Kingdom come: Will the Saudis take over cricket

[Tillu]

The cricket world is turning its attention, again, to India as the world’s best gather for the 2023 50 over World Cup as the game comes to grips with the fact that the long promised change of climate is at hand.

All the stars will play for their countries in that tournament, but how long they continue to do so is anybody’s guess.Mark Wood, one of England’s Ashes heroes, has indicated he will probably accept money to play T20 cricket in the UAE early next year and so won’t be available for much of the Test series against India.

Jason Roy terminated his central contract because he wants to play American franchise cricket and was this week cut from the 15-man squad for England’s World Cup campaign.South Africa admitted recently it would not be able to send its best players to a Test series in New Zealand next year because they will be needed to prop up its domestic T20 franchise league.The actions of individuals are one thing, but when administrations choose to ignore the stated commitment to international competition the situation has moved to a whole other level.

And if you think that the IPL, the BBL, the CPL, the PSL, the IL20, the SA20, the BPL, the Hundred, the Blast and all the other petty skirmishes are not distraction enough then stand by for the advent of Saudi Arabia’s entrance into T20 franchise cricket.There are unverified – and probably specious – rumours among agents that Ben Stokes has been offered $US50m to sign a five-year deal with the tournament due to start in 2025.

The Saudis have big money and just need a few big names to kick start a tournament just as it did with golf.The chairman of the Saudi cricket board, Prince Saud bin Mishal al-Saud, says he wants to turn the nation into a “global cricketing destination.”Stokes, hasn’t been asked directly about the contract offer, but says it is foolish to think the sort of money being talked about will not have an impact on the game.

“You can’t compete with money, especially the money that Saudi Arabia is throwing around to certain people,” he said in a recent interview.“People can be at different points in their lives and different points in their careers, where other things matter more to them than other things.“I think Saudi Arabia over the next five to ten years is going to be interesting to see where they take sport.

Not just for cricket, football, rugby, golf, it will be interesting to see how the world of sport actually changes,” he added.Cricket Australia general manager Ben Oliver says that while that organisation offers multi-year contracts they are not used as a prophylactic against franchise cricket.

“That’s not the primary reason for offering a multi year agreement,” he told The Weekend Australian. “It is a recognition of performance and a reflection of the value that the selectors have of a player and their role in the team. That is a principle that sits behind Cricket Australia central contracting.“An important part of the MOU was to reach an agreement that was cognisant of what is happening in the game globally.

“We have BBL and WBBL clubs along with state and national programs in Australia, but on top of that is how it all fits together as part of the global game.“That formed part of the recent MOU discussions which saw an evolution of previous agreements without the need for a fundamental change in the CA contracting structure.

“In saying this, the speed of change is quick and we’ll continue to look at the contracting model as the game moves forward.“We are fortunate to have players who value representing Australia and performing at the highest level in international cricket.“Our Australian players also have the benefit of competing in high quality BBL and WBBL tournaments locally and we are supportive of players taking up overseas league opportunities where the schedule allows.

”England is rife with whispers about approaches to players by Saudi Arabia. All-rounders Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali’s names were put out this week but Moeen issued a denial soon after.Australian players told The Weekend Australian that while they expected the league to come to fruition and to pay significantly they had not had any official approaches.

Saudi company, Aramco, one of the world’s largest oil exporters, recently announced sponsorship deals with the ICC, the BCCI and the IPL.Nick Hoult reports in The Telegraph UK that England is bracing itself for players to reject multiple-year contracts in anticipation of more lucrative offers on the horizon.“The squeeze on budgets coincides with a generation of England players recognising their market value,” he wrote.

“They have more options than their predecessors, making them more likely to turn down multi-year central contracts that are to be offered for the first time.”Writing on these pages recently Michael Atherton saw only dark days ahead in a recent column for The Weekend Australian.

“Now it is generally accepted that the five-day game and bilateral international cricket is withering in front of our eyes,” he wrote. “We don’t see it so clearly in England because Tests are still vibrant here.“But in other parts of the world, it is a dying, or dead, game as a live spectator sport.

“In the Caribbean, for example, Tests are not usually watched in stadiums in any meaningful way — unless England are playing, when the travelling support lends a false look. The same is true in South Africa.”

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/cricket/kingdom-come-will-the-saudis-take-over-cricket/news-story/62256b2ba981e4cd06a99529da164030

Edited September 22, 2023 by Tillu

[cricketfan28]

yes, they have the money.

[deathmonger]

No. We have more money and we are growing faster.

[R!TTER]

[Number]

Need good amount of indigenous interest which transforms into talent spotting. Without that it is not sustainable.

[Sean Bradley]

Ok so the saudis have the money, but whos gonna watch? The football crazy Arabs ? If India shuns its door and stops the telecast, then it would turn out to be like another Kashmir premier league. 

[cowboysfan]

10 hours ago, Number said:

Need good amount of indigenous interest which transforms into talent spotting. Without that it is not sustainable.

half of them are hardcore wahabis,no cricket for them or any other sport.

[NameGoesHere]

Nope.
 

I doubt many in India are going to follow a T20 series that doesn’t have Indian stars playing. And I’d be surprised if BCCI permits our players to play there.

 

So we have a likely Saudi scenario of (a) no India players participation and (b) not significant Indian audience participation.

 

Just as a sample survey how many of use here would watch this league big Indian players weren’t playing? 

What the Saudi league may do is over time take away some excellent foreign players who prefer the money over playing in IPL.  There’s an impact from that on IPL but I don’t know how much.

 

 

[R!TTER]

1 hour ago, NameGoesHere said:

What the Saudi league may do is over time take away some excellent foreign players who prefer the money over playing in IPL.  There’s an impact from that on IPL but I don’t know how much.

That's also exaggerated, check any other major signings in IPL - apart from regular brain dead ones like Tymal *ing Mills, the ones who fetch the highest amount are generally great/established intl players or those who've done well against India. And if they don't do any of that then no one's gonna watch, at least the vast majority of us! Basically any league outside India is unviable without Indian audience/money & in that we should definitely not allow any active Indian players to play in Saudi/UAE or any 3rd grade league.

[Tillu]

Sustainable or not, if they really offer whatever they are saying in the article, IPL is going to see a huge exodus of overseas talent atleast for the first few years. They are taking the help of Pakistan in setting up this league. They are also having their eyes on NFL, MLB etc.