Frankly, it is disgusting to see the spectacle of England and Australia battling out over petty Twenty20 and ODI matches after the completion of the Ashes. I cannot understand the mindless psychology of the tour schedulers. One would think that the Ashes was the primary attraction and that the rest of the matches should act as a buildup to the Test series.
Maybe I am different from other people, so I cannot imagine how people would have the energy to continue to follow the fortunes of the teams over the next six (6!) matches. If the Ashes is the main attraction of the summer, then people would build up to the final conclusion upon which they would let themselves go.
The bigger point is how absolutely silly ODIs seem nowadays. After the Twenty20 World Cups and the IPL, one-dayers seem so tedious in comparison. They are the marathon in comparison to the 100m sprint that T20 matches are. Maybe the last few minutes of the match builds up to a thriller, like it did today, but generally it is a big wash.
You may say that the same argument could be made for Tests, but I think Tests are fundamentally different. There are too many differences between ODIs and Tests, but ODIs are so similar to T20s that you can find little justification for ODIs other than the money angle.
Just to be clear, I was a huge fan of ODIs, but my thinking changed after the rise of Twenty20. Like many people, I thought T20 was a gimmick, but when I realized that ODI was also a gimmick that ate up a full day that I changed my mind about it. India winning the first T20 Cup didn’t hurt, either.
Krish, surely if the schedulers are mindless, there can be no psychology?!
It’s a double edged sword really – yes, there is less interest amongst the fans for the T20/ODI series, but at least it gives the players something to do.
It was the absence of any cricket after the 2005 Ashes that allowed the squad to go nuts, and ultimately lose their way after years of steady progress.
Perhaps. But there are other reasons too – the Pakistan tour, injuries, the loss of Vaughan, Flintoff’s captaincy. In the whole scheme of things, the absence of cricket after the 2005 Ashes is not that big a factor.