Is too much cricket, too much to take?
What’s common between Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Symonds, Shane Bond and Adam Gilchrist? They all were world-class performers who made their country proud by winning international matches. But what is more common than even that is they all retired early from cricket, either to concentrate on their Twenty20 careers or to preserve their body for careers that included anything but cricket.
Pundits might not agree but International cricket Council is to blame for the overkill of cricket these days. There was a time when cricketers used to play a five-day test match on a six-day period, or that one day cricket was just an obligation for teams on test tours rather than what we have today. Nowadays, Australia would tour India for a five match one-day series and return within a year for a separate Test tour, or Pakistan would go on a test tour to New Zealand and Australia, and play more one day matches than they played throughout the year!
And this is taking its toll on the poor actors that are being used on the cricket stage, the cricketers. Playing cricket throughout the year can take toll on any player’s body, no matter how fit you might be! First it was Adam Gilchrist who quit his post as the vice captain of the Australian side and hung his gloves a couple of years back to concentrate on his two-month-a-year career for Deccan Chargers, and same goes for his ex team-mate Shane Warne, who captains Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. Matthew Hayden plays for Chennai Super Kings because he doesn’t have to be on tour for the Aussies anymore, stay with his family and be a normal human being than a traveller most of the year.
The most recent player to call it quits due to ICC’s non-serious attitude towards making itineraries is New Zealand‘s Shane Bond. Only 34, he played just 18 tests and took 86 wickets for his country. It was for his exploits in the limited overs game where he excelled, taking 147 wickets in 82 one-day internationals at an economy rate of 4.28 per over, and 25 in T20 internationals, with the last 5 coming in the on-going Twenty20 World Cup.
Bond quit Test cricket after winning a test match against Pakistan late last year to prolong his limited overs career, but after feeling the strain of any kind of cricket on his body, he quit all forms of the game this week. It was the same scenario for Andrew Flintoff who quit test cricket after regaining the Ashes last year, and later restricted himself to the limited overs game. Even then he wasn’t declared fit for the Twenty20 World Cup where England has now qualified for the final to be played on Sunday against the Aussies.
Is there anything the ICC could really do to make cricket less injurious to the players and more entertaining for the viewers? They can have a three-month rest period for teams where players can go home and rest, training occasionally and staying away from the field. That way, when the ’season’ starts, they will not only be fresh but raring to go. If all the teams can adapt to such a formula, then cricket would be more competitive and even the spectators, who usually don’t visit stadiums might take their families to the stadiums!
Players are human and they have a family to feed as well, but what good is the money if they have to give it more than their heart, as their mind, soul and body gets involved in the game these days. I wonder how Sir Don Bradman would have felt about the abundance of cricket in a calendar year. I am sure he would have objected, and had he been in this era, his average would have been near 60s rather than touching 100!
Tags: