Future of Australian cricket in doubt
Wed 02 November 2011
Andrew Dunn, Bachelor of Journalism
Australia's sporting landscape looks set to change dramatically this summer.
Cricket has long been Australia’s national sport and the main source of enjoyment for sporting fans during the summer months.
However, recent changes to the national coaching structure, coupled with a decline in attendance numbers and a reduction in the number of matches shown on free-to-air television, has seen the sport’s profile drop in the past 12 months.
Since the Ashes series defeat to England in 2010/11, a series which saw record crowd numbers and television audiences, the sport’s profile has taken a significant slide.
This has prompted cricket experts to express concern for the future of the game, with Australia no longer the powerhouse in world cricket it once was, and the standard of young players deemed not good enough to allow Australia to once again rise to the top of world cricket.
Much of this blame is directed at the techniques and methods of developing young players, with many experts believing that too much emphasis is being put on particular forms of the game, in particular Twenty20 cricket, which hinders the overall development of young players.
Queensland under 15 Schoolboys and the Hinterland Hawks first grade team on the Sunshine Coast coach Andrew Fearon believed that while it was important to prepare young players to play all forms of cricket, coaches had to remember that Test cricket was still the primary form of the game..
“Test cricket, in my eyes, will always be the pinnacle,” Mr Fearon said.
“I think that the rise of Twenty20 cricket has led to some players disregarding the other formats of the game, because the real money is in the shortest form of the game, through the Indian Premier League and the Champions Trophy.”
“When players have to go from playing Test cricket, a long, five- day battle between two sides that tests both sides to the absolute mental and physical limit, to a game that is all about big hits and fireworks and is over in three hours, there are always going to be areas of their individual games that suffer.”
“This is what we are beginning to experience at the junior level as Twenty20 becomes a game that is no longer only played by the big boys, but one that is played at all levels of cricket.”
Mr Fearon also believed that the big money on offer in the major Twenty20 competitions would begin to draw players away from Test cricket to the shorter form of the game.
Mr Fearon said that while Twenty20 cricket may draw more fans to the game and increase revenue, the effect it would likely have on the technical skills of the modern cricketer was a detrimental one, particularly for the batsmen.
“Twenty20 cricket will certainly generate more money and get more people through the gates, but in terms of the future of cricket in Australia and the players we produce, although it’s a bit too early to tell, the technical skills of the players could suffer,” Mr Fearon said.
“Batsmen are told just to go out there and hit the ball as far as they can, with a lot of emphasis being put on brute strength and muscle to get the ball to the boundary.”
“That might win you some Twenty20 matches, but over five days, you’re going to need a sound technique and some patience, and they’re the kinds of things that Twenty20 cricket doesn’t teach young players.”
According to Sunshine Coast junior representative and first grade all-rounder for the Hinterland Hawks Jake Kerr, 17, this change in attitude from the traditional view that Test cricket was the pinnacle, to one that believed Twenty20 and 50 over matches were the primary forms of the game, was something that reflects what the public wanted to see.
Mr Kerr believed that Twenty20 would overtake Test cricket as the number one format of the game, because people simply did not have the time to watch Test cricket anymore.
“Test matches are too long for, say, a couple to sit down and watch, as compared to a Twenty20 where there is a lot of action and more than enough excitement in three hours,” Mr Kerr said.
When asked about what changes Mr Kerr felt he needed to make to his technique when playing the shorter form of the game, he said that overall, he felt the changes were minimal.
“My theory is that your technique shouldn’t change at all, but your attitude and shot selection should,” Mr Kerr said.
“In test matches, you need to limit all risks, yet in the Twenty20 format, you need to attack from beginning to attain a decent total.”
Mr Kerr said he believed that, given the right coaching, young players should be able to adjust to all forms of the game, without compromising their technique and skill level.
In his opinion, the future of Australian cricket was not as bleak as the picture painted by the experts, who labelled Australia’s young talent as uninspiring.
“We’ve got unbelievable coaches, the best first class system in the world, and the perfect conditions for cricket, it won’t be long before we’re number one again,” Mr Kerr said.
Image(s) designed by Andrew Dunn
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Submitted Comments
The article makes a good point - people prefer Twenty20 because it's quicker. I don't think there's any reason to panic about Australia's cricketing future though - we're probably just too use to winning. It'll do us some good not to be number one on the ladder - it'll stop us from getting too complacent.
Teale
It's always a shame when interest in sports diminishes, but there will always still be die-hard fans who will never give up on the game.
Christina