There is a reason the 2005 Ashes brought the nation to a stand still and probably got more kids playing cricket that ever before (me included) Hard hitting batsman, fast bowlers, high run rates and close matches. What does England have out of that criteria now?
exactly this. The old timers at work are all jumping for joy that KP is gone but 2005 did more for cricket in this county than.. well god knows when. I have no doubt that if we looked at the stats for ticket sales, sponsorhips, player wages, number of people playing the sport (adults and children), number of media stories all shot up post 2005.. why.. because it was pure entertainment. I wonder how many of the current brands, smaller brands and retailers would even have entered teh market if 2005 hadnt' happened?? There wouldn't be the demand as there wouldn't be the number of players. I know for certain I doubt I'd have come into the game for instance, and I sure as hell won't be the only person to have started because of 2005.
Yes dour cricket will win you matches and if you are a hardcore supporter (judging by county cricket there aren't that many around!) you will be happy but if you are the 'masses' of normal people you want entertaining for your money.. Cricket if it wants to grow in popularity, have more attendances at games, more sponsorships, more adults and kids playing the game.. needs to provide that. Watching some boring team grind out results, producing PR lead media crap with stuffy management isnt' going to achieve that. By all means lets go back even further towards obscurity where only a small % of the nation gave a crap about cricket.. watch counties stuggle more.. watch teh ECB start to lose out on ££ as sky won't keep paying top wack for a sport that isn't generating the sales (they only bought into it after 2005 after all!).. yes you want to win, but there is a way to win that will captivate people and inspire them. Watching people grind out 500-6 and bowl 'tight lines' at medium plod and bore them out isn't going to do that long term.
I think i read somewhere or heard some league chairman mention that player numbers are dropping overall within the local leagues again.. kids numbers aren't as high as they were a few years ago and the amount staying in the game is down.... Whole host of reasons of course for that but something the ECB can do is make sure it's up there in terms of entertainment!!
The amount of clubs struggling for players, teams folding etc is staggering.. I don't really care what they do with KP, sacking him won't affect me one bit. It will affect cricket it this country though as it's been a while since the county had a inspirational player to cheer on.. I've not followed it long enough but it looks like England had botham.................... flintoff.. Kp.. that's it.. Strauss, Cook, Trott arent' exactly going to keep the non hardcore people watchign are they!
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Topic: Is that the end of KP? (Read 22048 times)