is the live experience has not kept pace with the ease and comfort of the 'TV product and thus people often choose to watch from their living rooms instead of Row F.

"Too often rights holders make decisions based on gut-feelings and not by listening to what their fans want.

"CSA are taking a proactive approach to ensure the likes of Smith, Pietersen, Strauss and co. will be playing in front of full stadiums for the rest of the summer."

Well….well….well what can we say about this? Are the people in South Africa distancing themselves from Proteas Sports? I personally do not think so. They are just proud of it and their achievements!
Then why one may ask? There are many answers. One is that is whether there has been an overdose of T20 cricket to the South African people? The inaugural T20 World Cup. The Second IPL and ICC Champions Trophy – (It was not T20 cricket, but, it was also a shortened version of the game) came tumbling one over the other.

The next is as statistics have proved the IPL which was made in India and then played as an Indian tournament (which was opened for a limited number of overseas players) raked in an attendance of 93 per cent and 73 per cent of them were watching cricket or the first time may not have provided the fare and the hype that was protruded by the people who marketed the tournament.

The next is, though played with the same equipment and the same people that involve general cricket, the T20 version has hardly anything to do with the real thing and for that matter even the now accepted norm of one-day international cricket. Though initially it came out as a batsmen’s game, now the bowlers have got wise to it and now the expected fireworks of sixes and fours are missing from the game. So the gladiator aspect of the game may be diminishing.

The idea of a shortened format of the game at a professional level was mooted by the England and Wales Cricket Board in the latter part of the last millennium.

When the much popular Benson & Hedges Cup Limited overs tournament finished in 2002, the ECB were on the lookout for another one day competition to take its place.

The ECB cricket hierarchy was looking to boost the game's popularity especially with the younger generation in response to dwindling crowds and reduced sponsorship.

It was intended to deliver fast paced, exciting cricket accessible to thousands of fans who were supposedly put off by the longer versions of the game.

Stuart Robertson, the then marketing manager of the ECB, proposed a 20 over per innings game to county chairmen in 2001 and they voted 11-7 in favour of adopting the new format and thus the T20 format of cricket was born.

At present T20 is popular mostly because it is very popular in India. But, ironically though India won the inaugural T20 tournament played in South Africa, they have not been able to sustain the same skills in the game in this format of the game.

Even at the Indian Premier League T20 Tournament which was born as a direct off-shoot of their T20 World Cup win it has been the foreigners who have dominated beginning with retired Australian legend Shane Warne leading the Rajastan Royals to win the inaugural tournament. Even in the second season that took place in South Africa it was another retired Australian cricketer – Adam Gilchrest who led Deccan Charges who had the services of players of the caliber of Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Symonds, Fidel Edwards and Scot Styris to name a few.

The best cricketers on earth were lured into the T20 cricket as a result of IPL throwing in big money. So much so, some of cricket’s biggies even forgot their national duties when it came to IPL cricket and the ‘gold’ that was thrown on with it and have severed their connections with their home boards. But, the Indians being such ardent nationalists may not sing along with the T20 for long if the Indians are not going to dominate it. The day that happens the ICC may have to prop the six-a-side cricket as their main resource earner because it has even bigger hits than the T20.

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