Incidentally, I was at the SCG the day Lara made that 277. It was a slow day at work, and two colleagues strolled into my office and said they were going to go to the Test. But when it came time to leave, they said something had come up, and they had to stay in the office. Thinking nothing of it, I went out and watched Lara bash Australia around. When I got home (no mobiles in those days), the phone rang, and someone asked me if it was true that my firm had retrenched 32 lawyers that day. I went back to the office and it was true - 20% of the staff had been sacked, including the two who were about to head off to the cricket. So I remember the day well, but not necessarily for Lara.
But that's not important right now...
Selling off the BBL is important. CA is a not-for-profit organisation charged with the maintenance and development of the game. How selling off part of the game for cash fits in with that mission is beyond me. "The money will go back into the game". No, it won't. A bunch of executives will get bonuses, a handful of players will get big windfalls and the rest will evaporate pretty rapidly. And the people who buy in will want, justifiably enough, more say in what happens. CA's job is to run cricket: if it outsources that, why is it there?
I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt about the Sydney Test as they may want to give the players enough time before the Indian tour. If it’s just to accommodate BBL…
What concerns me about the sale is that it seems all we hear are people arguing over how much of the pie they’ll get, not what the pie looks like!
Who will control the summer schedule? Will Pakistani and Bangladesh players be allowed?Etc etc
Given the distinct lack of information about this sale, it’s no surprise we know so little.
Greenberg’s appearance on the Grade Cricketer was a disgrace. Laugh laugh we need to give the cricket public information, that’s why I’m here. Oh but I didn’t prepare for this interview ha ha ha.
Cricket, and indeed sport, is nothing without the fans. I am not sure why this is so hard to understand and cater for. Without fans nothing there are no revenues. There are so many other things we could be spending out money and attention on. Cricket is doing a terrible job in catering for its fans
- Meaningless bi-laterals
- T20 leagues that just meld one into another with no player loyalty / identification
- Putting much of it behind paywalls
I could go on (and do) in my articles.
Start from the mindset of the fan, only after it passes that test that it is good should it be progressed.
After six decades of engagement with cricket as a player, coach, administrator and umpire I have been sickened by the last several administrators of national cricket in Australia. Starting with, ah no I won't name him but he presided over the farce of Monkeygate when he should have stood up for something but in fact stood up for nothing good for cricket and allowed the Indians to get away with somethingthey shouldn'thave got away with. And it's been downhill for cricket in Australia since then! It's time for the masses to take back control of the game.
I could easily live without seeing Lara’s innings against Australia, but I walked out early on that famous/infamous day in 2003 at the SCG when Steve Waugh hit the four off the last ball to get a century. England were taking far too many wickets for my liking, and I thought no point hanging around here. My three friends toughed it out, for a bit longer, but they too left before the final ball. I did see it live on the TV when I got home, I think it went to nearly 7 O’clock. At least it was a pleasant walk back to Central station and the trains were almost empty.
Re: Scheduling. I think it’s fairly obvious that it doesn’t matter what the schedule, people will still grumble about it. Cricket is really in a horrid situation with multiple formats, international franchise cricket seemingly everywhere and on the increase, men’s and women’s cricket, fixture clashes, countries that won’t tour or play here or there, et al. I don’t see any drama with shifting the Sydney or Melbourne tests from their now-traditional slots, as long as they give people enough notice. Tradition in sport, if not yet quite dead, is all but so.
All fine sounding arguments by Mr Jones, but if the business of cricket can indeed be reduced to being a television show with a live audience then the obvious question not answered (or assumed) is who are the audience? He only mentions working people, but what about families? Kids? Rusted on cricket fans? All of the above? Surely an understanding of who in fact are the current audience and target audience should at least in part inform the discussion of scheduling. And one could assume the demographic of the television audience may not necessarily align with the audience at the match.
Travelling from Melbourne to Sydney over many years, regularly, for the Sydney Test Match that started on January 2 was a season highlight.
Being a player and coach, it was a welcoming gap in the calendar, being able to embrace the pure long form of the game without interference or interruption.
It allowed old and new life connections to deepen over days play at the ground and after.
It created memories and moments to be seen and treasured.
Brett Lee debut.
VVS Laxman erupting.
Colin Miller blue hair.
Steve Waugh last ball heroics.
Rahul Dravid stoic.
Sachin Tendulkar restrained.
A small sample here yet would be confident many of us at Cricket Et Al could remember these with little prompting apart from closing our eyes and taking a nano second to think and reflect.
Keep the fire of logic burning Andrew J, while “professional” cricket administrators keep digging themselves into being champions of unchallenged mediocrity.
Without creative, thoughtful administration we’ll all have to settle for watching travelling versions of the IPL. Or will Aus just be like a feeder or reserve grade comp?
Go UNSW CC! Still wear the yellow caps with black spider webs?
Sensible as always, AJ.
Incidentally, I was at the SCG the day Lara made that 277. It was a slow day at work, and two colleagues strolled into my office and said they were going to go to the Test. But when it came time to leave, they said something had come up, and they had to stay in the office. Thinking nothing of it, I went out and watched Lara bash Australia around. When I got home (no mobiles in those days), the phone rang, and someone asked me if it was true that my firm had retrenched 32 lawyers that day. I went back to the office and it was true - 20% of the staff had been sacked, including the two who were about to head off to the cricket. So I remember the day well, but not necessarily for Lara.
But that's not important right now...
Selling off the BBL is important. CA is a not-for-profit organisation charged with the maintenance and development of the game. How selling off part of the game for cash fits in with that mission is beyond me. "The money will go back into the game". No, it won't. A bunch of executives will get bonuses, a handful of players will get big windfalls and the rest will evaporate pretty rapidly. And the people who buy in will want, justifiably enough, more say in what happens. CA's job is to run cricket: if it outsources that, why is it there?
I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt about the Sydney Test as they may want to give the players enough time before the Indian tour. If it’s just to accommodate BBL…
What concerns me about the sale is that it seems all we hear are people arguing over how much of the pie they’ll get, not what the pie looks like!
Who will control the summer schedule? Will Pakistani and Bangladesh players be allowed?Etc etc
Given the distinct lack of information about this sale, it’s no surprise we know so little.
Greenberg’s appearance on the Grade Cricketer was a disgrace. Laugh laugh we need to give the cricket public information, that’s why I’m here. Oh but I didn’t prepare for this interview ha ha ha.
What’s the next job he’ll stumble up into?
Cricket, and indeed sport, is nothing without the fans. I am not sure why this is so hard to understand and cater for. Without fans nothing there are no revenues. There are so many other things we could be spending out money and attention on. Cricket is doing a terrible job in catering for its fans
- Meaningless bi-laterals
- T20 leagues that just meld one into another with no player loyalty / identification
- Putting much of it behind paywalls
I could go on (and do) in my articles.
Start from the mindset of the fan, only after it passes that test that it is good should it be progressed.
After six decades of engagement with cricket as a player, coach, administrator and umpire I have been sickened by the last several administrators of national cricket in Australia. Starting with, ah no I won't name him but he presided over the farce of Monkeygate when he should have stood up for something but in fact stood up for nothing good for cricket and allowed the Indians to get away with somethingthey shouldn'thave got away with. And it's been downhill for cricket in Australia since then! It's time for the masses to take back control of the game.
I could easily live without seeing Lara’s innings against Australia, but I walked out early on that famous/infamous day in 2003 at the SCG when Steve Waugh hit the four off the last ball to get a century. England were taking far too many wickets for my liking, and I thought no point hanging around here. My three friends toughed it out, for a bit longer, but they too left before the final ball. I did see it live on the TV when I got home, I think it went to nearly 7 O’clock. At least it was a pleasant walk back to Central station and the trains were almost empty.
Re: Scheduling. I think it’s fairly obvious that it doesn’t matter what the schedule, people will still grumble about it. Cricket is really in a horrid situation with multiple formats, international franchise cricket seemingly everywhere and on the increase, men’s and women’s cricket, fixture clashes, countries that won’t tour or play here or there, et al. I don’t see any drama with shifting the Sydney or Melbourne tests from their now-traditional slots, as long as they give people enough notice. Tradition in sport, if not yet quite dead, is all but so.
Just another like it or lump it thing, alas.
All fine sounding arguments by Mr Jones, but if the business of cricket can indeed be reduced to being a television show with a live audience then the obvious question not answered (or assumed) is who are the audience? He only mentions working people, but what about families? Kids? Rusted on cricket fans? All of the above? Surely an understanding of who in fact are the current audience and target audience should at least in part inform the discussion of scheduling. And one could assume the demographic of the television audience may not necessarily align with the audience at the match.
Travelling from Melbourne to Sydney over many years, regularly, for the Sydney Test Match that started on January 2 was a season highlight.
Being a player and coach, it was a welcoming gap in the calendar, being able to embrace the pure long form of the game without interference or interruption.
It allowed old and new life connections to deepen over days play at the ground and after.
It created memories and moments to be seen and treasured.
Brett Lee debut.
VVS Laxman erupting.
Colin Miller blue hair.
Steve Waugh last ball heroics.
Rahul Dravid stoic.
Sachin Tendulkar restrained.
A small sample here yet would be confident many of us at Cricket Et Al could remember these with little prompting apart from closing our eyes and taking a nano second to think and reflect.
Keep the fire of logic burning Andrew J, while “professional” cricket administrators keep digging themselves into being champions of unchallenged mediocrity.
Without creative, thoughtful administration we’ll all have to settle for watching travelling versions of the IPL. Or will Aus just be like a feeder or reserve grade comp?
Go UNSW CC! Still wear the yellow caps with black spider webs?
Is this the same who was number 3 for NZ ?
Ah, no! This guy: also a former lower grades captain at Uni of NSW. https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2020/07/andrew-jones-ready-to-bring-the-fireworks-to-unsw-cricket-club