I know you see yourself as the K-Mart Lalit Modi. There is no doubt you want to leave your mark on the game of cricket as a modern administracrat that can move and shake with the best of them. But there are better ways to do this than by taking a dump on something important.
Like you, my career in Shield cricket was tragically shorter than I wanted. While you got 4 games with the Vics, I played none at all. This hurts me, so I can imagine that it hurts you too. But you can deal with heartbreak in better ways than by destroying your old flame.
You’re obviously a modern man. You’ve probably got a blackberry, an iphone, home and work laptops and a pedometer. But that doesn’t mean that old things are shit and can be discarded.
James, you and I are not so different. We both put pants on before leaving the home. We both love cricket. We’ve both watched Victoria win a Shield final.
That is where we differ, for me, the Shield Final is the pinnacle, a game of cricket as good as first class cricket can get. Where two sides play off to prove their worth, the odds stacked in the favour of one side, buy giving 22 players a chance of proving that they are test worthy.
For you it is the wrapping around a Quarter Pounder.
The 2007/08 Final sucked balls for Victoria, but the selectors were watching. Hughes and Siddle jumped older players, Bryce’s performance put him down the list, Beau Casson got test out of it and Simon Katich proved his rebirth was not some fluke. It was a cracking game of cricket, NSWales at near full strength, Victoria proving they were a hell of a side. It went 5 days, there was a result, Stuart MacGill told Nick Jewell to stop being a drama queen.
James, how could you deny anyone this?
The shield season is not exactly long at the moment; teams only play 10 games each. It breaks down like this:
3 in October
8 in November
5 in December
2 in January
6 in February
6 in March
1 final in March
If you can play 6 matches at the start of March, you can play 6 at the end of October. Start the season a week earlier and you could have 8 matches in October and you can scrap the January games. If you can play 8 in November, you can play 8 in February. And surely you could fit in a boxing day game once a year, or the day after boxing day. Then it would be:
8 in October
8 in November
6 in December
8 in February
1 final March.
January, when most Australian cricket fans are really interested, becomes your 2020 month. The rest of the season is for proper cricket. And March is your final. Having it at least two weeks earlier than it is now. No first class cricket is lost, and most importantly, the final is still there. If you think this is cramming cricket in a bit much, then jettison a few one dayers, have all teams play each other once, and play two sides in their region twice. If that is even an issue, which I doubt.
The final doesn’t have to go, and neither do any games. Australian domestic cricketers will play at least 30 days less than their English brethren, and that doesn’t need to change, it just needs to be re-jigged.
Forget being the modern man, the bitter man, or the cut price Australian Lalit man, and just try and do what is best for the game. And if you think that is cutting the shield season, then perhaps it is you who is not best for the game, and you should trot off into the commercial world to re-brand some breakfast cereal.
Yours truly,
Jrod
I reckon Shield finals suck by enlarge, they’ve only been around for 20 years or so, I wouldn’t care if it were scrapped. But if they reduce the amount of general Shield games I’m united with you brother.
Sutherland is just old enough to possibly have seen the introduction of the final as an unnecessary innovation, unlike us youngsters who’ve grown up loving the five day match as a stage for the best two teams to show their stuff, despite the fact that it’s relatively pointless in terms of how the competition itself plays out.
.-= Jonathan´s last blog ..Sledging bingles =-.
The Sheffield Shield is an important part of Australian culture and should be maintained exactly as is, including the final. The amount of people that follow Shield cricket on the radio, internet and newspapers is huge. There is nothing better than score updates of Shield matches on ABC radio on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Does life get any better than that?
Vic are batting, I’m predicting they’ll get 735 in this innings.
Pete, I’d prefer 800.
Jonathan, True, but he was 12th man in a winning one, so he must have some sort of attachment to them. I think it is better for Australian cricket to have one that not have one.
IPL.
6/75 is a long, long, long way from 800
Speaking of Sheffield Shield finals, there’s a young bloke by the name of Cameron Boyce who bowls wristies making his debut in this game. I’ve seen him bowl and he looks the goods.
Keep your eye on him over the next few years.
You heard it first here on CWB.
Sorry, second match actually…
My mistake..
Jamie, I did hear it on twitter first. But I am eager to see him bowl now. Although, if he ends up as a chairman of selectors I’ll be pissed. Bloody Queensland leggies.
I like the way you’re thinking with the earlier start to the season. Another benefit of this would be less of a gap between the various football codes finishing and the start of the Shield. You know that awful period where there is nothing but horse racing and swimming on the sports pages. Start the season when most of the country is looking for a sports hit! Big opportunity there. But not being from a business background, what the hell would I know…..
10 matches per 1 class team is low workload. A final also tends to test the big match capabilities of the players playing it. Axing that is so idiotic that were it not for Ijaz Butt’s buttkicking (could not resist the crap pun), I would think of Suther boy as the daftest cricadmin today.
Btw, Nannes has been Godly in IPL3 till now. If he starts bowling yorkers, God help the batters.
.-= Dhananjay Mhatre´s last blog ..Short Story – A ride through the hinterland. =-.
Well said. The math is a bit complicated though.
In fact I dont really understand what it that JS wants to do.
Oh well, I oppose it anyway
superlol – “K-Mart Lalit Modi”
Ram5160, it’s quite simple – JS wants more time for T20. The easiest way as far as having sensibly structured competitions goes is to ditch the shield final. It takes up a basically a whole week and is self-contained. Killing it doesn’t mean cutting down the number of “rounds” of the Shield/FRCup, and it isn’t even drawing the crowds that it was intended to, even before you take the fact that it hardly ever changes the outcome of the season. So he doesn’t think our love for that one game is worth it.
.-= Jonathan´s last blog ..Sledging bingles =-.
shield finals are so boring that i even stopped reading this post after the first couple of paragraphs. not a big loss.