Plea: please reduce the amount of cricket and end the circus

[Wasim_Waqar]

I have wanted to raise this issue for a while now and it is definitely erstwhile in my mind now.

I believe that the amount of cricket being played now is ludicrous and is having a detrimental effect on the quality of the cricket seen. Lets have a look at the players who have been injured and missed key cricket for their national sides recently- Asif, Gul, Bond, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Hoggard, Harmison and Flintoff- *cough* *cough*- they all seem to be pacemen all vital to their sides' fortunes.

It seems that with the absence of all these players, not only has life become conceivably easier for the opposng batsmen, but the sting has been taken out of potentially close and thrilling test contests- England v India was good I guess but India-Pakistan was anything but thrilling and Australia-India, irrespective of the disgraceful umpiring, has shown that India are finding it extremely hard to bowl Australia out.

Fast bowlers are what make cricket exciting and kudos to Zaheer Khan and RP Singh who I think bought orthodox swing bowling back into fashion and made test cricket seem a more even contest between bat and ball.

If the trend continues, there will be some very average bowlers around as we see now and it will be such that extremely high scores will not be enough to draw, yet alone win tests.

This is not what is wanted, nor what is needed.

What I would like to see is a throwback to the good old days- when tours were longer with adequate preparation before test series and between tests too. This may be difficult as there are 9-10 test nations but this can be solved.

There should be 3 tests minimum between the established nations and these should always take place at the start of the tour. This means that the tests are the main focus and the teams are fresh and fight tooth and nail to win them. The ODIs should follow, minimum three, maximum five.

If ODIs are before tests, the ODIs take priority and thus the helter skelter nature of makes the tests seem comparatively very boring and all the energy is drained out of the players by the end of a series.

Neutral venues and triangular ODI series should all be scrapped, as should the ICC Champions Trophy. This would give time for longer tours and more tests. ODIs should only be bilateral- thus making World Cups more exciting and the only occasion on which we see sides play each other in neutral venues.

In a particular season, two teams should tour an established country in order to stop big teams hogging a season.

The Ashes should remain 5 tests as a matter of principle. 4 tests should be available for big series such as England-Pakistan, India-Pakistan, England-India and England-SA.

This I believe, would save world cricket from boring us with 2nd XI bowling line-ups in national teams getting hammered by opposing batsmen on flat tracks and get the spice back into the game again.

[Wasim_Waqar]

Look guys, I'm rather upset that nobody has commented on any of my suggestions

For a so-called cricket site, I think it's quite disgraceful. You all seem to want to talk about cricket politics but not the game itself it seems. I may not have a big name on this forum, but I put a lot of effort into typing the post above.

My passion is undoubted, but I think some of you need to wake up and actually start to think of the game rather than getting excited over the recent Aus-Ind controversy. If you want to talk politics and race etc, I suggest you take up politics.

[Easa]

Hassan, you need to chill yaar. Not every thread can get commented on as it can get lost on the mainapge and many can even fail to see it.

Back on topic, thats a quality post. I'm sick of seeing Pakistan slipping lower and lower as a Test team without ever having our first choice XI. We probably will never even SEE our first choice XI so won't know how good we actually can be.

[Super Misbah]

Originally Posted by Easa Hassan, you need to chill yaar. Not every thread can get commented on as it can get lost on the mainapge and many can even fail to see it. Back on topic, thats a quality post. I'm sick of seeing Pakistan slipping lower and lower as a Test team without ever having our first choice XI. We probably will never even SEE our first choice XI so won't know how good we actually can be.

nothings impossible my friend.....ok maybe this is but thats not the point , Inshallah some youngsters will get a go and we will produce a better team than ever before , its only a matter of time till pakistan get back to the winning ways , Go Pak Go !

[12thMan]

well the bowlers named above are not really injured because of too much cricket. Some are just injury prone or have chronic injury and some of the injuries are because of bad management (includes team selection) and fitness. Ofcourse boards want to make extra money like having an ODI series in Oct (Aus-Ind) and then they play another series in Feb. It is losing interest. They don't rotate bowlers enough and bring in new talent so they can be groomed.

Now if you look at the bowlers named Asif, Gul, Bond, Hoggard (doesn't play ODIs), Harmisson, Flintoff etc and look at the number of matches played in last year it won't be much. Some have been carrying injuries for long time and some of them are recurring which need better treatment and healing process (like surgery for Asif and Flintoff). Plus ofcourse they shouldn't be expected to bowl 30+ overs in an innings (team selection, flat pitches etc).

One doesn't need to scrap tournaments but need to manage the teams better. If the country only has 3 bowlers then use them wisely and add to your bench strength. In 90s look at the number of bowlers Paksitan had and now we are left with 2-3 for last few years. It is the fault of the boards and not cricket

[SameerM]

ALL u do is have a bigger squad to take care of the more matches played.

It means MORE chances for new/young/good players

More revenue to pump back into the Game.. training, cricket it self.

Ur points are Valid Hassan... but I think the past IS the past. WORLD has moved on.
Moved on to the 'more is best' mentality.

The word GREED, comes to mind