There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand

Sam Perry on commodifying the national syllabus; cricket

This week Lara Secondary College, situated in the broader Geelong region, announced it was incorporating cricket into its core school curriculum. According to the Geelong Independent, Lara SC students will “engage in a curriculum where cricket is not only a sport but a subject of study, combining practical skills with academic knowledge.” Applications are now open for the 2025 intake – where, among other things, prospective students are asked to detail their “cricket skill-set”. Cricket-loving school students rejoice. Long-graduated adults can only dream. “I’m strong off my pads and can provide a chop out with the ball if the quicks are tired. Seam up or spin, conditions pending. I field exclusively in the cordon.”

It's good to see Australia’s cricket syllabus on the agenda. Days earlier, Cricket Australia announced an “extended” Men’s hosting rights schedule, locking in dates and venues for the next seven years. Reaction, as per, centred on winners and losers. The Gabba missed out. Adelaide is locked. Melbourne and Sydney remain the incumbents, despite Sydney’s weather “ha ha”. And so on. Test cricket as events, auctioned to state governments. Boxing Day. The New Years Test. Spring Carnival. These announcements are as significant for the mini-seasons they colonise as it is the locations selected. We’re told Adelaide is now referred to as “The Christmas Test”. CA has chosen to employ quotation marks in this passage, one suspects to provide itself leeway from the fact it will not take place over Christmas itself, rather the feeling of Christmas.

However, the greater implications of this announcement may have been missed. By centring Tests for seven straight years, CA has bucked the key macro trend in global cricket: beefing one’s domestic T20 product for private investment. Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. But legacy outfits England, South Africa, and the West Indies have already seen it fit to allocate its peak cricket season to T20 cricket, while new (cricket) money UAE and the United States personify the clichéd thought-exercise: what would cricket look like if you built it from scratch? The answer: by India, for India.

Perhaps this is Cricket Australia’s version of quiet leadership. By doubling-down on Test matches when Australians watch cricket, it implies that Australia’s summer is not for foreign sale, at least in the short-term. It also means that Australia As A Test Nation™ remains intact; pleasing to the base, no doubt, but with demonstrable headwinds afoot.

One implication of this week’s “Seven More Years!” announcement, for example, is confirmation the Big Bash League will not see the meaningful participation of its home country’s best players during that time. This does not happen in any other serious cricket-playing country. “But what about the 10-14 day window in-between the India and Sri Lanka series’?” I hear (maybe two) people ask. If you believe that participation will extend beyond a handful of batters playing a handful of games, there are many bridges to sell you. Very few Aussies, if any, will play. Barring the creation of a new set of BBL dates altogether, Monday’s announcement risks further consigning the BBL to a status unaligned with Australia’s cricketing reputation.

The BBL matters for reasons beyond its appeal to younger generations. As privateers continue to plant their flag in every conceivable orifice of the schedule, the BBL stands as Australian cricket’s key asset through which to negotiate during this wild west land grab.

As it stands, IPL franchises are on the park for TV audiences every single month from January through to September (SA20 and ILT20 run through January and February, the IPL runs from March to May, the MLC is in June next year [soon expanding to ten teams], The Hundred in July and August, and the CPL in September). There have been various discussions about a Saudi Arabia x IPL 2.0, mooted for September/October, and we’re only just getting started. While some suggested the BBL’s recent cutting of 16 games was to optimise interest in the competition, it is also informed by expansion to the fledgling SA20 and ILT20 tournaments, both of which overlap with the BBL. Australia’s footy season runs into mid-October these days. The walls are closing in.

What’s the plan, here? To expect the imperial march of IPL franchises to simply lay-off the months November and December? Maybe they will. Telstra continues to find good returns from the landline network. There was always money in the Banana Stand. This morning Malcolm Conn reported that a $15 million fund will help the game’s best players stay in Test cricket. No doubt welcome news for the format – and given their reliance on it, unsurprisingly an Australian initiative. Whether it’s an amount that can lay a glove on India-driven TV rights and cement company money is probably the question. Or, practically, when Jake Fraser-McGurk is weighing up his year-round IPL contract with 3 Tests against the West Indies, what does he choose?

It will be interesting to see how that one is taught at Lara Secondary College, outer Geelong.