ozsportscardcollector
OzCardTrader
I haven't seen any threads on this subject so thought I'd make one and see what happens.
I still prefer the long version of the game despite the exciting 20/20 game last night and the woeful Test series against West Indies and South Africa this Summer.
I started getting into cricket in 1980 at ten years of age and was lucky enough to see the Windies at their best. I'm sure we will never see any team that good ever again - at least not from teams outside India, Australia, and England. This brings me to my point. I saw a program a few years ago that more or less spelt out what International Test Match cricket would look like in the future: India, Australia and England becoming much stronger than all other nations. And it's all to do with money. India generates 85% of all International cricket revenue thanks to the Indian Premier League and they, along with Australia and England which generate the rest, are going to keep the lion's share of that money and put into into their own grass roots cricket academies, etc. This leaves the rest of the Test Match nations as poor relations who get virtually zero funds( other than what they can generate themselves) to put into their own player development. In the interests of cricket world wide this is horrible imo. What we just saw this Summer will be the norm when sides other than India and England tour here.
I could say a lot more but in short I'm saddened by the reality that there will be a 'big three' in Test Match cricket and that West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and all other Test Match nations will almost certainly never ever have a dominant Test match team.
I still prefer the long version of the game despite the exciting 20/20 game last night and the woeful Test series against West Indies and South Africa this Summer.
I started getting into cricket in 1980 at ten years of age and was lucky enough to see the Windies at their best. I'm sure we will never see any team that good ever again - at least not from teams outside India, Australia, and England. This brings me to my point. I saw a program a few years ago that more or less spelt out what International Test Match cricket would look like in the future: India, Australia and England becoming much stronger than all other nations. And it's all to do with money. India generates 85% of all International cricket revenue thanks to the Indian Premier League and they, along with Australia and England which generate the rest, are going to keep the lion's share of that money and put into into their own grass roots cricket academies, etc. This leaves the rest of the Test Match nations as poor relations who get virtually zero funds( other than what they can generate themselves) to put into their own player development. In the interests of cricket world wide this is horrible imo. What we just saw this Summer will be the norm when sides other than India and England tour here.
I could say a lot more but in short I'm saddened by the reality that there will be a 'big three' in Test Match cricket and that West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and all other Test Match nations will almost certainly never ever have a dominant Test match team.