sky sports and the death of cricket

or maybe because all the games are on during the night on weekdays

I haven't seen one second of this World Cup, nor tell you any of the results. I'm aware from the news that England went home early because they lost on the Duckworth-Lewis rules to Bass Rock or some such similar cricketing giant. I probably could still tell you all the results of the 1975/1979/1983/1987/1992 World Cups though, and quite a few from 1999 renewal, which shows that somewhere there must still be a lifelong cricket fan in me. Heaven only knows where its hiding. 20 years ago I used to go to all sorts of cricket, very often one of a handful at County games.

The sport might as well have its name changed to FAST MONEY because that appears to be the only reason why many of the participants are involved.

Due to the ridiculous Australians/New Zealanders starting the games at 3.30 in the morning this world cup has become a bit of a damp squib.I have a feeling they start the matches at such an unearthly hour to screw up the English.We are the most hated country in the world don't you know!

think the fact there is little interest in the uk is due to 3 things.

1/ Games are on in the middle of the night

2/ Eng are out and were terrible

3/ Length of the tourney.

Nothing to do with it being on sky sports.

Loads of village cricket clubs were unable to fulfill fixtures last season as they were unable to get a team out, this must have something to  do with lack of exposure on free TV. When I was a lad you watched Test Cricket on the BBC all summer as there was nothing else to watch. Like many that got me hooked on the game for a lifetime.

The ECB said participation was up last year

Good opening post. Rugby in danger of going the same way as the 6N no longer has protected status after next year.

Was speaking to a lad last year; 21 just out of uni and I happened to mention the cricket score.  Didn't have the faintest what the numbers in the score meant, and he told me that he didn't know anyone from his age group who had ever watched a cricket match either live or on TV.  And he was a sports fan. And straight.

can remember first final, windies v australia, think someone hooked a six and trod on wicket, fredricks or kalicharan ?

Yes I think it has suffered by not being on free TV

There need to be some shown on free channels, I would watch it

I do not like 20/20 either, I will not watch that. Seems to have little to do with proper cricket, it is just slog and run
still it is popular

What was crucial for the premier league in 1992 was that the BBC still had highlights on MoTD

Sky actually outbid Radio 5 for the radio rights  ,even though Sky had no radio station ! (the regulator told them to do one )

Sky didn't want any radio coverage or highlights just for it to be exclusive to them . Think they'd have been fkd if they had their way as people would just have lost touch with it .

Thats what happened to boxing to a large extent . Any British world champ in the 80s instantly became a household name . A lot of them now are hardly known to the average guy in the street.

dressed in coloured pyjamas  trying to slog your way to victory - says it all

There's just too much cricket.  Who cares any more?  Also the disconnect between county and England players killed much interest here in the UK. Plus the management and players in the England set-up are over reliant on slogans and data, and lack mental agility/flexibility.  A shame, because you get the feeling there are English players who could do very much better.

good point

Also the disconnect between county and England players killed much interest here in the UK

This - 20 years ago I would watch Lancs and their line up was sometimes like watching the England team as they usually had 6 or 7 internationals playing including top quality overseas players. Now you never get to see your international players whether England have a game or not.

However the number one reason for lack of interest in this world cup is the times the games are being played because lets face it, if the games weren't on sky its doubtful they would be shown anywhere as overseas games were never shown live on terrestrial TV

Plenty of people have access to sky anywhere so its not exactly too exclusive either

Morp : it was Roy Fredericks who trod on his stumps hooking the ball for six.

Mighty Whites, following from the Telegraph November 2014

"The England and Wales Cricket Board has been surprised by results from its own commissioned survey which received 37,500 responses from cricket players around the country and revealed the number of people playing the sport has dropped from 908,000 in 2013 to 844,000 in 2014. "

Thats a big chunk in 1 year

Fanciful to deny that SKY sports gaining exclusive coverage wouldnt lead to a drop in interest. I have never,and never will subscribe to SKY so my interest in cricket now is minimal. The ECB may say otherwise but as one prostitute is known to have said,they would say that.
The ECB should have insisted on free to air having some involvement to promote the sport or it will die off. Greed and too many games with no spectators will see it fade away when it will be too late to recover its appeal.

from top to bottom the sport is living in the past

as boycott said when asked to describe england in 3 words this week; "i only need one, rubbish"

from top to bottom the sport is living in the past

so are some of us don't knock it

Not having England players playing fro their counties is ridiculous

Some things need to be managed, if everything is short termism and profit you kill it