I READ with interest a recent news report that said the organizers of the three-match One Day series between sides representing Asia and Africa are finding it tough to market the games to their entire satisfaction. This basically means lack of due interest on the part of potential sponsors to stand behind the organizers. This is despite the fact that these matches are no festival encounters and have been given full-scale ODI status by the International Cricket Council.
In broad terms and in the larger context of international cricket, the situation represents too much of the activity. All sports competition, regardless of their scale and orientation, are hugely dependent on revenue generated by sponsorship and television rights. In turn, the amount paid upfront by a channel against television rights depends on the amount of advertising it thinks the event can trigger on the screen. Both these sources of revenue generation, naturally, depend on the basis of a generalized assessment on the part of potential sponsors and advertisers of the kind of viewership, both in terms of on-the-ground spectators and armchair followers, that the event might or might not provoke.
The decision of sponsors to stay away is generally taken as a serious sign of fading interest in the game itself. And if that is the case with cricket, over-exposure might be the most practical explanation. That being so, a surfeit of One Day matches stands to take a huge share of the blame. There can be little doubt about that.
As I checked out, there have been as many as 2,263 One Day matches held thus far, and there are more going on as I write these lines. In contrast, the number of Test matches stand at 1,757 till the first Ashes Test. I know that the number of actual playing days in that many Tests would come to more than eight thousand, but the one-dayers are still too many when you consider the fact that 1,757 Tests have been played over almost 130 years, while the one-dayers have been a recent phenomenon. The first ODI, if I remember it right, was played in the early 1970s, which means they have a history of no more than 35 years. And a simple calculation will tell you that on average, an ODI has been played every fifth day all along those three-and-a-half decades. A Test match, in contrast, has been played on average once every month. So you can see the difference in terms of match frequency between the two versions of the game.
Among the leading culprits happens to be Pakistan, which has featured in the highest number of games, the tally being 620, which is a staggering 35 per cent of the total. The next in line is Australia with 600 games, while India has 586 against its name.
Leaving aside South Africa — 333 ODIs so far — which entered the fray quite late in 1992, England with 423 games is the side with the least exposure to ODIs among the leading international sides. It is ironical, however, that the latest 20-20 model started off from England, and is already threatening the ODI format which has started trying out newer attractions to keep itself alive.
The ICC has not only allowed this glut to continue for too long, it has been an active member on the scene, and its latest idea to give official patronage to Asia-Africa encounters is only an example of its policy on the issue. Lest I may be misunderstood, I am not against the idea of holding such encounters, nor I have any problems with the proposed matches between Australia and the Rest of the World. What I do wish to stress, whoever, is that the whole activity around the One Day format needs a review. Too much of anything tends to backfire, and One Day cricket is no exception.
I READ with interest a recent news report that said the organizers of the three-match One Day series between sides representing Asia and Africa are finding it tough to market the games to their entire satisfaction. This basically means lack of due interest on the part of potential sponsors to stand behind the organizers. This is despite the fact that these matches are no festival encounters and have been given full-scale ODI status by the International Cricket Council.
Among the leading culprits happens to be Pakistan, which has featured in the highest number of games, the tally being 620, which is a staggering 35 per cent of the total. The next in line is Australia with 600 games, while India has 586 against its name.
