It's been a while since my last post, but I've never forgotten about this blog, I just was never quite sure what and when to write. So what better way to make a comeback than on quarantine and procrastinating from uni assignments!
This year is the year of the 2020 ICC World twenty20 World Cup. Except it might be taking place in 2021, now that's a marketer's nightmare right there, if it wasn't already bad enough that they had to deal with a title worse than Kingdom Hearts' most egregious entry.
Now just from reading 2020 ICC World twenty20 World Cup, you could surmise it's a sports tournament of sorts, possibly taking place in the year 2020, and presumably of an international variety considering the "World Cup" in the moniker. However, what that long and unwieldy name doesn't tell you, is what sport it could possibly be. Surely there isn't a world cup sponsored by the International Criminal Court is there? Although to be fair, that's not entirely far off of what the ICC is.
The International Cricket Council suffers a terminal problem: How Do We Promote *chirps* Cricket?
Unlike Football, where it is accepted that any tournament will be a standard 11-a-side, 90 minute match, Cricket is a very different beast. It has three concurrently running formats throughout the year, and World Cups and Champions Trophy (Diet World Cup) competitions running almost every year. For a cricket fan, it's great. You never have to wait too long to see your faves in action. However, it's a huge hassle to explain to literally anyone else, even if they have the vaguest sense of the sport.
Unlike other sports where matches are timed, Cricket operates on the basis of Overs. 6 balls are thrown in each over, and an ODI (One Day International) consists of 50 overs. The official Cricket World Cup is played in this format, and the last one was in 2019. twenty20 cricket is played in 20 overs, and the WC for that is (supposedly) happening later this year. (What!?) In addition to that are regional tournaments, the Euros of Cricket if you will. Let me give a short example:
2017: Champions Trophy (top 10 International teams)
2018: Asia Cup (Asian teams)
2019: Cricket World Cup
2020: twenty20 World Cup
This is a much more demanding schedule than International football. In short, Cricket is a convoluted mess with nary a care for streamlining. In my opinion, this does more to hurt the game than anything else.
But by far, the worst decision the ICC has ever made, is to arbitrarily change the format of World Cups for every edition. It's understood that in football, the number of teams are divided into groups where round robin matches are then played. Then, the top two advance and it's all knockout matches from there. Also, the number of participating teams only increase, never the opposite.
Well, that's just not cricket old chap!
Every single world cup has a different qualifying method, with the number of teams participating going up and down more than a yoyo. I love this sport, I really do, the highs and lows and the passion I feel are unparalleled even by football. But it needs to change. The Old Boys network in charge of this shambles needs to understand that the majority of the cricket fans are not English, not White, and decidedly ranging from middle-aged to young. The structure of the sport has to evolve to match that, otherwise it'll never enjoy the popularity of its contemporaries.
This year is the year of the 2020 ICC World twenty20 World Cup. Except it might be taking place in 2021, now that's a marketer's nightmare right there, if it wasn't already bad enough that they had to deal with a title worse than Kingdom Hearts' most egregious entry.
Now just from reading 2020 ICC World twenty20 World Cup, you could surmise it's a sports tournament of sorts, possibly taking place in the year 2020, and presumably of an international variety considering the "World Cup" in the moniker. However, what that long and unwieldy name doesn't tell you, is what sport it could possibly be. Surely there isn't a world cup sponsored by the International Criminal Court is there? Although to be fair, that's not entirely far off of what the ICC is.
The International Cricket Council suffers a terminal problem: How Do We Promote *chirps* Cricket?
Unlike Football, where it is accepted that any tournament will be a standard 11-a-side, 90 minute match, Cricket is a very different beast. It has three concurrently running formats throughout the year, and World Cups and Champions Trophy (Diet World Cup) competitions running almost every year. For a cricket fan, it's great. You never have to wait too long to see your faves in action. However, it's a huge hassle to explain to literally anyone else, even if they have the vaguest sense of the sport.
Unlike other sports where matches are timed, Cricket operates on the basis of Overs. 6 balls are thrown in each over, and an ODI (One Day International) consists of 50 overs. The official Cricket World Cup is played in this format, and the last one was in 2019. twenty20 cricket is played in 20 overs, and the WC for that is (supposedly) happening later this year. (What!?) In addition to that are regional tournaments, the Euros of Cricket if you will. Let me give a short example:
2017: Champions Trophy (top 10 International teams)
2018: Asia Cup (Asian teams)
2019: Cricket World Cup
2020: twenty20 World Cup
This is a much more demanding schedule than International football. In short, Cricket is a convoluted mess with nary a care for streamlining. In my opinion, this does more to hurt the game than anything else.
But by far, the worst decision the ICC has ever made, is to arbitrarily change the format of World Cups for every edition. It's understood that in football, the number of teams are divided into groups where round robin matches are then played. Then, the top two advance and it's all knockout matches from there. Also, the number of participating teams only increase, never the opposite.
Well, that's just not cricket old chap!
Every single world cup has a different qualifying method, with the number of teams participating going up and down more than a yoyo. I love this sport, I really do, the highs and lows and the passion I feel are unparalleled even by football. But it needs to change. The Old Boys network in charge of this shambles needs to understand that the majority of the cricket fans are not English, not White, and decidedly ranging from middle-aged to young. The structure of the sport has to evolve to match that, otherwise it'll never enjoy the popularity of its contemporaries.
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