2022 review

[CalZim]

Cricinfo have done an article going through each international teams performance:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/2022 ... ed-1349623

Basically says we had two completely different halves of the year, I wonder why that was….. for us it’s pre and post rajprick

Statistics for the year:

Test matches: unbeaten

ODIs: played 15, won 4 (notably Bangladesh series), lost 11

T20is: played 24, won 12, lost 11, 1 NR

Women: played 15, won 12, lost 3

Good to see that the women have had a good year, on the whole I think so have the mens side. Dave Houghton has done wonders since he has taken over and there are some positive signs for next year. I look forward to it.

Have a good new year everyone

[secretzimbo]

On the whole things with ZC are better than they have been for a while. Long may it continue in 2023.

[eugene]

2022 saw a few signs of progress after about 20 years of no progress whatsoever. I do however fear for the wider game of cricket and where international teams outside of the big three fit in, but that isn't really anything that we have any control over.

I really wish T20 Cricket would become a traveling circuit like Rugby Sevens with its own players seperate from the more elite 15-man game. Cricket is likely to see the opposite happen if anything, with all the best players traveling the world playing T20 and the rest toiling for their countries.

[jaybro]

I really wish T20 Cricket would become a traveling circuit like Rugby Sevens with its own players seperate from the more elite 15-man game. Cricket is likely to see the opposite happen if anything, with all the best players traveling the world playing T20 and the rest toiling for their countries.

Much like Eugene, and many others on the forum, I am a ‘purist’ when it comes to cricket so I also believe Test cricket is the best cricket. For me, the parts of the game that have drawn me to it are the stats/ numbers and the pitch.

I love numbers and cricket is a numbers game, I love running my calculator over players averages etc trying to work out how many runs they’d have to score in the next series to lift their averages etc. Players averaging 22 with a strike rate of 150 doesn’t interest me, and t20 cricket doesn’t give me the numbers fix I need, unlike tests and ODIs which have more volume.

For me the ‘magic’ of cricket is in the pitch and the conditions. I love how the amount of grass, moisture and weather conditions can alter the game and change it. I love how a pitch can change throughout a match and change from having something in it for seamers, to flattening out for the batsman before the spinners come into it on the final day you don’t get that in 3 hours of cricket.

But unfortunately T20 is here to stay and will only get bigger if not regulated by the ICC/ BCCI. But ultimately the BCCI are happy to let the plague that is t20 franchise cricket continuing to spread and kill off their biggest rivals. The more franchise leagues that pop up means more opportunities for players all over the world except for Indian players of course.

Unless the ICC regulated how many different teams one player could play for each year, this is only going to get worse and we will see more countries go the wayside like the Windies where all their best kids dream to play IPL with gold chains rather than wear the famous maroon cap that the likes of Richards, Holding, Marshall and Lara wore.

South Africa have been feeling the pinch for a while, and it will only get worse. For a young white player like Brevis, why would he want to slave away trying to win one of four spots available to a white player in South Africa when he could just take his pay checks and travel the world?

NZ are also entering a concerning phase where players such as Boult, Guptill and Neeshan have knocked back central contracts to become cricket nomads as well.

In saying all this, I do believe t20 cricket is the future for Zimbabwe and unless they see this and start to put a strategy around developing this format, they will ultimately continue to become less relevant.

T20 cricket being a shorter version makes more sense for Zimbabwe for a few reasons. The shorter the contest the more likely of competing and beating the big teams. Shorter format cheaper to host matches and tours, which will make it more appealing for other nations to tour Zim.

Also kids in Zimbabwe can see that becoming a global T20 star is their ticket out of poverty and a way to provide a better life for their families. If Zimbabwe can provide a pathway that these kids can see then we will see more children taking up the game rather than football etc.

[TapsC2]

Eventually the T20 leagues are going to become so long that they will hold the main contracts and national games will be pushed into smaller windows. Unfortunately money talks guys. One has to wonder whether a kid still wakes up and dreams of playing a test match or they dream of the T20 millions.

It will be interesting to see how the ODI world Cup does next year in terms of interest and total views.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Test matches: unbeaten

Loved it, that's the spirit!

[CrimsonAvenger]

2022 saw a few signs of progress after about 20 years of no progress whatsoever.

Has ZCF seen enough progress last year for the return of the ZCF XI though?

[Kriterion_BD]

Eventually the T20 leagues are going to become so long that they will hold the main contracts and national games will be pushed into smaller windows. Unfortunately money talks guys. One has to wonder whether a kid still wakes up and dreams of playing a test match or they dream of the T20 millions.

It will be interesting to see how the ODI world Cup does next year in terms of interest and total views.

I disagree. Ultimately, I think the IPL stars are stars because of the international game - with some exceptions like Umran Malik. 98% of the game's stars start at some level of international cricket (U-19, or Test/ODI/T20 level). In fact, the only domestic leagues big enough to make a trans-national superstar on their own are the IPL and the Hundred/Natwest T20. Even the BBL lacks the exposure to create an internationally recognizable superstar without the Australian national team performance.

Similarly, I think the vast majority of Indian cricket fans would value the national team over Mumbai, Chennai, Punjab's franchise teams.

Going into the specific formats, here's how things will be 20 years from now, under the assumption that nothing changes from the present:

The world Test Championship will still be here. It will most likely be dominated by the Big 3, but teams like New Zealand and Pakistan may challenge in any given cycle depending on how many world class players they can discover. South Africa will probably sink to Sri Lanka levels - where they will occaisionally beat the big 3, but will not be competitive 90% of the time, but will still be way too strong for non-WTC sides. Sri Lanka will be stuck where they have been for nearly a decade now, unless they can discover the next Murali, Sanga, or Mahela. The Windies will be in a similar position to Sri Lanka, but might compete a bit more if they can continue to churn out decent quicks, as they seem to have at present. Bangladesh will probably be brilliant once or twice a year, but stay stuck at the SL/WI level 90% of the time. Afghanistan are the wild card here IMO. If they play 4-5 Tests a year, which I believe their board has the interest of doing, and manage to dominate Zimbabwe and Ireland and knock off one of BD/SL/WI a couple of times, I can seen the Afghans getting promoted to a 10 team WTC by around 2030. The ICC would love nothing more than that to show the game is growing and not just at the T20 level. Some leading players will either retire early (Trent Boult, QdK) or refuse to play the game entirely, but I believe the majority of the game's star players will retain a fair amount of interest to continue playing Tests.

Bilateral ODIs will go back to being without context in the pre-2019 era, but that won't necessarily make them less enjoyable. But as fickle as the ICC is, they may bring the Super League back in 2027 - which was actually a good idea. Again, some of the game's superstars will refuse to play this "meaningless" format, but I expect a solid majority to continue playing it.

The ODI world cup will still remain king of ICC events, whether by design or inherently. It will be of utmost importance to all 5 Asian nations + Australia and England and most likely New Zealand too. Although the Super League will be scrapped, was there that much difference between the SL and the ODI rankings table, to begin with?

T20Is have already outstripped ODIs in terms of number of bilateral matches. I think that trend will continue.

[Jemisi]

My son knows who has won every World cup. We don't remember who has won the T20 version. It's too cheap and frequent.

[secretzimbo]

Kriterion’s wildly optimistic and naive (and overly long-winded) assessment above is touching and sweet and nice but unfortunately rooted in fantasy rather than reality or any actual knowledge of the current cricket economy, sadly.