Too Much Alastair Cook Spoils the Broth

As a lover of the game it’s almost sacrilegious to say it, but there’s just too much international cricket being played at the moment. The result of the never ending pursuit of the almighty dollar (or rupee) is that the really dramatic, high octane action is being diluted by too much mediocre cricket that does little but devalue the sport.

Exhibit one is the just completed West Indies tour, be it the Test matches or the One Day Internationals, the series was characterised by some of the least inspiring cricket I can remember. Taking their lead from the captain Chris Gayle who would clearly have preferred to have been back in South Africa enjoying the sun on his back and the crash bang wallop of the IPL, the Windies – cold and unfamiliar with the conditions – put in a collection of performances as insipid, and lacking in application and basic technique as any seen for a while.

But you can’t blame them entirely, this was an ill conceived tour from the start – scheduled to meet contractual obligations to show a minimum of five home test matches each summer on Sky, the tour was far too early in the English ‘summer’ (pushed there by the addition of the World Twenty20 to an already cramped calendar), an error which was compounded by the allocation of one of the tests to the most northerly ground in the country in early May... and guess what? Yes, it was bloody Baltic.

Leading international sides are now operating a squad system, picking and choosing the battles that their top players fight to avoid burn out, and inevitable injuries. Someone at the top of the game has to realise this simply isn’t good for the sport. Lessons need to be learnt, but probably won’t, rather than quantity, the long term future of the game depends on the quality of cricket played.
A test series against the West Indies should never be a side issue again, but that’s what it was – now that it’s out of the way I’m looking forward to some truly exciting, competitive cricket in the World Twenty20, and on through the Ashes.