Cricket | A bit of a sticky wicket

[noddy]

that poor dude , i sure hope he is the kind of person to laugh at himself, cause the entire world is certainly laughing/


for the 1000th time some idiots are trying to break into the american market with cricket, and like all the previous attempts i expect it to be a money sink that fades away after a year or two.

https://www.majorleaguecricket.com/

this one has a slightly larger chance of success in that previously they tried to grow it from the barely existant grass roots game - while now they are using has beens and never was's from the professionals in India , England and Australia, so the standard should be slightly higher than the 2 tweets above.

they are also not bothering with appealing to americans this time, but focusing on the indian, pakistan, west indian, african diaspora to provide a small builtin market - the 5 teams have been picked in cities with lots of expats from cricket playing nations.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

It sounds like a smart, long-term type of move on their part.

I don't know a whole lot about soccer but I am under the impression American soccer's MLS started with a similar strategy and claims to be growing.

Now as far as I'm aware, the MLS is still very much a minor league comparatively, filled with has beens, but it is going strong for 30 years now.

[noddy]

maybe so - I kinda doubt it will survive once the novelty wears off because the amounts of money required to ship even the has beens across for 3 months and make it worth it for them requires big crowds , or big pay tv audiences.

will be interesting anyway - ive just learnt their will be 2 actual proper pro internationals per team, so they might make it interesting, like foxes in the chicken shed.

Congratulations to both finalist teams, the USA and Japan, for a game well played.

One, I think, that will be discussed by baseball fans for years to come.

I think the WBC series is a good idea.

Agreed on all those points.

answered here because its not really baseball.

I find this interesting because its opposite of whats happening in cricket - the game has always been an international competition of national teams but over the decades the gloss has really gone off that, as only the rich and/or cricket mad countries maintain competitiveness.

we have dropped from 10 teams being able to win, down to 5 or 6 now, and its not looking like improving any time soon.

what has happened instead, is the massive rise of baseball type national leagues, with the best players mercenary hiring themselves around the world, jumping from the indian league to the australian league, to the english league etc.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

maybe so - I kinda doubt it will survive once the novelty wears off because the amounts of money required to ship even the has beens across for 3 months and make it worth it for them requires big crowds , or big pay tv audiences.

will be interesting anyway - ive just learnt their will be 2 actual proper pro internationals per team, so they might make it interesting, like foxes in the chicken shed.

Congratulations to both finalist teams, the USA and Japan, for a game well played.

One, I think, that will be discussed by baseball fans for years to come.

I think the WBC series is a good idea.

Agreed on all those points.

answered here because its not really baseball.

I find this interesting because its opposite of whats happening in cricket - the game has always been an international competition of national teams but over the decades the gloss has really gone off that, as only the rich and/or cricket mad countries maintain competitiveness.

we have dropped from 10 teams being able to win, down to 5 or 6 now, and its not looking like improving any time soon.

what has happened instead, is the massive rise of baseball type national leagues, with the best players mercenary hiring themselves around the world, jumping from the indian league to the australian league, to the english league etc.

I'd hesitate to say what is happening in baseball is internationalizing the sport. MLB's interest is to filter all worldwide baseball making decisions through them. The end game has always been to eventually absorb the Japanese and Korean leagues in some manner and to hold down any competition from one of the winter leagues/tournament played in Central or South America or a possible other international body like FIFA, to dictate to MLB. This is before we get into the difference between the MLB owners and the MLB itself, both in a constant struggle over who actually runs the game. Suddenly the commissioner (and the players labor leader was at the award ceremony for Japan) has an independent revenue stream and stewardship over something the MLB owners individually don't control as a product.

[noddy]

cricket is fast turning into that - the IPL (indian premier league) is pretty much taking control of the entire professional industry.

they bought the south african league, the caribbean league, the arab league and are magority owners in this new american league.

already the international game - which was the premier pro game, is resheduling tournaments around the IPL demands, many countries best players are leaving their national game to play exclusively in the IPL games.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Interesting to hear.

Has there has been some sort of resistance to it?

[noddy]

lots of whining, which im sometimes part of - however its all pissing in the wind and irrelevant unfortunately.

unlike baseball, its not just a rich powerful league vs national clubs, it has the secondary element of being the 20 over game versus 50 over/5 day games.

the international game is 5 day games , with the 50 over game being the short version and doesnt play the 20 over game very much, beyond exhibition matches.

the private league games are 20 over only, the other 2 formats dont exist.

so the sad background story is the death of the only format I watch religiously, the 5 day game :/

it is an absurdity in the modern world, nobody has time and money to spend on 5 days for a single game and many countries cant put together a team with enough quality to justify watching it.

[Miss_Faucie_Fishtits]

[noddy]

like guitars and cars, middle aged men with 2k + worth of professional cricket bat that they can barely swing is a time honoured thing

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

lots of whining, which im sometimes part of - however its all pissing in the wind and irrelevant unfortunately.

unlike baseball, its not just a rich powerful league vs national clubs, it has the secondary element of being the 20 over game versus 50 over/5 day games.

the international game is 5 day games , with the 50 over game being the short version and doesnt play the 20 over game very much, beyond exhibition matches.

the private league games are 20 over only, the other 2 formats dont exist.

so the sad background story is the death of the only format I watch religiously, the 5 day game :/

it is an absurdity in the modern world, nobody has time and money to spend on 5 days for a single game and many countries cant put together a team with enough quality to justify watching it.

I'm surprised test matches aren't promoted among the college age set. Sorta like how proper basketball and american football is really a college age thing and the professional games are something different.

[noddy]

the last 2 places with healthy test crowds are Aus and Eng - and we have the longest and strongest history of playing each other in test matches.

cricket is run from the sub continent now, and test cricket never really caught on as strong over there - they much prefer the shorter format.

nominally 10 countries have leagues considered strong enough to be "test quality" but in reality its half that, and of those, the game isnt financially viable and only exists because of tradition, being subsidised by the short games.

the college age set in the west isnt the problem unfortunately.

[Typhoon]

Apparently there is a bit of a tiff going on between England and Australia over something that happened during a match.

[noddy]

its been a hoot , I havent had so much fun revving up Pommies for years.

it would take a 2 page essay to cover why its so damn funny, the nutshell is the english hypocritically accusing australia of bending the "spirit" of the rules to excuse the fact they lost 2 games in a row.

this has escalated all the way to prime ministers having a go at eachother.

[noddy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EulOKkMHkJ4

my favourite baseball breakdown fellow has done a good vid on it

[Typhoon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EulOKkMHkJ4

my favourite baseball breakdown fellow has done a good vid on it

Seem little different than stealing a base in baseball.

What dire offence from dub'ous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,

[noddy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR14_JhaG-E

Starc teaching the dutchies the difference between league bowlers and pro bowlers in a warmup game for the worldcup

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR14_JhaG-E

Starc teaching the dutchies the difference between league bowlers and pro bowlers in a warmup game for the worldcup

Watching the batsman dance just to get wood on the ball is something else

[noddy]

After dominating the warmups, Australia has been completely smashed by India and now South Africa.

we are looking to be bundled out of the world cup before the semis, for the first time since the 90's - atrocious.

I was in two minds of buying the streaming package for games not quite in my timezone, glad I havent,

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

After dominating the warmups, Australia has been completely smashed by India and now South Africa.

we are looking to be bundled out of the world cup before the semis, for the first time since the 90's - atrocious.

I was in two minds of buying the streaming package for games not quite in my timezone, glad I havent,

What is the weakness with the team?

[noddy]

team is too old, plays too much, so is a bit burnt out and the conditions dont favour us.

Cricket having 3 formats (which I bring up all the time) is biting us, we either dont have the talent pool to cover all 3 forms, or our management is risk adverse and wants to play the same team of old heros too much instead of building up specialists for each form.

they have gotten away with that previously but the old heros were on the right side of 35 before, they arent anymore.

this tournament is in the middle format called "one day games - 50 overs each, not the big hitting, t20 game with high risk batting, nor the 5 day traditional game with careful batting.

we hardly play that one anymore, its probably going to be a dead format soon.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

What is the general age peak in cricket?

The traditional notion of prime age in baseball was 27 to 32. Now it's pegged more like 25 to 30, with some arguing the peak is actually the early 20s and its all downhill from there.

At the same time, over several different eras, the best players tend to dominant well into their late thirties. 39 seems the hard cut off for position players while there have been great pitchers going well into their mid-40s at near-elite levels.

[noddy]

Much the same I think, especially for most players - the international game is the best of the best from each country so sometimes (unfortunately) their position as a fan hero or crowd drawcard can cloud selection perspectives.

The caveats are around these generational greats who keep adjusting their game and adding craftyness while the reflexes leave them.

Fast bowlers are best young and tend to be burnt out by early 30's, the body just gives up.

Slower bowlers just keep on getting better at reading the game and tricking batsmen, can push into mid to late 30's

batsmen mostly lose the reflexes by early 30's but some adjust with big hitting or craftier low risk play, which will work until they come across a prime fast bowler from a good team.

the current aus team has most of its batsmen in the mid 30's, they are too slow, playing tired and jaded, not young and keen.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

Much the same I think, especially for most players - the international game is the best of the best from each country so sometimes (unfortunately) their position as a fan hero or crowd drawcard can cloud selection perspectives.

Right, gotta pay the bills by getting people invested.

[noddy]

After my pessamistic rant, we went on to win the world cup.

the team was the perfect mix of old and young, and some of the older guys shook off the cobwebs and kept getting better, hitting a peak dead on the finals.

Im completely in shock and need to eat lots of humble pie - it was especially gratifying to win in India, against India, infront of 100k crowd of 100% Indians.

they all left before it ended, angry at their teams poor performance in the very last game, after winning all the previous games easily and being absolute favourites.

bhenchods.

[NapLajoieonSteroids]

best sort of crow to eat, I 'spose.