whufc wrote:Lightning McQueen wrote:Magellan wrote:Booney wrote:Sports evolve, they always have and always will but what will cricket of the future, at all levels, look like?
To make an aligned yet non-cricketing point (or rant), the 'evolution' of sport is a phrase too easily thrown around to justify changes or reasons to resist addressing things that require reform. The word 'evolution' suggest a degree of refinement or improvement, like in Darwin's theory.
The pro-defensive changes in AFL footy (and Aussie rules, in general) that have incrementally occurred through coaching innovations over the last couple of decades is often justified in these terms. However, on no rational basis could you say that a fast, attacking, free-flowing game without an offside rule as it had developed up to the mid-to-late 1990s has gotten any better since. Apparently, full-forwards kicking 50-odd goals in 22 games or half-time scores that resemble a soccer match is evidence of 'evolution'.
I'd say T20 has promoted an approach to cricket where the advantage is weighed so heavily in favour of the batsman (e.g. permitting reverse/switch hitting, which I think is bullshit) that I don't know why you'd ever aspire to be a bowler in that format. Footy, of course, has gone in the opposite direction, favoring defense over attack.
Cricket is dying in the community, kids numbers are down, senior numbers are down, the standard is far inferior to what it once was, the game needed to evolve to attract a new audience and new participation levels, about the only facet that has not gone south is the participation levels of women/girls, pretty much same as football.
Looking at the B Grade district comp it looks as though I'd still go alright, 20+ years ago there were bowlers with genuine pace getting around in the C Grade and competition for spots were difficult, now it's a far cry from what it used to be.
As for community cricket, the PDCA for instance has fallen tenfold, Grade 1 is still a decent standard but seeing some of the names getting around in
Grade 2 is concerning, a lot of these guys are my age and were Grade 5 players at best 10 years ago, 15 years ago Grade 5 and 6 were very competitive and made up of mostly B Grade teams.
People don't have the time nowadays to spend 80 overs on an oval, the quick game is attractive to watch for the non-traditional cricket enthusiast, it is exciting, the game has come a long way and the test match still has it's place in the game, 15 years ago no one would've thought of diving over the line to tap the ball back to a team mate for him to catch.
Everything is sanitized now, football, cricket, pretty much life in general.
Yeah standard is rubbish all over the state and not getting any better.
In the last 5 years I have found myself playing in 3 different competitions (PDCA, Stanley & Northern Areas) and the standard has dropped so much its not funny. My last year in div 2 PDCA as a 34 year old I averaged 55 with the bat, I was lucky to hit 55 runs in the whole season 15 years ago. Every team had minimum 2 genuine quicks and at least one gun medium pace bowler.
The country cricket comps I have played in the last few years are detoriating at knots. Each team has 1-2 absolute jet 35-40 year olds who played much higher level cricket and then a few consistent 30-35 year olds. In my three years I have probably seen less than 5 bats under the age of 21 who I believe could even get close to making it in a d grade district side.
Towns like Clare can barely fill a team and are forfeiting 2 matches a season. Northern Areas comp is struggling as well. Barely any team has 11 players ready to go on a Thursday night and most of the other teams are filling spots 10 & 11 with 10 and 11 year old kids just so their town still has a team.
All games are one dayers on massive ovals so kids 15-17 generally struggle as they simply don't have the strength to hit boundaries and don't have the time to build a really good score finding 1's & 2's, especially once you cut a couple of their strengths off. No wonder so many kids drop out up here when hitting a score of 30 is considered a highlight.
I'm not sure how cricket solves their issues. One of the big issues we face with cricket up here in the north is the rise of paid country footballers. Most clubs have started their pre seasons already and are training twice a week. Between footy training being compulsory because they are paid, work commitments from harvest, cricket comes in about tenth of the priority list. It's also not uncommon to hear players not wanting to play cricket because they give so much back to the footy clubs these days in winter.
I feel for cricket to grow we really need that divide in seasons but how could you ever convince football clubs on this.
Agree that footy has encroached at this level. Two weekends between seasons it's not much of a break, usually a time for weddings and three-day-hangovers, doesn't leave much time to recharge and weigh you down after a few seasons, particularly in the country where you usually have volunteer duties as well as playing. That Div 2 teams in the Hills start training by now is just ridiculous.
When cricket was at it's peak in the early 2000's there, I felt CA were arrogantly thinking everything was going along swimmingly and didn't invest much into grassroots, ie country and lower suburban cricket, whereas the AFL have done it better.
Our parents generation were more likely to have manual jobs, especially if you were a farmer, so running around on 30-35+ degree day was nothing, a welcome diversion. Kids these days, driven by our generation, can't do anything without airconditioning, can't be slightly uncomfortable.
From the little I've seen of the Big-Bash this year, the standard looks like utter tripe. Seriously, I reckon NSW and Vic Grade cricket in the 80's and 90's, when the Test players would still occasionally turn out, would be better, yet this is on our TV's every night.
The world would also do better to shut the shops after midday on the weekends, realise money and GDP isn't everything and economic growth is just a model - footy, cricket, other sports, church groups, arts, volunteers, etc etc would all benefit.