Is it the end of cricket as we know it?
Cricket is changing. The start of the eagerly-anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL) heralds a new era for international cricket as the shorter version of the sport takes centre stage for the second time in just seven months. The IPL, effectively an Indian domestic 20-over-a-side tournament, is all about big hitting, big names and big bucks and it promises to pull in the punters on a scale the five-day Test Match format can only dream about. If the IPL, which begins on April 18, is the huge success story it’s expected to be, the cricketing landscape might struggle to find room for Twenty20, Test Match and 50-over cricket.
Last September, the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa showed just how popular the 20-over game has become. With international players going at it hammer-and-tong, spectators were treated to a feast of cricketing drama. The standard was high but we can expect the bar to be raised in the IPL, where the eight teams of mercenaries include everyone who’s anyone in international cricket (Englishmen aside). Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have come out of retirement to play, India’s golden boy Sachin Tendulkar captains one team, while his natural successor Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads another. Adam Gilchrist, Jacques Kallis, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Shaun Pollock and Muttiah Muralitharan are just a few of the other stars taking part. It’s a truly mouth-watering prospect but it could be the beginning of the end for cricket as we know it.
While cricket’s money men and the IPL players will be relishing the prospect of the most glamorous competition cricket has ever seen, the purists in the game, and there are plenty, are concerned about the tournament’s implications for a sport that takes huge pride in its tradition.
In many ways, the high-octane nature of Twenty20 cricket reflects the need for instant gratification that today’s time-pressured society demands. In that respect, cricket is moving with the times and the IPL is giving people what they want. Richard Holdsworth, International Cricket Council (ICC) regional development manager for Europe, does not believe the format will step on Test cricket’s toes. He says: “Twenty20 was designed with a new market in mind and this format is bringing in new people to the sport who otherwise would not have got involved. Test cricket remains for the purist and there will always be those around. I think for the moment Test cricket is here to stay, whether that changes in 10 years who knows, but I think it would be a great shame if it does.”
Greedy
Holdsworth continues: “Like all sports, science and innovation alter formats and sometimes laws, rules and playing conditions. That is all that is happening here - and hitting a new audience which happens to be the wealthiest in the cricket world. More investment into the sport has to be good, but cricket must be careful not to become too greedy, otherwise we risk losing the great traditions of the sport and the great international competition which exists. I don’t believe it will go that far.”
Holdsworth continues: “Like all sports, science and innovation alter formats and sometimes laws, rules and playing conditions. That is all that is happening here - and hitting a new audience which happens to be the wealthiest in the cricket world. More investment into the sport has to be good, but cricket must be careful not to become too greedy, otherwise we risk losing the great traditions of the sport and the great international competition which exists. I don’t believe it will go that far.”
Grass roots
Since its introduction five years ago, Twenty20 has taken cricket to the masses, but perhaps more importantly, it has made the sport a more attractive prospect to youngsters. The Cricket Foundation has found Twenty20 extremely helpful in its Chance to Shine grass roots campaign aimed at addressing the decline in competitive cricket in schools. Nick Gandon, director of the Cricket Foundation, says: “There’s no doubt that Twenty20 cricket has provided an opportunity for young people to become engaged in the game. Obviously our aim is to get young people permanently involved in cricket and that means the longer game, but Twenty20 is best as an introduction because it allows youngsters to be involved in a match more frequently.”
Since its introduction five years ago, Twenty20 has taken cricket to the masses, but perhaps more importantly, it has made the sport a more attractive prospect to youngsters. The Cricket Foundation has found Twenty20 extremely helpful in its Chance to Shine grass roots campaign aimed at addressing the decline in competitive cricket in schools. Nick Gandon, director of the Cricket Foundation, says: “There’s no doubt that Twenty20 cricket has provided an opportunity for young people to become engaged in the game. Obviously our aim is to get young people permanently involved in cricket and that means the longer game, but Twenty20 is best as an introduction because it allows youngsters to be involved in a match more frequently.”
Money
Then there is the impact that money could have on the sport. Money is the driving force behind the IPL and players will be earning small fortunes for just six weeks’ work. It’s very early on and we’re unlikely to see the IPL’s full impact for several years, but it isn’t unthinkable that money-orientated cricketers could ditch playing for their countries and play on the lucrative Twenty20 circuit instead. A recent poll revealed that almost half of Australia’s top cricketers would consider quitting the Test arena if they were refused permission to take part in the IPL. The warning signs are there and they must be heeded or cricket will be the loser.
Then there is the impact that money could have on the sport. Money is the driving force behind the IPL and players will be earning small fortunes for just six weeks’ work. It’s very early on and we’re unlikely to see the IPL’s full impact for several years, but it isn’t unthinkable that money-orientated cricketers could ditch playing for their countries and play on the lucrative Twenty20 circuit instead. A recent poll revealed that almost half of Australia’s top cricketers would consider quitting the Test arena if they were refused permission to take part in the IPL. The warning signs are there and they must be heeded or cricket will be the loser.
John Stephenson, Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) head of cricket, is confident such an undesirable eventuality will be avoided. He says: “I don’t expect to see top international cricketers commit to only Twenty20 cricket. Four and five day cricket is the lifeblood of the professional game and Test cricket will still be the yardstick by which all the greats of the game are judged. We (the MCC) believe the IPL can happily co-exist with the domestic and international game. Everyone at MCC has embraced Twenty20 – we’ve seen some fantastic matches played to massive crowds at Lord’s for a few years now.”
One negative impact of the IPL can already be seen in the strife that it’s caused in the England camp. Players are reportedly keen to be involved in the lucrative competition, but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is standing firm and refusing to allow contracted players to participate because of a scheduling conflict. There has been speculation that players could refuse to sign new contracts with England in September so they are free to play in the IPL next season, but IPL co-founder IS Bindra has called for the organisations to work together to solve the problem. He said: "We don’t want to be a rebel league. We will not have any player revolting against their establishment and becoming part of the IPL." English Test captain Michael Vaughan has said that anyone who thinks England players will not be part of the IPL in future is ‘naïve’. Vaughan added that players love Twenty20, the format is here to stay and that, due to the money being thrown at players in the IPL, England players are bound to get involved.
Hope
In its defence, the ECB offered England players a glimmer of hope by saying: “The England team director will continue to determine which players can be rested or released from their central contracts from time to time on the basis that the Future Tours Programme always takes precedence. The ECB will act in accordance with this policy but has never stated that centrally contracted players are banned from IPL. It should be noted that in 2008 and 2009 the Npower Test series clashes with the scheduled dates of the Indian Premier League but future schedules of the IPL from 2010 onwards are yet to be released.”
In its defence, the ECB offered England players a glimmer of hope by saying: “The England team director will continue to determine which players can be rested or released from their central contracts from time to time on the basis that the Future Tours Programme always takes precedence. The ECB will act in accordance with this policy but has never stated that centrally contracted players are banned from IPL. It should be noted that in 2008 and 2009 the Npower Test series clashes with the scheduled dates of the Indian Premier League but future schedules of the IPL from 2010 onwards are yet to be released.”
Also promising, from an England cricketer’s point of view, is the ECB’s ‘very positive and constructive’ meeting with Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford, the man bankrolling a successful Twenty20 competition in the West Indies, about the possibility of England staging its own version of the IPL. So potential solutions are within sight, but the next three years in English cricket will be very interesting ones.
It’s entirely possible that other Twenty20 leagues, on top of the IPL, will spring up around the world, including an English Premier League, and if that does happen it’s hard to see how all existing formats of the game can fit into the sporting calendar. Twenty20 is the format with all the momentum and if any version of the game has to make way, it definitely won’t be the shortest.
By Tom Reed - MSN UK News Editor
