Coming off the back of an exciting winter of test cricket all over the world, and off a frenetic Big Bash season, as the IPL moves into the business end of proceedings, the cricketing world’s attention has already moved to the upcoming World Cup in England. Add to that the newly instituted 100 ball competition in England that fans will be enjoying this summer. For any cricket lover, this is as good as it gets. Not because of the amount of cricket, but because of the variety.
For far too long, there has been this incessant debate about the merits of one form of the game over another. There isn’t one view in my opinion we have heard that brings a new perspective to this debate.
As cricket evolves, cricketers evolve, audiences evolve and commercial establishments that are built around cricket evolve. It does seem a tad patronising for the “custodians” of the game to suggest that the average fans do not know what it good for them. We have them telling us how these brands of the shorter form of the game are killing off test cricket which is the “purest” form of the game. We also have the opposite viewpoint about how test cricket is not attracting enough younger audiences and cannot be – with a few exceptions – commercially sustainable, and therefore needs the attractiveness of coloured clothing, masquerading mascots and cavorting cheerleaders.
I am amongst a hopefully large audience that does not care to take sides and pick one format for consumption over another. And in all honesty, why should we? Surely, we can eat both ice cream and cake when we choose, eat pizzas or pasta, go vegan or carnivorous when we please, drive any car we want.. I could go on about free choice, but thankfully I won’t.
The message to those deciding what we want for us, let us enjoy cricket in all its variety. When it is time for the next generation of cricket fans to choose, they will thank us for providing them with the choice.