ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

Honestly?

I doubt it. Cricket has an enthusiastic and keen fanbase but outside of that nobody cares. The ECB have almost entirely killed the sport in the 15 years from 2005.

Yeah, of course. In fairness, it would an incredible achievement.
 
If England beat India I imagine you'll get a few more watching the do-or-die game against New Zealand. And then more still watching the semi-final and final.
 
Many, many reasons, but the main reason has been that it has been behind the paywall on Sky for 15 years. Nobody sees it other than people who specifically pay money to do so.

Good point. The 2005 Ashes being on channel 4 helped a tonne. What a summer that was.
 
Many, many reasons, but the main reason has been that it has been behind the paywall on Sky for 15 years. Nobody sees it other than people who specifically pay money to do so.

It's not so straight forward unfortunately. Cricket as a sport is struggling outside the sub continent and it is very hard for the ECB to survive without sky money . Yeah in the ideal world it would be FTA but it is very hard to sustain
 
It's not so straight forward unfortunately. Cricket as a sport is struggling outside the sub continent and it is very hard for the ECB to survive without sky money . Yeah in the ideal world it would be FTA but it is very hard to sustain

Yes, and it's struggling here because nobody can watch it.

No doubt having shedloads of cash (this was never about 'survival' it was about getting filthy, stinking rich in the short term) has had its benefits, but they're massively outweighed by the downsides that come with acquiring it in this case.

Those downsides might also have been mitigated if the ECB had actually spent the money on things it was supposed to, but the grassroots has seen feck all of it. They've bankrupt counties with their insane bidding system for internationals, and they've pissed most of it away in recent years on a stupid 100 ball format that nobody cares about and ... nobody can watch because it's still mostly on fecking Sky.

550,000 people are watching on average this World Cup.
 
Yes, and it's struggling here because nobody can watch it.

No doubt having shedloads of cash (this was never about 'survival' it was about getting filthy, stinking rich in the short term) has had its benefits, but they're massively outweighed by the downsides that come with acquiring it in this case.

Those downsides might also have been mitigated if the ECB had actually spent the money on things it was supposed to, but the grassroots has seen feck all of it. They've bankrupt counties with their insane bidding system for internationals, and they've pissed most of it away in recent years on a stupid 100 ball format that nobody cares about and ... nobody can watch because it's still mostly on fecking Sky.

550,000 people are watching on average this World Cup.

Again you are blaming them for not spending the money rightly but how would not having the money have solved that . Cricket is a very niche sport here and it's hardly like it was in a much better state when it was on FTA .
 
England have everything in their own hands at this juncture, they win both of their games and they are through. If they muck one of the games then it gets trickier. Ideally, they would want Bangladesh to beat Pakistan and lose to India to be safe.

Sunday is an absolutely massive fixture.
 
Again you are blaming them for not spending the money rightly but how would not having the money have solved that . Cricket is a very niche sport here and it's hardly like it was in a much better state when it was on FTA .

I tell you what. Instead of wasting my time on this anymore why don't you pick anybody that covers English cricket (perhaps the yearly Wisden annal might be a good start, but Dobell is probably more accessible) and come back and tell me what they think of the ECB, huh?

This might come across as rude, but the only possible way you can think they've been good custodians of the game in this country over the past decade or so is if you haven't the slightest clue what they've been doing in that time. Actually, I think Death of a Gentleman covers it in good enough depth if I remember rightly; you could watch that too.
 
I tell you what. Instead of wasting my time on this anymore why don't you pick anybody that covers English cricket (perhaps the yearly Wisden annal might be a good start, but Dobell is probably more accessible) and come back and tell me what they think of the ECB, huh?

This might come across as rude, but the only possible way you can think they've been good custodians of the game in this country over the past decade or so is if you haven't the slightest clue what they've been doing in that time. Actually, I think Death of a Gentleman covers it in good enough depth if I remember rightly; you could watch that too.

That's fair enough. I am not saying that they have done a great job . I just asked how you thought they had killed cricket and you said no FTA which is just not right imo
 
No many cared about rugby yet there was a lot of coverage for that win.

Largely because it was on terrestrial TV and so it was easy for the entire country to get behind it. The tabs follow the country's mood for coverage.

For what it's worth I think the same issue is probably happening with F1 since it has gone behind a paywall, think the interest has waned despite the fact that Lewis has won 4 of 5.
 
That's fair enough. I am not saying that they have done a great job . I just asked how you thought they had killed cricket and you said no FTA which is just not right imo

Nah, I said it's the main reason. They've been equally awful in plenty of other areas too, but it's difficult to to look past trading the long term health of the game for short term profits. Even if you were to argue that some sort of deal with Sky was necessary (as the ECB did at the time) they could have done more to assure that some cricket was on FTA be it a home Ashes series (which was a protected event until the ECB removed it as one in 1999), ODIs or T20 Blast games.
 
If shrilanka beat south Africa tomorrow its going to be hell of a race for 4th spot.
 
It'll come down to Pak vs Ban on penultimate day....or if SL beats Ind on final day.

Probably, i expect the same, but still lots of variables.

England have it in their hands, srilanka if they win next two games. Lots of run rates involved as well if they end up with same points.

Don't know if weather gets involved as well.
 
I believe the hysteria surrounding the world cup being shit after a couple of washouts has died down now? Been a series of excellent contests with a quality race for semi qualification on the cards and what people thought would be dead rubber games in the end are straight up deciders.

Been brilliant so far overall.
 
I believe the hysteria surrounding the world cup being shit after a couple of washouts has died down now? Been a series of excellent contests with a quality race for semi qualification on the cards and what people thought would be dead rubber games in the end are straight up deciders.

Been brilliant so far overall.

The rain going away helped massively!
 
Probably, i expect the same, but still lots of variables.

England have it in their hands, srilanka if they win next two games. Lots of run rates involved as well if they end up with same points.

Don't know if weather gets involved as well.

No. If they end up level England will finish ahead because of more wins.
 
If shrilanka beat south Africa tomorrow its going to be hell of a race for 4th spot.
It'll come down to Pak vs Ban on penultimate day....or if SL beats Ind on final day.
I think the crucial one for SL is the Windies match. With them playing India in their final group match, by which point the Indians would have already qualified, I could see a situation where the Indians either subconsciously or tactically take their foot off the pedal and SL sneak the win, as I'm sure they would rather face the known quantity of the Sri Lankans as opposed to Pak.

The Windies need to win to keep their albeit extremely slim hopes for the semis alive, and like Pak, you just never know which version of them will turn up, so it could be a cracker of a match.

While the Saffers are most likely already on the beach and just want the nightmare of this world cup to end.
 
Day 29: Windies vs India
Feck sake, India playing again today? Do they ever rest?!
 
It's their own fault for demanding the post IPL rest so they started the tournament late.
It wasn't a demand. SC of India has laid down some rules for BCCI which mandated a gap between when IPL ends and international cricket starts. ICC accommodated the same. But yeah we have now like 4 matches in a week's time.
 
I like how we've gone from being bullied by the short ball to maybe the best pullers and hookers in the game.
 
Has to the best the worst decision using DRS. It was so obvious that the pad fecking moved but the blind umpire couldn't see that?