Club v Country. It’s an age-old dilemma in most sports and a constant source of friction for administrators. The
clubs provide regular competition with games each and every week.
They pay the players their enormous salaries, and players will happily leave their home area to play for a club
because that’s where they make their living.
But players get called up from their clubs to representative duty. Although the money is often less at rep level,
there’s the challenge and prestige of playing at the peak of their sport against the best of the best.
But clubs can often be reluctant to let players go.
It’s a constant source of tension in football; with FIFA having to mandate set dates in which clubs must release
players for international duty.
In rugby league, players selected for State of Origin are required to sit out of club games the weekend before.
In AFL, where the clubs are more powerful, reluctance by clubs to release their players and resultant reluctance
by players to make themselves available has seen rep footy disappear from the calendar.
Super Rugby had a mid-season hiatus this year to allow players to be available for international duty.
Traditionally, there’ve been no such issues with cricket. International cricket has been top of the pile, drawing the
crowds, the headlines and offering attractive coin to the players.
Domestic cricket has operated in relative obscurity, with state contracted players earning scraps, playing in front
of two men and a dog on weekdays, and maybe a couple of hundred on weekends.
But a new form of cricket has arrived, and with it comes a new dynamic. One that has breathed life into domestic
cricket. Maybe too much life.
It’s not hard to see the appeal of the Twenty20 format. From the start, there’s constant action and plenty of big
hits.
The time commitment to watch the traditional forms of cricket is enormous, but a T20 takes no longer than a
game of AFL. Because it is played at night, one can watch an entire game from start to finish without disrupting
work commitments.
With affordable ticket pricing, music and other gimmicks, it’s a great, family-friendly experience.
While administrators trod slowly and carefully in the early days of the new format, Indian promoters saw the
potential and moved in, offering big dollars for international stars to come and play for their clubs. The Indian
Premier League was born.
A domestic club league unlike any other in cricket, with the best players from around the world being richly
rewarded for coming to play. The TV rights dollars flowed, the turnstiles kept ticking.
Seeing the Indian success and sensing the opportunities, other countries began to create domestic T20 leagues.
clubs provide regular competition with games each and every week.
They pay the players their enormous salaries, and players will happily leave their home area to play for a club
because that’s where they make their living.
But players get called up from their clubs to representative duty. Although the money is often less at rep level,
there’s the challenge and prestige of playing at the peak of their sport against the best of the best.
But clubs can often be reluctant to let players go.
It’s a constant source of tension in football; with FIFA having to mandate set dates in which clubs must release
players for international duty.
In rugby league, players selected for State of Origin are required to sit out of club games the weekend before.
In AFL, where the clubs are more powerful, reluctance by clubs to release their players and resultant reluctance
by players to make themselves available has seen rep footy disappear from the calendar.
Super Rugby had a mid-season hiatus this year to allow players to be available for international duty.
Traditionally, there’ve been no such issues with cricket. International cricket has been top of the pile, drawing the
crowds, the headlines and offering attractive coin to the players.
Domestic cricket has operated in relative obscurity, with state contracted players earning scraps, playing in front
of two men and a dog on weekdays, and maybe a couple of hundred on weekends.
But a new form of cricket has arrived, and with it comes a new dynamic. One that has breathed life into domestic
cricket. Maybe too much life.
It’s not hard to see the appeal of the Twenty20 format. From the start, there’s constant action and plenty of big
hits.
The time commitment to watch the traditional forms of cricket is enormous, but a T20 takes no longer than a
game of AFL. Because it is played at night, one can watch an entire game from start to finish without disrupting
work commitments.
With affordable ticket pricing, music and other gimmicks, it’s a great, family-friendly experience.
While administrators trod slowly and carefully in the early days of the new format, Indian promoters saw the
potential and moved in, offering big dollars for international stars to come and play for their clubs. The Indian
Premier League was born.
A domestic club league unlike any other in cricket, with the best players from around the world being richly
rewarded for coming to play. The TV rights dollars flowed, the turnstiles kept ticking.
Seeing the Indian success and sensing the opportunities, other countries began to create domestic T20 leagues.
| CLUB v COUNTRY - CRICKET'S NEW BATTLE GROUND |
This article was originally published on The Roar.
In Australia, the traditional states were replaced with new clubs, players moving across state boundaries to
sign where the opportunities were greatest. International players, too, signed up for a stint in the Australian
Big Bash League.
And the crowds are coming as well. While the Test match at the Gabba this week drifted aimlessly to an
inevitable draw, with barely 3,000 people inside the stadium during hours when most potential fans were at
work; there’ll be crowds of 20,000 plus on nights during the summer when the Brisbane Heat are in action.
In Sydney and Melbourne there’ll be huge crowds, particularly at the local derbies.
Smaller grounds will sell out, in particular the WACA for the Scorchers and the construction site that is the
Adelaide Oval when the Strikers are playing.
With the dollars and the crowd pull, the domestic leagues exert greater influence. International schedules now
need to be re-arranged to make players available to play IPL.
For players from poorer international nations, such as Pakistan and West Indies, the riches on offer in the T20
club circuit are much more attractive than what the national team can pay. Star players such as Chris Gayle
and Shahid Afridi now pick and choose their international games, making themselves unavailable for
international duty when there’s attractive T20 coin on offer.
Even for wealthier countries such as Australia, the tensions are beginning to show. Shane Watson was pulled
out of a million dollar pay-day in the T20 Champions League to prepare for the Test series. Ironically, he then
broke down in a Shield match. Will he withdraw from a T20 series again?
The 50-over format, the previous generation’s big international ticket, finds itself squeezed. It is without the
tradition of Tests, and without the explosive action of T20.
One-day internationals that drew crowds of 40,000 plus in seasons past now barely attract 15,000 and are
out-drawn by domestic T20 games.
So where will the future of cricket take us? Will the T20 club format become more dominant? Will we see a
smaller international program, or international teams fielding second-string line-ups while the top players are
playing the T20 club circuit?
Or will the international scene remain dominant, and the T20 club scene become nothing more than a small
bump that history will soon forget?
sign where the opportunities were greatest. International players, too, signed up for a stint in the Australian
Big Bash League.
And the crowds are coming as well. While the Test match at the Gabba this week drifted aimlessly to an
inevitable draw, with barely 3,000 people inside the stadium during hours when most potential fans were at
work; there’ll be crowds of 20,000 plus on nights during the summer when the Brisbane Heat are in action.
In Sydney and Melbourne there’ll be huge crowds, particularly at the local derbies.
Smaller grounds will sell out, in particular the WACA for the Scorchers and the construction site that is the
Adelaide Oval when the Strikers are playing.
With the dollars and the crowd pull, the domestic leagues exert greater influence. International schedules now
need to be re-arranged to make players available to play IPL.
For players from poorer international nations, such as Pakistan and West Indies, the riches on offer in the T20
club circuit are much more attractive than what the national team can pay. Star players such as Chris Gayle
and Shahid Afridi now pick and choose their international games, making themselves unavailable for
international duty when there’s attractive T20 coin on offer.
Even for wealthier countries such as Australia, the tensions are beginning to show. Shane Watson was pulled
out of a million dollar pay-day in the T20 Champions League to prepare for the Test series. Ironically, he then
broke down in a Shield match. Will he withdraw from a T20 series again?
The 50-over format, the previous generation’s big international ticket, finds itself squeezed. It is without the
tradition of Tests, and without the explosive action of T20.
One-day internationals that drew crowds of 40,000 plus in seasons past now barely attract 15,000 and are
out-drawn by domestic T20 games.
So where will the future of cricket take us? Will the T20 club format become more dominant? Will we see a
smaller international program, or international teams fielding second-string line-ups while the top players are
playing the T20 club circuit?
Or will the international scene remain dominant, and the T20 club scene become nothing more than a small
bump that history will soon forget?
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