India against New Zealand. England against Australia. A couple of series right after the end of the T20 World Cup. What was the need of pointless series? The growing chorus to limit the number of games that does not have any meaning seems to have fallen on deaf ears. For New Zealand cricket, this series will be a blessing but under the current circumstances, it does not looks like it. The stadiums were deserted. A series so soon after the World Cup, no one bothered.
The England series
Let us first consider the England series. They had just won the World Cup. The players were all exhausted by the time the final finished. For that matter, even the spectators were exhausted. The intensity at the World Cup was quite high. England faced 18 overs of high quality pace and were concentration personified. In the end, that temperament and perseverance was rewarded with the title. Naturally, they would have wanted to celebrate the triumph for quite sometime. A break of about a month would have given them the opportunity to celebrate as a team but the authorities would not want any of it. All they care about is money. Moeen Ali was quite furious about the whole affair.
“It’s been happening for a while,” he said. “Those kind of things are a shame. Having a game in three days’ time, it’s horrible. As players we’re kind of getting used to it now. “But to give a hundred percent all the time is difficult when you’re playing every two, three days. As a group we want to enjoy and celebrate and have that because you put so much into it as well.
As expected, England never took these games seriously. Jos Buttler chose to play one and rest for the others. The intensity and the focus was clearly missing on the part of the England cricketers.
Onto the Indian series
This was another series that does not make much sense. You have just finished a T20 World Cup and you travel for 7 hours to play another series of T20 and ODIs. The broadcasters will have to be satisfied. That is the only aim of this series. Amazon Prime chose a poor series to broadcast. Most of the Indians did not even bother to follow the games. A few forgot that there were games being played in New Zealand. Unfortunately, the Indian players cannot afford to voice their opinion and run the risk of being left out of the team entirely.
However, not everyone are convinced that the players have a right to complain about too much cricket.
Clarke, the former Australian captain is unsupportive
“Players can’t complain about the international schedule when they’re taking the opportunity to play domestic cricket as well for franchises for money when you can have that six or eight weeks off. Then you’d be as fresh as a daisy.”
The onething in favour of Clarke is that he never played in IPL nor in any of the other leagues. He valued rest and playing for Australia . However, he must also understand that the life of sportspeople is limited and they will have to make the most of it. Franchise cricket helps them in their quest. ICC and the various boards must wake up and understand the reality.