Cricket Expanding at Last

News & General The Bar
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And don’t forget the big man himself Federer who is a big fan and attended a private school is Switz where they play.

When I’ve had a beer like today I always tell useless yarns about cricket so I might as well today.

When I lived in Argentina…on the 3rd or 4th day I went to see Argentina play at Virrey Del Pino in Belgrano, which is an inner city suburb.

By 1pm it was getting hot and I was getting thirsty, so I got myself a litre and a glass, much to the disgust of the Anglo-Argentine old timers who were sitting near me. These blokes had lived in Argentina all their lives and so had their parents and their parents also…but had names like Pablo Campbell, Diego Brown, etc etc…very surreal

Anyway, the game finished. Being at Virrey Del Pino is like being at any cricket ground in the world…kids in the nets…people barracking for their team…in Argentina…that often means foot stomping in time.

By afternoon end, Argentina lost, I’d had a few…maybe 6 or 7 and then all these kids came up demanding that the Ortrarliano (Australian/me) play a game with them seeing as they could now take over the pitch.

I said I’d umpire which meant I didn’t have to move much and I could still hold a can of beer.

Everything was going well until this fiery young (10 yrs) fast bowler appealed for an LBW. I turned it down. I speak ok Castellano now…but then I only knew swear words. I copped many swear words from those bowler kids that afternoon. And while it was a bit of a shock to hear 10/12 year old go off…I realised how much the game means to them.

I’ll see if I can find a photo of Virrey Del Pino from a mere club game

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Big game in a couple of hours. England v Ireland at Lords.

And two Irish produced captains…Porterfield of course and Eoin Morgan who came through the Irish system and played for Ireland before being poached by England.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-ireland-2017/engine/match/1029003.html

The radio commentary should be available via the BBC on their website unless there is a licensing problem.

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Big game in a couple of hours. England v Ireland at Lords.

And two Irish produced captains…Porterfield of course and Eoin Morgan who came through the Irish system and played for Ireland before being poached by England.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-ireland-2017/engine/match/1029003.html

The radio commentary should be available via the BBC on their website unless there is a licensing problem.
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Watching it now live on Fox Sports 501 LH.

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Come on Ireland. :cheer:

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LH Can you say a little bit about the new structure of international cricket? For the moment at least, I think Afghanistan is our best bet in terms of spreadding the game. Uniquelly among cricket teams, especially among weaker teams, bowlling is their strength which will make them a difficult opponent at times.

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I went to the world cup match at the WACA in 2015 between Australia and Afghanistan and sat amongst their band of effusive supporters. Even though their team got smashed all over the park by Warner and Smith, these spectators continued their music, dancing and cheering all day. It was fantastic and their team played as if they were loving every moment of the experience, which is totally understandable given the awful history of wars. I thought then as I still do that this was a nation that could well be in the upper echelon of cricket before too long. They certainly have some talented players who will take the team forward.

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Much like their near neighbours Pakistan AR who have produced a lot of the most quality destructive bowlers in my time.

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Cricket if not already could become the 2nd most popular sport world wide behind the round ball game

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And yet I constantly read that cricket is dieing by some posters on here mate haha :lol:

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SD, BH absolutelly right – more people live in the Indian sub-continent than China. It would be easily the second most popular sport in the world.

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Due to the greed and narrow mindedness of CA, BCCI and ECB, cricket, sadly, has slipped down the pecking order in terms of participation behind rugby union and basketball but it can get back there if the big three stop funneling the bulk of the ICC revenue to themselves. Also those three nations and the other test playing countries refuse to give the associate nations a vote at ICC meetings. It’s a system that makes FIFA look wholesome.

Yeah Afghanistan have a big pool of players now and the game is played in most of their provinces, so they should be pretty strong from here on.

Obviously Ireland. They have a good system in place and have spread the game to the traditional GAA counties which was vital. Might also help if England stop pinching their players.

PNG has a huge participation base. Nearly 200,000 people now playing everything from LikLik/soft ball cricket for kids/adult beginners starting out through to the contracted pros in the national squad.

A few long term wildcards.
Indonesia - Heaps of kids playing now from Borneo to West Papua to Arce. For some reason they like the game and identify with it. Need to somehow organise it into one cohesive unit. Big chance there with not so many established sports clogging the market as in most other countries.

Nepal - Has become a mainstream sport and draws crowds that would put a lot of test nations to shame.

USA - Although still dominated and often bungled by West Indian and Indian expats, a surprising number of born and bred Americans are entering the fray at long last including top cricket writers like Peter Della Penna at cricinfo. The big breakthrough came a few years ago when an American man by the name of Jamie Harrison set up http://usyca.org/ which has seen a lot more non-migrant kids take up the sport. Maybe they can again produce some of the world’s best players such as Bart King and others who dominated the sport in the period between 1844 and 1914 when cricket was enormously popular. Sadly, as the rules were back then, non-commonwealth nations were refused entry into the ICC. That, plus baseball going pro saw the game decline dramatically. With over 300 million people, the sport only needs a tiny fraction of them to outnumber NZ, WI, Zim etc but get rid of the bickering expats and let the Yanks run the show.

China - Fully supported by the government now. Once the Chinese government set their sights on making a sport popular they usually succeed. It will take time but who would doubt them.

A few others with good systems nowdays - Malaysia, Uganda, Vanuatu, Fiji, Holland, Germany, all the gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Japan, Jersey and Guernsey, Scotland, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia and obviously played in many more.

Don’t mind what’s happening in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria also. Huge potential but not much organisation.

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LH thanks – are they going to make Ireland and Afghanistan peermanent participants in ODI tournaments?

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No, the 10 boys club members who are allowed to vote are steadfast in their opposition to new countries…in fact, they want to keep ICC tournaments to just themselves and as they voted to only allow themselves to vote it could well pan out that way.

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They should be using this up coming tournament to promote the lesser countries. It is disappointting when you consider that such countries have always been representted since world cups startted in 1975.

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LH & AR what has happened to Canada in regards to cricket as I can remember them playing in a World Cup as a kid?

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LH & AR what has happened to Canada in regards to cricket as I can remember them playing in a World Cup as a kid?
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They’re still around about the mark but some problem as the US where the expats bicker amongst themselves or tend to shut out the locals. It’s a shame.

The only place where expats have really grown the game are in the gulf states where in some cases they now make up more than 50 or 60% of the population anyway…They’ve become the majority

Still, for every Canada, there is a Vanuatu or Japan or South Korea or Nepal stepping up to take their place slowly but surely.

A bit of footage from Kathmandu, Nepal…a pretty interesting place to play for visiting sides. Perfectly safe but really noisy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b979IpcL_GY

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I remember about 10/12 years ago when I was first told about cricket in Indonesia.

I honestly thought the guy was having a lend of me. Sure, maybe some expats in Jakarta and Bali but not Indigenous Indonesian kids.

But he insisted, showed me the numbers which were surprising - in the tens of thousands.

And then he showed me a video which was put together of Indonesian kids playing in parks and at schools and it became pretty clear that there was something going on there.

I wish the ICC would help them. They actually like the game…I don’t know how and I don’t know why but they do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7lY7ITkTBk

And even girls…many of whom are muslim but encouraged to play
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLRU6VKX6Es

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Scarily I sometimes wonder whether the WAFC are actually modelling their management style on the ICC. :unsure:
Although my favourite form of cricket is Test Cricket I reckon the 20/20 format is our best chance of winning over the massive USA, China markets with its streamlined instant result style.

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BH: Canada’s claim to fame is that they played the first ‘cricket international’ against the yanks in 1844. They are ranked 22 in the world at the moment, as you say, a long way below their hey day signified by their appearances in world cups.

they are behind:

UAE
Scotland
PNG
Hong Kong
Kenya
Netherlands
Namibia
Nepal

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I like this one. A new promo from Cricket Indonesia for TV etc. Pure propaganda but every country has their own ways of doing things. It’s very let’s say…nationalistic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evhOLWZjceA&t=4s

And this from a recent match from the serene playing fields of Chiang Mai, Thailand between emerging Thailand and tiny Bhutan. I wanted to see this Thai kid named Wanchana Uisek bat (Left hander no 6) because I’ve heard a lot about him. Didn’t disappoint. So good to see countries like Thailand produce homegrown kids like him. That’s what it’s all about. Bhutan aren’t yet ranked in the top 100 but everyone starts somewhere. I did read an article about some old timers complaining that Bhutanese kids are turning away from archery to this new fangled bat and ball game…lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJQf3-KUfB4&t=1337s