Yes, it's the Qualifiers. Why is this?
It certainly isn't out of love for T20, a format designed to be consumed and forgotten. It's more a matter of principle. The Ashes are a behemoth, towering over all else in the two competing nations. As a result, the two respective boards have sought, of late, to milk them to the utmost extent. This also extends to non-Ashes format, like ODIs. England has been on FTA television in Australia quite possibly every year since at least 2010. The regularity of the contest has robbed it of feeling special, while the amount of matches these two nations play every year also means that there doesn't seem to be any context to them.
There is a saving grace, in that it is still Test cricket on free-to-air television, and thus I will put it on, but normally I would also be following the news closely before, during and after the series. Not so in this case. I couldn't even bring myself to read the Cricinfo preview for the first Test.
On the other hand, we have the qualifiers. I repeat, I have no love for T20. The idea of a T20 World Cup does not fill me with excitement, or, really, any interest for the cricket that will be on show. But the teams competing in these games aren't Australia or England. They are Nepal and Jersey, Oman and Papua New Guinea. These are teams that are being deliberately ignored by the all powerful cricket administrators from the big countries. I want to see these teams playing cricket however I can, and the those in charge keep taking those opportunities away.
If you're not a big full member, you don't get wall to wall media coverage. In fact, you barely get any coverage at all, only occasionally crossing orbit with the mainstream media when a World Cup comes around, and even then generally only when one of your matches is against a full member and something interesting happens (generally against you, instead of by you). Furthermore, even if there was wall to wall coverage, there wouldn't be much to cover. The amount of matches these teams play is paltry, matching the funding they receive. As a result, the matches they play in the far flung reaches of the world are often covered only by volunteers who fly out to these places, relying on a small income or donations to do so. They do this not for a great mass of people, but for the most dedicated of cricket fans, those of us who want more teams playing more cricket across the world because we love the sport and think that these nations have something to offer.
But now, even this is being taken away. The ICC, in their wisdom, has sold off the ball-by-ball commentary rights to a group that does the commentary by automaton. This commentary is only available on the ICC's website. Here's a piece of commentary that I took from today's match between Canada and Scotland:
R Taylor to S Wijeratne. He picks up a single
R Taylor to N Dhaliwal. He picks up a single
R Taylor to S Wijeratne. He picks up a single
R Taylor to N Dhaliwal. He picks up a single
R Taylor to N Dhaliwal, no run. He goes hard at the ball, but straight to the fielder
How enthralling!
If the ICC genuinely believes that this is adequate for ball-by-ball text coverage, then they do not know what they are doing. Previously, ball-by-ball was provided almost always by CricketEurope, and also from time to time by Cricinfo. These sites know how to do ball by ball, because they use people to do them, and they describe what is happening with each ball so that those reading can get imagine how it looked. The five singles in the above over could've all gone to the same fielder for all I know. There may have been an edge, a beautiful shot that went straight to a fielder, and dubious shot that they scrounged a single out of. We'll never know, because they don't tell us.
More likely is that they don't care. Opta, the group that does this commentary, has bought the rights. The ICC gets views on its website from those who are dedicated enough to follow, and also money from Opta buying the rights. What do they need CricketEurope for?
Well, CE is still providing updates, and posts full commentary at the end of the match for those that want to read it. But it isn't the same as having it live, and it's hard to believe the ICC is receiving much income from Opta for this. That they should still choose to pick this ordinary service over the work of volunteers for a set of matches they clearly aren't interested in anyway speaks volumes about those in charge. It is good that those beneath them still care enough about cricket to let CE do what they can, as otherwise Associate cricket may as well not exist.
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