History rhymes

Sometimes, history rhymes in revealing ways. In 1980 or 1981, a picture of Somerset taking the field in a County Championship Match would look like the picture above. You could find Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Joel Garner considering the field setting.

It is a measure of how much cricket has changed that today, there is no First Class cricket anywhere in the world where such a scene is possible. The first class, four innings team or tournament which can attract the best players in the world, especially an international trio made up of the best players in the world does not exist. The only place where it is possible to watch Quinton de Kock, Jasprit Bumrah, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler - six of the finest players of their generation - in the same cricket match is a T20 franchise tournament. Make that one solitary T20 franchise tournament - the IPL.

As cricket has gotten richer, less of it is being played. In 1962, the last year before limited overs cricket began, 506 first class matches were played worldwide. The average match lasted 1938 balls. In 2002, the last year before T20 came along, 1645 limited overs and first class matches were played worldwide. The average match lasted 1161 balls. In 2019, 2803 first class, limited overs or T20 matches were played worldwide and the average match lasted 689 balls. Keep in mind that in 1962, there was no widespread radio, let alone television, in much of the cricketing world. The only way for people to watch cricket was to go to the ground. The game could not be played for living by all but a very small share of its players. Today, the world’s best players are multi-millionaires, but the only time they can compete against each other outside of Test cricket is in a twenty-overs a side match.

There’s surely an opportunity for a first class franchise league, either in India, or globally. Perhaps the current enforced pause will force administrators to think creatively about this.