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
