Future of Cricket

I am watching the Cricket World Cup whenever I can. Reading some newspaper articles online have confirmed my initial impression that one day cricket has becoming boring. The way all international Cricket is played along teams representing nations, there is just too much national pride and emotion invested in these games. When these national teams constantly underperform, folks just lose interest in the game. Unfortunately, the number of teams that underperform due to poor management outnumber the one country that does seem to have it right – Australia. Having a single team of 15 players represent countries like India with a population of over a billion is just ridiculous.

If Cricket is to survive as a sport, it has to become less aligned along national lines. Look at how soccer works in Europe – that has to be the future of Cricket. Professional leagues, lots of money, lots of marketing. Players from these leagues come together once in 4 years to play for national pride in the World Cup. The leagues involve a lot more players than can be selected for a national team – a good thing. The Twenty20 form of the game is the only practical version that can survive at the league level. The current cricket world was built around national teams when playing Cricket was not a profession. Things have changed, but the establishment remains the same. Professionally managed leagues will also be more efficient, far more efficient than the archaic Cricket boards that run the sport in most countries.