Re: Australian Cricket - Crisis, What Crisis ??
Reply #1598 –
Is it reality Bear, or is it artificial?
The BCCI pay their test cricketers well, the Indians don't have to commit to play T20 to make good money, so the Indian players get to use T20 like a bonus system. They get "overs" for a game here or there and usually when they are back home during a touring break.
For every other international cricketer the IPL interferes with test preparations, players have to FIFO often in very shorts gaps in between other international commitments. Is it an accident or is it a deliberate action by the BCCI to weaken the opposition and control cricket?
Right now you will find a barrage of published reports claiming India v Australia is crickets greatest rivalry. This is the BCCI muscling in on the ICC and Lords by undermining it's authority over the remote outposts. They are spinning that India v Australia is bigger than an Ashes!
The BCCI knows that the ACB needs money, and they have plenty of it so they don't need to be too secretive or political! The BCCI can just bludgeon it's way across the cricket landscape. Maybe the interesting thing is the Saffies, they have lingering politics that seems to make them want to resist, it's not all about money but equality. Their countries history also provides them with the tools and knowledge to deal with this situation.
On the Saffies, the word I have is that they are heavily supporting Perth's bid to get hold of the Boxing Day test. They see Perth hosting an Australia v Saffies Boxing Day test in two or three years is the first step to exclusively hosting a Boxing Day test in South Africa.
People don't realise how much money an event like the Boxing Day test is worth. I've heard an estimate that for Victoria a Boxing Day against a team like India or England will bring 10000 people to town for about a week spending "on average" $10K in that week, that's $100M. The "on average" part is important because of the wide range of budgets that people will spend in that period. For some tests the MCC have reported that as high as 1 in 7 has been a interstate or international visitor, that's almost 15000 people. Even if they don't go to the match everyday, they are in town for it's duration.
Even higher numbers come into play for the week of F1, and Cup week, no wonder NSW want to stage competitive races.