Cricket is a dying sports, thanks to the overkill that's going on right now. Everyone is trying to deny it, but truly it just doesn't have the same meaning as it used. ICC is going nuts trying figure out the solution, when it's right in front of their eyes! Stop the overkill! And stop trying fix things with tricky rules. And currently it's neither here or there. It's not a country vs country sport as it used to be, nor is it a fully club sport. But I can guarantee more people will care about Aus v Ind than Jaipur Submarines vs Komolapur Trainwracks. Couple of years ago it became a fight against the private leagues, not anymore. Now you are fighting with yourselves ICC.
My solutions:
- Having more gaps between the seasons. Shut down cricket for a year, starting from the next season. Start a new era from the scratch. Give all the players a break to get fit. And let the fans miss the game. Build some suspense. That's how everything works, starting from all different sport leagues to tv shows. A GAP.
- Create 3 Divisional Test Cricket League to bring competitiveness and pride.
(Div 1: 1-5, Div 2: 5-10, Div 3: Associates.) Everyone has been talking about it. Just get it done.
• This should take place every other year with big MEANINGFUL price money for Div 1 Champs (Millions of dollars) so they give a damn. Mud the rankings.
• The usual, bottom team goes down a Div, swaps with the winning team. (Div 3 bottom team swaps with the next best associates).
• Work out a good system between the Div (I'm thinking, Div 1: 3 match Home-Away series, Div 2/3: 2 matches Home-Away Series. So every team plays each other twice. 12 Home, 12 Away games for Div 1 Teams, 8 in Div 2 and 3).
• This will be the series, there should be no separated series, no more FTPs or w/e. This is the FTPs.
• (I'm still undecided whether to include ODIs and T20s as a part of this. But no more than 3 ODIs and 1 T20.)
- Cancel Championship trophy. There is no room for that. You can't have that many meaningless tournaments.
• World Cup (4 years, 12 Teams) and T20 World Cup (2 years, 16 teams) is good enough.
- There should be no cricket for at least 5-6 months after every World Cup as well. It's meaningless! Nobody cares about a ODI series between Sri Lanka and West Indies when the WC is over. That's where it all started. Having no gaps between the seasons. If you wait 6 months, everyone will want to see the champions again, everyone will want to beat the champions, and there will be a continuity. This gap will also make room for players to take part in funky T20 leagues.
This will center the cricket around Test Cricket again. And with World Cups for the other formats will keep the fans happy, and keep those formats meaningful as well. And they won't interfere with one anther.
Chocolates are are great, but you can't have too much of them