Manuka Oval has "ramped up security in preparation for the Cricket World Cup, positioning guards on the field 24 hours a day to protect the pitch in the build-up to the first match on Wednesday," according to Dutton & Polkinghorne of THE AGE. Security guards are being used to "prevent intruders from ruining the playing surface as part of a risk-management strategy" and Int'l Cricket Council anti-corruption measures. Cricket Australia has a policy of guarding pitches for 48 hours before an int'l fixture at "any venue around Australia, including the Australia-South Africa one-day international and the Big Bash final in Canberra." But Manuka Oval has "ramped up protection for the pitch and anti-corruption protocols by employing a guard to stand by the pitch 24 hours a day" more than five days before Bangladesh plays Afghanistan. Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha endorsed "tough security measures to ensure the integrity of cricket's showpiece." Hathurusingha: "I think it's very important because this is our showcase event for cricket" (THE AGE, 2/15). In London, Jamie Smyth reported as the 11th Cricket World Cup opens, the sport is "enjoying a renaissance, attracting record TV audiences, player numbers and revenues." CA CEO James Sutherland said, "Over the past decade we’ve been focused on making sure the sport is accessible to all Australians." The number of people playing cricket in Australia doubled to 1.1 million between '03 and '14. The resurgent national team is "generating enthusiasm for the sport." The Big Bash league -- "a glitzy, short Twenty20 format of the game -- is attracting large crowds, record television audiences and lucrative sponsors." Australia's success in boosting interest in cricket "may provide lessons for England, where player numbers fell last year, and the West Indies, where a once-great cricketing region is faltering." CA is minting the resurgence of interest, with revenues for '14-17 projected at $950M, up from A$736M in the previous reporting period. As co-host of the World Cup for the first time in 23 years, "it will get a cut" from the 1 million tickets sold during the six-week tournament (FINANCIAL TIMES, 2/13).
FORMAT CHANGES POSSIBLE: In N.Y., Huw Richards reported cricket has three separate formats, "and while the one-day international version of the game is used for World Cups, that format is perhaps the one most in jeopardy." Five-day test cricket has "heritage and status on its side." Twenty20 has "mass appeal and is a huge moneymaker." The one-day international is like the "once-cool kid who has grown staid in middle age." It has been "overtaken in novelty, excitement and popular appeal by Twenty20 without acquiring anything like the cultural clout of the five-day Tests." With decreasing numbers of top cricketers playing all three formats, "some are asking if three forms of the game" are one too many (N.Y. TIMES, 2/12). In Sydney, Andrew Faulkner reported India vs. Pakistan "was billed as the most watched cricket match ever, but the seething mass
of subcontinental humanity put on a show that put the match itself in
the shade." The game "was as much about the event as the cricket itself." It "stilled and stimulated a city in equal measure." Those prone to stereotypes "remarked it might be hard to get a cab, but the taxi trade was booming, just like everything other than a few closed Indian restaurants" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/16).
