Bob Woolmer
FROM THE PAVILION
The recent tug of war over Allan Donald mirrors, in a way, the club or country pull that Bafana Bafana players are experiencing. In all these matters, inevitably, it is the player who suffers. Naturally Donald wants to play for South Africa – as I am sure Mark Fish does. Conversely, the clubs who employ them also want the best they can from their investment. The question then is, should we have this competition within the sport? Surely there has to be a way in which “extra” competitions can be fitted in between the normal seasons?
What it does do is highlight how all sport is encroaching on each other. Where have all the seasons gone? I remember there being a break between the sporting seasons. I would always look forward to soccer, rugby and hockey in the winter and cricket and athletics in the summer. Now they all run into each other.
It is a great pity that a wonderful series of cricket matches have been scheduled during the English soccer season. It is a great shame too that other sports encroach so much on all the cricket seasons. These sports, soccer especially, have such a high profile compared to cricket, that cricket has had to respond by having more cricket year round in order to remain competitive in the sports-watching market. Surely it is time for the sports to enjoy the cake together and work with each other to capture the sports-loving public. Shortly the Super 12 season will be upon us and its popularity will eat into some of cricket’s watching public.
The players are playing more and more cricket every year. Mark Boucher has played more Test matches in 18 months than I played in five years. Donald has bowled the same number of overs in half the time Fred Trueman bowled his Test match overs. England have played five Tests and 11 one-day internationals in four months. South Africa have played seven Tests this summer with two to go.
While I was watching the departure of the South African side to India recently on TV, at the same time I was watching Zimbabwe playing England in Bulawayo, and the result of the game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan came up on the computer on a website. Australia and New Zealand were washed out. It occurred to me, will the players suffer from burn-out with this incessant programme?
My own feeling is that there has to be a different structure to the game. Players’ families’ emotional relationships are continually under pressure and every year there are stories of separation and then usually divorce. There are of course some wonderful women who support their husbands implicitly, but for how much longer?
I am sure there will come a time when the International Cricket Council must get together to discuss this ever-growing problem. The competition against other sports is ongoing. The West Indies are embroiled in the struggle against basketball. South Africa and Australia are at less risk because their national teams are winning, while England suffer the unbelievable hype of soccer. New Zealand suffer the rugby culture of the All Blacks and the Super 12. Pakistan and India are fanatically in favour of cricket, although one-day crowds out-shadow the five-day game.
Cricket is renowned for suffering crisis and overcoming crisis – it is after all the greatest game of all, both technically and in mental stimulation. So what next for this great game?
I am convinced there has to be a nine- team international (home and away), five- day championship played over two years. I rather like the idea of having more than one side to watch during the summer months. Plus, when the players go away from home they only have to go away for a short period, say 10 days. After the two-year programme, in the third year would be the traditional five Test series and in the fourth year would be the World Cup. I would also like to see with the two-year championship a sort of “ATP Tennis” circuit, where the teams play a knockout tournament in each major centre over the two years, la the Bangladesh mini world cup tournament. No five-Test tour should last longer than 10 weeks!
I am sure we could throw the equation to a computer which could spit out the necessary fixtures given the timing and the dates. With the current programme we are definitely going to see different sides picked for the different disciplines. The important thing is to remember that today’s itineraries are heavy and the players will suffer from fatigue and therefore be subject to increasing injuries. I love watching all the sport on TV, but I do not want to choose between the ones I enjoy. At least cricket gives me the best value for money!