ICC and private T20 owners need to sort cricket’s future, Bond

Ōtautahi - Former New Zealand fast bowler and Mumbai Indians IPL coach Shane Bond says the International Cricket Council (ICC) and private league owners need to get together to make the game thrive better.

The world’s cricketing countries and players are struggling to come to grips with so many premier league opportunities, so many domestic three-format competitions and flurries of test, one-day and T20 cricket formats.

Bond flies out to India later next week to start helping prepare the Mumbai Indians for the Indian Premier League, with the first game against the Royal Challengers on April 3.

The T20 private owners and the ICC should sit down and work out what is good for everyone, Bond says.

“They need to ask to each other what do you want; what do we want what do  and what do the players wants. The most important thing is they should want the whole game to survive.

“Being realistic, everyone knows T20 is here to stay. New Zealand is one of the smallest test playing nations. We will cope ok, we have to evolve, but there are a lot of decisions to make.

“We need agreement on the on global calendar, the ICC wanted to manage international cricket so that looks best for the game overall. New Zealand needs to be pragmatic enough because it can’t compete financially with these other big T20 leagues.

“We need to look at how big name players cope in NZ rugby and they have sabbaticals to cash in as a life span of a sportsperson is short.

“If players are allowed to go off and play other leagues at various times then we will create bigger squads. This is happening anyway in international cricket. Half the Black Caps team won’t be playing Sri Lanka  in the white ball series coming up as they will be at the IPL. 

“We can’t afford to lose players likes James Neesham who was not offered a contract and has gone to the South African T20 league.

“It doesn’t make sense to not have Trent Boult playing recently yet this is happening. As the game evolves we need to accept the fact players will move around the world and we want them to play for New Zealand, when they can.”  

“There have been white ball world cups for ages. The ICC has tried to give context to test cricket but there are still too many bilateral series with no context.  We need to adapt and focus on what is best for the game and the players.

“Times are changing. There used to be massive crowds for many of the games but not any more. It is tough for cricket as smaller nations rely on bilateral series against the likes of India and England to create revenue. 

“But T20 cricket is flourishing and they only play for six weeks and there is a T20 league tournament winner, whether it is the IPL or The Hundred in England or the Big Bash in Australia. I saw the South African tournament on television this year and the crowds were packed.”

The avalanche of money for T20 cricket will force the International Cricket Council to rethink the status quo of three formats it is desperate to preserve.