I just finished reading a great article over at Idle Summers, available here. The author, Russel Degnan does a very thorough examination of the state of American Cricket and what needs to happen for things to change. I would encourage everyone to read it and give him feedback on his ideas. I particularly like the idea of co-branding with NBA teams.
Check out the article and his site in general.
Ken
I have been watching the recent Sydney Test between Aus and Ind on replay because it is on in the middle of the night over here. While I’m glad Gautam found some form in the second innings, what intrigued me most about the match was Michael Clarke’s decision to declare as early as he did. I was as surprised as everyone else that someone on their way to a fairly certain 400+ would declare with more than 2 days left. I am disappointed that I didn’t get to see a record breaking score. But at the same time, I am very happy to see a captain that is focused on winning a test match.
It took me a long time to come to terms with the concept of a Test draw. I get it now, and I appreciate the need for a team to have to take 20 wickets in order to win. What gets me is the number of captains that seem all too willing to settle for a draw when a ittle risk could have brought a win. I am tired of defensive play from sports teams. I love football teams that go for it on 4th down and I love aggressive captains in Cricket. Playing for a draw should only be done by a team that is in a deperate losing position. A team that is ahead should almost always risk losing in order to win. The ony exception to that rule is to clinch a series. I am fine with England ensuring a draw in order to retain the Ashes.
So I am glad that Michael Clarke declared when he did. There was very little chance that Australia could lose from the position they were in, but I like that he made the best play for a win. I am looking forward to the rest of the tour and a chance for the Knight Riders that are playing to get some form before March.
Ken
Getting in to Cricket in the US can be tricky. There is very little coverage of the sport beyond the occasional highligt reel on SportCenter. The most comprehensive coerage of Cricket in America that I know about is Willow TV which costs about $15/month. Willow is available both online and on satelite. While $15 is not an unreasonable amount of money for a hobby, it is a lot of money for someone who is only midly interested in the game. So are there ways to watch Cricket that are both free and legal?
The answer, fortunately, is yes. To watch current matches you want to go to ESPN3. If you have the right isp, you can watch lots of sports for free, both live and on replay. I am watching the replay of Man City and Liverpool right now. Most recently ESPN3 has had the Pakistan v. Bangladesh series and it has the rights to much more in the coming year. ESPN3 even broadcast the New Zealand v Sri Lanka T20 matches played in FL in 2010. The only big problem with ESPN3, is that unlesss you have the 3 participating cable providers, you can’t use the WatchESPN app on your tablet or phone.
If you can’t get ESPN3, or there is not match on at the moment, you can watch 2 full seasons of the Indian Premier League on youtube. The IPL is a T20 tournament that runs for about 40 matches or so every March-May. Season 3 and Season 4 were broadcast for free on YouTube and as far as I know, full matches and highlights are still available. I think the IPL is a great way to get started in Cricket because T20 is the shortest format. A full match runs about 3.5 hours, instead of 8 or 30 for ODIs and Tests. You also get to watch many current and former international players.
So if the above are the free AND legal ways to watch Cricket, are there illegal ways. Yes. Should you use them? No. Beyond the ethical/moral delima there are other reasons to avoid the underground video streams. When I first got in to Cricket in 2008, the illegal streams were the easiest to find. There are a lot of different options but they all have their problems. First, the qualtiy is often terrible. I know that streaming on the web is never great, but some of these streams are atrrocious. Next they tend to get cut off repeatedly by the channel that owns the stream. Sky Sports is very good at shutting down streams. This makes watching these very annoying. The last thing is that you have to watch them live. Cricket is very rarely live at a convenient time in the US. Access to replays is worth money and is what makes Willow TV so worth it, but both legal alternatives also have replays available to watch matches at a reasonable time.
On a quick note, the American College Cricket has a broadcast deal with AsiaTV, I think this is a channel you have to pay for, but if your TV provider has it, check it out.
If you are interested in learning more about Cricket, the best thing to do is watch it. Find a guide online (I plan on putting one up on this site soon) and have it handy while you watch. Cricket can be a very confusing game at first and there are a lot of concepts that are difficult to get your head around if you aren’t watching it at the time. Willow TV is a completely worthwhile investment, especially the online subscricption. But while you are learning, check out the free alternatives. It is important to note that ESPN3 matched and th IPL are not available at Willow. So those sources will be usefull all the time.
Happy watching and Go Knight Riders!
Ken
My last post was rather long and I thought about this as I was finishing that up. I don’t think anything I write here will be ground-breaking but Iguess it’s worth mentioning. The plan for this new American T20 league is to draw in foreign players to play alongside American players. I think this is a great idea and it is critical to the league’s success. The IPL also uses this strategy and while it is important there as well, I think it is much more critical for this effort. Getting the best possible players here is the states will serve many functions. It will draw larger crowds than would otherwise have come, it will help retain interest in the tournament by raising the level of play beyond what US only players could provide and it will help develop the talent we already have.
My case for the first point can be made with an exagerated hypotheical. Imagine you live in the US (not hard if you actually do) and you have the opportunity to travel more than 5 hours to go see a T20 match between two teams composed entirely of people who live in the states. Some, maybe may of you would go, or at least consider it (I know I would think about it). Many others would consider the time and expense too much or what they would see, especially if it was broadcast for free as I suggest. Now imagine that the 5+ hour trip would be to watch Sachin Tendulkar play. I think that would change the value of the trip significantly. I would happily travel the 7-8 hours to Lauderhill to see him play, and my favorite player is Graeme Swann and I root for England. While I doubt Sachin will be playing in this new league, having some legitimate names, even retired players (Warne, McGrath, Flintoff, Lara, etc) would convince many people to spend the time and money to travel to these games.
These players will also bring a standard of play that is essential to the success of the league. Those of us who are already fans will only put up with poor play for so long. You also can’t pull the wool over potentail converts’ eyes either. If the game is not played really well, few people will continue to watch. I don’t mean to demean the skill of the players here in this country, but we need to be honest about it as well. When I took two friends to FL for that match in 2010, we watched a US v Jamaica match before the New Zealand v Sri Lanka match. It was very plain to them that the standard of play was significantly higher in the second match and they enjoyed in much more.
Having top level players will help address this issue as well. Their experience will build up the players we have and make them better. I hope very muc that America develops its own icons of the game. It would be great to see many Americans playing oversees as well. Especially in the longer forms of the game. Right now that is the best way to bring the longer forms here as well, which needs to be done.
So I hope the organizers are successful in bringing in foreign talent to this new league. Developing Cricket in the US is a little like the chicken and egg problem. People don’t watch Cricket because it is dificult to watch and there isn’t much around. There isn’t much around becasue there is not much demand. The USACA needs to approach both of these problems at once. Interest and understanding need to be developed and at the same time more opportunities to watch need to be created.
Ken
i have been doing some more unasked thinking about the coming T20 league in the US in July. I am sure that I am much too late for any of these ideas to matter much, but I need to post more often so here it goes. There are a lot of challenges facing this league if it is going to have any level of success. I have already said that having the matches broadcast for free is absolutely critical in getting Americans interested in the game and I stand by that. I have a few friends who are mildly interested in the game, but would never pay a dime to watch it, at least not until they got hooked.
Aside from this key issue, there is another major consideration that I did not bring up in my last post. That is the location of the teams. This is a very arge problem that has no easy answers. The Cricinfo article that announced this new plan mentioned that there would initially be 4 to 6 teams. The way I see it, the most important considerations are availability of pitches, possible spectators and team travel time.
First is the availablity of usable pitches. I know that there is one that is suitable in Lauderhill, FL so that would top the list for this requirement. But I believe there are pitches in New York as well, if not to the same standard. Either way, suitable pitches will need to be constructed or built into existing venues. In any case, I think the model used in FL(a multipurpose field, designed with cricket in mind) is the way to go. I see little chance of any part of the country supporting a Cricket only venue for a very long time. The fields need to be properly groomed, though, so that the play of the game is not affected. The expense of creating any sort of suitable venue limits the options to major metropolitan areas, which is not really a surprise.
The second issue is also going to require a major metropolitan area. potential spectators are only going to be found in significant numbers in large cities. But a large city is not the only consideration. I know that one goal of this league is to increase interest among American born fans. I think this is a great goal, but to start this will not be the case. These teams need to be placed in cities with large South Asian populations. Again this is not too much of a shock, but which cities are these. From what I can gather from the internet(so take it for what its worth) the cities with the largest South Asian populations are New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Wasinton, DC. So all of these cities will need to be considered if there is any hope of decent turn-outs for the first couple of seasons. My uneducated and probably over-geneeralized opinion is that Major League Soccer has grown largely thanks to the large Hispanic community in the US. South Asians are obviously not the only group of people who would come to a Cricket match. I believe the stadium in FL is there laregely to the West Indian community there. So it is important that other groups are considered as well.
So why not just take these cities and be done with it? That very well may be the best way to go and I would not criticize the organizers if that is the way they go. The only issue is the distance between these cities. I admit that this is probably the least important consideration, but I do think it is worth considering. There is no way that this tournament can last for more that a couple of weeks. The IPL is what, 6 weeks? And there are many more teams to fit in. The cost of running the tournament will also limit the timeframe I would think. So having teams flying back and forth around the country may be an issue. If this is a real issue, I would suggest starting on the East Coast and expanding to the west in the coming seasons. Selfishly, I would love to see a team form in Atlanta, just so I could go to some of the matches.
My last thought for this post is an expansion on something I mentioned last time. If Americans who are completely new to the game(which is almost all of us) are going to get interested in the game they have to understand it. This is a very big problem because Cricket is such a complex game. It is very difficult to summarize in a couple of sentences. I was able to get my head around the game be reading the rules on Wikipedia and then filled in that understanding by watching some matches. I don’t think this is enough for most people though. I was determined to learn the game, we need to make this sport accessible to people who are only midly curious. Very few people are going to want to put in much mental effort to understand the game when they already enjoy some other sport that they see as much easier to understand.
This all means that there needs to be a concerted effort to ease people into the game. I think a series of professionaly produced web videos explaining the game in small, easy to digest chunks would be a good start. The USACA or the CHA should get something like that and make sure they are easily found by anyone who does a cursory search for Cricket. Just as important, maybe more so, is making the actual match experience noob friendly for the first few seasons (at least) of this new league. This should happen in both the on-air commentary and at the actual live venues. While we can all admit that the majority of those watching these matches will be familiar with the game, I cannot stress how important it is to make this accessible to the unitiated. There is a lot of dead time between overs and after wickets which need to be devoted to some form of education about the game, in addition to the obvious and necessary advertising.
I can underscore the importance of this with a couple of examples. On the positive side is the World Poker Tour, which manged to get me hooked on Texas Hold-em. Yes, I was on the Poker bandwagon for a long while there and a major reason for that was the well thought-out effort to explain both the basics of the game and the strategies each player used. I believe this was instrumental in generating the buzz that surrounded Texas Hold-em a few years ago and got people not only watching the game, but also playing it. The USACA needs to take its lead from this example.
On the negative side of this issue is Curling. I tried to get in to Curling during the last Winter Olympics and I could tell as I was watching that it would be very interesting if I understood the game in more depth. Unfortunately, The commentators seemed to assume a level of knowledge that was beyond me and there was little insruction going to and coming from commercial breaks. I know that all sports cannot afford to do this sort of thing, but not all sports are aggressively trying to expand viewers and participants. If Cricket is to grow in the US, especially beyond what increased immigration can provide, this new league must be designed so that a complete noob could watch a game, without any outside explanation, and pick up the game. At least they should have a good grasp of the basics by the end of the first innings.
I just thought of something else, but I will cover that in another post. This has gotten way too long already. Please post your comments, I would love to know if I am making any sense or if I’m totally off base.
Ken
I know I am a little late to this news, but I have been so busy at work the past couple of months that I have missed a lot. With that said, I can’t remember being more excited about Cricket’s prospects in America. For starters, there appears to be a more organized effort to increase cricket’s popularity at the grass roots level. I am very sorry that I do not live in an area where I could really be a direct part of that efffort. I have managed to get 3 or 4 of my American friends to come out and play tape-ball occasionally and the really seem to enjoy it, but that really is the extent of what I can accomplish in rural Georgia. This effort needs to be focused on the cities. I hope that someone in Atlanta really takes the reigns and the sport grows like wildfire there.
Secondly, the partnership with the New Zealand board had me giddy. I was at the first T20 match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka and it was the most fun I have had at a sporting event. I will happily drive to Lauderhill (Miami) again to see another international match. I hape that the venue there and in other parts of the country (Atlanta, please someone build an decent pitch that close to me) allow for more international matches. Just the small possibility of getting to watch Graeme Swann play in person excites me.
Lastly, is the possibility of a T30 league coming this July. Many of the commenters on the cricinfo article were skeptical, and I can understand that. Personally, I am optimistic. If this is done correctly it can definitely work. I have already said many times that T20 is the key to opening up the American market. I would be disappointed if that was the full extent of what Cricket can become in the US, but it is a start and it is the only start that has a chance. I am very excited about this coming league. First, I imagine the pitch in FL is a likely venue for at least one of the teams. That means I will be going to at least one match. Secondly, if the broadcast rights either go to ESPN3 or if the matches are shown for free on YouTube, there is a real chance that Americans can e convinced to watch. This is very important. If this new league is behind a pay wall – it WILL NOT WORK!! There is no way casually interested people will pay out money to watch a game they barely understand. It absolutely must be free to watch. There also must be commentary that takes for granted that many people watching do not understand the game. the dead time between overs needs to be devoted to explaining the game to newcomers. In the end I expect this league will do much to grow the grasroots efforts and increase overall interest in the game.
In addition to the broadcasting suggestions I made above, I have a few other ideas that I hope decision makers has thought of. Most importantly, there are many US based companies that already sponsor Cricket around the world. right now I am watching a replay of a Big Bash match and KFC is everywhere, along with many others. These companies need to be approached with this in mind. Another PR stunt i would like to see is a double header between an international Cricket team and a Major League Baseball team. One Baseball game and one T20 match. I think that could draw a lot of attention. I would also like to see an effort to inform Americans just how American Cricket really is. There is so much Cricket in America’s past, people need to understand that it is not so far removed from us. I have already suggested to This American Lie on NPR to do a story on American Cricket, I think I will write them again and suggest it. A documentary on PBS would probably help as well. I don’t know if one exists already or if one would nee to be produced.
I just noticed the attendance count for the match I am watching. It was almost 19,000. It will be a while before American Cricket draws numbers like that, I think. It is important to not see low attendance (at first) as a failure. I hope the investors in this new league are prepared for that. I know that there is a lot left to do before Cricket is a even a low level mainstream sport in this country. But I can see that plans are being made to aggressively build the status of the sport here. I look forward to the day when I can go into a sports equipment store in Savannah, GA and buy Cricket gloves.
I am going to do y best to stay on top of what is going on with these developments, even if I am a little late to the game right now. Keep checking here for more news and please post your comments on what you think about all of this and how you are finding ways to grow Cricket where you are.
Ken
I just received a press release from the people over at American College Cricket. They have just signed a deal with TV Asia for broadcast rights for the end of the championships this year and for the Spring Break tournament next year. This is very exciting news and I encourage everyone to check with their cable/satellite provider to see if they can get the TV Asia channel. Unfortunately, I don’t have cable or satellite right now, so I am out of luck until there is an online broadcast. The broadcasts will start soon, the schedule can be found here, so hurry and sign up for TV Asia and support your favorite college Cricket team. As yet there aren’t any colleges in GA participating , so I will be rooting for Virginia Tech because my mom was an alumna there.
–Ken
The U.S. has a severe shortage of proper cicket grounds. I know the sport isn’t as popular as it could be (as it will be someday) and that cricket requires more space than most other sports. In spite of this I think it’s time for some real grounds to be built and I beleive the goal must be to have Test standard grounds. As far as I know the only International level ground is in Lauderhill, FL (Miami). I hope that someday soon it will be at a standard that would allow test matches.
I have no delusions that the U.S. will be playing test matches any time soon, I sill be shoked if I see one in my lifetime. I do see a test match between other countries played on U.S. soil though. Also, I think U.S. cricket needs to aspire to creating a first-class competition. T20 is fun and I think it is the primary way to develop interest among U.S. born citizens, but we have to be better than that. I want to see U.S. cricket taken seriouly by the rest of the world and that won’t happen unless we show we have more to offer than the shortest form of the game.
There is a great need for proper grounds all over the country. I would like to see stadiums in cities spread out across the country. New York and Pennsylvania need one each and Seattle and somewhere in California. It would also be nice to have one in the middle of the country,somewhere like St. Louis. For the southeast there is already the field in Miami. But this is as far away from the rest of the southeast as possible. Atlanta is a much more centrally located place to serve the cricketing needs of the southeast. (and by centrally located i also mean closer to me)
There is a decent cricket scene in the Atlanta area and I know the stadium would get plenty of use. There are multiple leagues up there and while they may not all be sanctioned, it does show that Metro Atlanta has cricket players. A stadium could serve to unify all the leagues under the USACA and really start to grow the sport in Georgia.
Lastly is the new Indian Consolate in Atlanta. I would expect this to inrease the Indian community in the area and make it easier to bring Indian players to the city. Atlanta is not the only city that needs a Cricket stadium, it may not even be the city that needs one the most. But, for me, it is the one I want to see the most(Savannah would be even better, but that won’t happen). Cricket in the US cannot grow as it needs to without decent grounds. I vote Atlanta.
Ken
I meant to write a post about last Sunday’s cricket and just didn’t – because I’m lazy. The most important outcome from last week’s cricket is that I was not sore until Wednesday like I was the week before, so hopefully I will be able to play without pain soon. Also my brother came out and played, which was awesome. He knew very little about cricket but he loves sports in general, I think he had a good time. I’m a little disappointed that we will not be playing this week, but I’m looking forward to the following week. I am considering getting a bat for myself, but I’m not sure which one to get.
Next up is the Champions League and how the Knight Riders have done. KKR could not have had a much closer qualifying round and still make it through. The bowling was decent, but the batting and fielding were nowhere near what they need to be if they want to win may matches. It is easy to complain and point fingers, something I am more than willing to do, but I have to say that this Knight Riders team is the most successful in the franchises short history. So whatever happens – Good Job Knight Riders!
Lastly is today’s T20 between England and the West Indies. I expect England to play well at home as they usually do, and the line up is very impressive especially in the batting department. Bairstow set a pretty high bar of expectation for himself. For me, the big event is Graeme Swann’s opportunity to captain the side. I don’t expect him to replace Broad who still needs a fair chance to prove himself, two games is not enough, but I am excited to see Swann show his stuff.
Next post will be why I think Atlanta needs a Test standard Cricket stadium.
–Ken
So India’s tour of Engand is over and all India managed was one tie. I won’t say I’m sory England did so well, I’m not, but at the same time I am a little disapointed that India didn;t get at least one win the the One Day series. After England won all four tests, I was satisfied with their performance and the ODIs were much less important.
For the whole tour, India was not at its best, injuries and illness kept at least one top-tier player out at all times, usually more. I don’t want to minimize England’s victories though, in the test series India had plenty of great players that should have performed much better than they did. The only exception to this was Dravid. By the end of the ODI series, though, India were missing almost all of the team that won the World Cup earlier this year.
In fairness to England, they were missing some key one day players as well. I don’t think anyone would say England was a full strength one day side without Petersen and Morgan, especially with the form Petersen has been in recently. Morgan is a key figure in this for me because of the Champions League tournament coming up on Monday. Gambir is also a critical concern to me. The Knight Riders play the second game in the play-offs and I can’t wait. They played so well last season (right up to the last 4 or 5 overs of the last game of the regular season) that I can’t help but think they have a real chance of getting in.
As a side note, I love that Cricket never stops. Football season has just started here in America and I love going to watch games with my friends, but those poor fans only have until early February to really enjoy their sport. As I constantly brag, Cricket has no season, not world cricket anyway. “It’s always warm enough somewhere,” I say. Sure there are gaps when little is happening, but that never lasts long. Right now I am watching the Pro40 final for English County Cricket and the Champions League starts on Monday. It’s a rare day when there is just no Cricket at all. That reason alone proves its the best sport.
I’ve rambled enough for now. Time to focus on the match I’m watching. That or take a nap in front of the TV, not sure just yet, it is early in Georgia. I’ll try to post again Sunday after another day of playing Cricket myself.
Ken