Of cricket and eyesight

Cricket teams on the verge of winning have considerably better eyesight than cricket teams on the verge of losing.

Thank God for lightmeters.

And rain.

What we must do to save the game: cricket

With thanks and apologies to Adrian Proszenko, who wrote this piece, and LeagueHq.com, where I copy-pasted this from.

Read the piece below. Replace all ARL with BCCI. Replace News Ltd with BCCI. All emphases in the article mine.

BULLDOGS legend Steve Mortimer has called for News Ltd and the ARL to hand over control of rugby league to an independent commission to ensure the future of the code.

Mortimer described the NRL as a "dysfunctional" ruling body hamstrung by the self-interest and political agendas of its co-partners that wasn't serving the best interests of the game.
The former NSW and Australian halfback has outlined his rescue plan for rugby league to The Sun-Herald, which revolves around the establishment of a nine-person board to head up the independent commission. He said the game was in disarray and the new body's top priority would be to solve the current problems, including:
- Putting an end to the spate of mid-season player movements

- Slowing the exodus of players to Super League

- Preventing the AFL from making further inroads at grassroots level

- Saving the game from dying in country areas

- Making rugby league a truly national game.

Mortimer has been disillusioned with the NRL's lack of leadership and the general direction of the game for many years. But the final straw was the disruption and fan outrage over mid-season player movements and signing announcements, which reached its lowest point during Craig Wing's very public decision to join South Sydney from next year.

"I fear for our code," Mortimer said. "The game will never die, but it will never thrive until we put the game's agenda before our own.
"We're coming up to 100 years of celebration of rugby league [in 2008] and I believe the greatest gift the game can give itself in its centenary is the establishment of an independent commission.
"The ARL must relieve itself of duty, while News Ltd is either bought out of the game or asked to step away.
"The only agenda for the commission would be to grow the game, while right now everyone has their own agenda. I don't believe a publishing company should run the game, while the ARL hasn't moved with the times and have a lot of people in it for themselves.
"I love the game and that's why I'm speaking out now."

Mortimer said News Ltd had brought much-needed commercial expertise and business acumen to the game following the Super League war. However, he said it was inappropriate for a media company to run the game and said that long-term broadcast rights could be offered as an incentive to relinquish control.

Now, football kicks cricket for a six in India

I’m not the only one keeping tabs on the waning popularity of cricket and the rising demand for football.
NDTV has sought visitors' opinions on the issue through their website.
As of this moment, more than 60% of 3700 visitors felt football was gaining ground. To see updated numbers, click here.

Empty seats in sport = cricket

I've written about this before.

The problem with cricket, as evidenced by the collapse of the World Cup after India got knocked out early, is that there are not enough viewers outside of India.

Viewers who receive brand messages and buy products and services.

And there are not enough fans. Fanatics with undying loyalty to the team -- which will cause them to buy products that the team's sponsors manufacture.

And if cricket continues in its current form, brand money will look at other sports.

The following, an extract from an article in The Sun on last night's friendly between England and Brazil, is most telling:

"Terry had called on the fans to help make the new Wembley a fortress.
But the prawn sandwich brigade will have to get their act together for the important qualifiers later in the year.
When the second half began, there were swathes of empty seats behind the dugouts, as the corporate crew tucked into their champers and finger food. This will not do. What do they think this is? Test match cricket?"

How the mighty have fallen. This is how one talks about cricket in England.

And on another note, what a superb headline in The Sun, drawing attention to David Beckham's return to International football and his role in the 1-1 draw:

"It's Beck to the future", screams the banner.

Bangladesh too breaks record: 1,2,3 and 4 score centuries

Not to be outdone by India's batsmen becoming the first 1-2-3-4 to score centuries in Test cricket, Bangladesh's 1-2-3-4 bowlers have now conceded over 100 runs each. Dravid was kind enough to wait till Mohd. Sharif conceded 100 runs before he declared.

This test match is a great advertisement for cricket.

Not.

But I have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon.

India breaks record: 1,2,3 and 4 score centuries

Maybe it’s only against Bangladesh, but for the first time in test cricket history have batsmen 1,2,3 and 4 (Karthik, Jaffer, Dravid and Tendulkar) scored centuries.

This is no lie or damned lie, it is a statistic.
And please remember, after their performance in the World Cup, Bangladesh are no longer minnows.
Numbers 1, 2 and 3 have done it 7 times in test cricket… including the Indian trio of Gavaskar, Srikkanth and Amarnath.

Another statistic? The record has been reported here before it has been reported anywhere else in the whole www.

As you can see, I'm not exactly busy this Saturday morning.

Cricket loses commentator to coke

Sad. With Maninder Singh busted for possession of cocaine, TV has lost a good commentator and a student of the game.
Because media has to be cruel, and will definitely put Maninder the media expert into cold storage.

Asia goes Liverpool crazy tonight

If you thought it unfair that we in India have to wait till past midnight for the Champions League final kickoff, spare a thought for Liverpool fans in Singapore, Djakarta, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Soccer is exploding as a spectator sport in India, and I wait in anticipation of the ratings on Ten Sports for tonight's game. It will do better in SEC AB males than a number of the Cricket World Cup Super Eight matches, is my guess.

And for those who are interested, here are some interesting odds, courtesy Ladbrokes.

To win the game:
Milan 4/6
Liverpool 5/4


First goal scorer:
Kaka 5/1
Dirk Kuyt 8/1
Filippo Inzaghi 8/1
Alberto Gilardino 8/1
Steven Gerrard 8/1
Craig Bellamy 9/1
Peter Crouch 9/1
Ricardo Oliveira 9/1
Clarence Seedorf 14/1
Robbie Fowler 12/1
Harry Kewell 16/1
Yoan Gourcuff 25/1
Andrea Pirlo 16/1
Massimo Ambrosini 25/1
Mark Gonzalez 25/1
John Arne Riise 20/1
Xabi Alonso 25/1

How will the 1st goal be scored?

Right foot 4/7
Left foot 4/1
Header 11/2
No goal 11/2

And here are my predictions, and bugger the odds. Liverpool will win. Kuyt will score the first goal with his right foot.

Man U to win FA; Liverpool to be Champions

There -- I've got it out of the way.

Here are my predictions for the two big football matches on the horizon.

I tip Manchester United to beat Chelsea in the final of the FA Cup this Saturday -- for only one reason. I don't like Chelsea.

And I tip Liverpool to beat AC Milan in the Champions League on the 23rd of May -- for only one reason. I am an unabashed Liverpool fan.

And If I'm wrong, remember that I am short on resources. All the newspapers and news TV channels polled tens of thousands of voters in the recently conducted Uttar Pradesh poll and predicted a hung assembly. And they were all wrong.

So there.

Of KBC, cricket, STAR TV and Newscorp

For those who haven’t had the time to read the NewsCorp Earnings for Q3, here are two comments (italicised) pertinent to India:

“STAR’s third quarter operating income decreased from the same period a year ago as 11% revenue growth, primarily from higher advertising revenues, was more than offset by higher programming costs. The increased advertising revenue reflects the broadcast on STAR PLUS of Kaun Banega Crorepati 3, India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

With KBC 3, the YoY the revenue growth is only 11%? No wonder the income decreases, as, surely, the cost of KBC 3 would have been significantly higher than the average programming costs on STAR Plus. The numbers beg the question – are the big ticket efforts like KBC worth the risk given the explosion of channels and the choices available to viewers?

“Operating results from the Other segment during the third quarter declined by $55 million primarily due to losses associated with the 2007 Cricket World Cup. These losses, which related to the final event under the Company’s programming contract with the International Cricket Council, were due to substantial advertising weakness as viewership declined with the early elimination of popular teams India and Pakistan.”


The poor performance of India (one wonders how much impact the elimination of Pakistan had on TV revenues – I doubt it could be as significant as the Newscorp comment) has affected not only Indian broadcasters but Newscorp as well – and perhaps it’s time to ponder more on the safety of putting money on cricket. Sports such as football, tennis, golf, F1, basketball and so on, are not impacted as significantly if a favourite is knocked out early in a tournament. The audiences (and, subsequently, the advertisers) are not overloaded in a single demographic as is the case with cricket. It will not be enough for the sport if the Indian team starts doing well again – cricket needs audiences in the rest of the cricket playing nations – especially audiences that will excite major advertisers and sponsors from Australia and England.

Gavaskar: no more my idol

Sunil Gavaskar’s gone nuts. To quote an example of an Australian cricketer (who’s memory I won't tarnish by naming) who died in a pub brawl and use that to show how badly behaved Australian cricketers are is the closest to a brain dead statement I have come across from any human being that one thought was intelligent.
And an individual that I greatly respected.

He can do the right thing, and apologise. Or do the wrong thing, and not apologise.

And cease to be an idol to people like me.

Of the ICC World Cup, and of "minnows"

Now that the ICC World Cup Cricket has got off to a start, and a few matches have been played, a few questions:

Isn’t the ICC worried that the word “minnows” has been used so often on TV, print and the web?
Isn’t the ICC worried that the stadium was half empty even for the West Indies match?
Isn’t the ICC worried that the viewership even in India (according to aMap) thus far has been so negligible as to not even remotely affect ratings on other channels?

Has the ICC’s evangelism caused the popularity of the World Cup to regress rather than gain?

The Ultimate Guide to who will win the ICC World Cup

Since I read all the papers, watch all the TV channels and visit all the web sites, I thought I’d make life simple for the readers and present a distillation of all the expert opinions so that you can go straight to your bookie and clean up.
For example, I can now state with authority that the winner will be Australia. Or India. Or New Zealand. Or Sri Lanka. Or South Africa. Or England. Or the West Indies.
I can also state with confidence that the Man of the Series will be Sachin Tendulkar. Or Adam Gilchrist. Or Muthiah Muralitharan. Or Brian Lara. Or Ricky Ponting. Or Shivnaraine Chanderpaul. Or Kevin Pietersen. Or Graeme Smith. Or Jacob Oram. Or Stephen Fleming.

Now, armed with this knowledge, make a beeline for Ladbrokes or whatever. And when you win big, remember: I told you so.

Where’s the sub, bub?

This, from today’s Indian Express (I told you, I read all the papers).

“Sania Mirza sustained her sparkling form to move into the singles quarter finals with a facile straight-set win over Romina Oprandi of Italy….”

“… Sania, ranked 66th in the world, downed Oprandi 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-0….”

So, according to PTI and announced by the venerable Indian Express, Sania won the match in straight sets by two sets to one.

Cool.

Where's the TV money going?

Frenetic spin and counter spin in the TV ad sales environs. KBC will flop without AB. Star Plus is sliding downhill. Cricket is dying, so buy KBC. Star Plus is dying, so buy Zee and Sony.
Will Star Plus dry up? Will KBC see less revenue than Star anticipates? Will spots on the ICC World Cup be hard to sell?
My take on the scenario, published in Hindustan Times, Mumbai edition, here.

Talking up Sachin Tendulkar

You’re watching an F1 race. Michael Schumacher is 50 seconds ahead of Alonso, with 8 laps to go and no pit stops due.
Common sense would tell you that the race has been won and lost, and you could go back to your knitting or needlepoint or whatever. But you don’t. You stay riveted.
Because of the commentators.
They remind you that anything could happen in a F1 race. That, perhaps, there’s a suspect sound emanating from Schumi’s engine. And would his tyres last the course? The left rear looks like it’s wearing out? Can Schumi last? Can he? Can he?
Of course he can. And he reaches the chequered flag almost a minute ahead of his competitor.
And you got suckered by the commentator, waiting for Schumi’s engine to blow, waiting for the tyre to destruct.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the responsibility of the commentators and experts: to make the game more interesting.
We’re seeing it with the Ashes. Where every wicket Panesar gets converted into an increased likelihood of England winning the third test. And there are four days to go.
We’re seeing it with the India-South Africa series. Where, pre-first test, all the channels talk about how test cricket is very different from one day cricket, and Indian fans could erase the 4-0 one day whitewash from our collective minds.
Because, contrary to the pessimistic view each of us holds, we believe all the optimistic pronouncements of the commentators and the experts. That Sachin will come good, that our bowling is good enough, that test cricket is a whole new ball game. We believe.

Because belief gives us hope.

And it's hope that will make all of watch sport. Whether F1 or the Ashes or tennis or golf, who wants to watch a one sided contest? And without hope, where will ESPN Star recover the $1.1 billion that has been invested in cricket from?

All you doomsday prophetic commentators, get out of there!

The "if cricket fails" media plan

Last night, I posted on the Kingfisher calendar, and it got me thinking about why men would give an arm and a leg to own one.
And I finally figured it out: because the Indian cricket team sucks.
So men, SEC A, B, C, D, E, 0-99 are turning to other sources of entertainment.
Enough of jest, down to serious stuff (not capitalized).

If the Indian team fails to get its act together, where on earth are you going to find these missing eyeballs? Here’s a list of my recommendations:
Formula 1: Catch SEC AB males here, English Speaking Markets, especially those who own motorcycles and cars. They are likely to have girlfriends and/or wives.
European Soccer: SEC ABC males, English Speaking and Hindi Speaking Markets, especially after CAS is a reality, and since you get commentary in two languages. They are likely to be boisterous and are unlikely to be able to pronounce names of key clubs and key players.
Golf: With Jyoti Randhawa and Jeev Milkha Singh doing so well, CEOs (even those who don’t know a club from a spade) are a guaranteed audience on golf programming.
KBC 3: It’s the format, stupid! Whether it’s Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan, KBC WILL get eyeballs. It would take a genius (and SRK is not one) to make audiences turn away from a magical format such as this one.
CNBC: With the Sensex hovering around 14000, and betting on cricket not worth a rat’s ***, the only decent place left for gamblers is the stock exchange. The cool guys will be betting on futures, whatever that is.
All news channels: For those cricket fans who want to relive their cricket watching years: You turn on the TV with optimism, and, as the day goes on, you learn that there’s no hope
FTV and Trendz: SEC ABCDE males without a DVD player or an Internet connection.

Finally, the Kingfisher Calendar.
If the TA can’t get hold of one, catch them at the nearest bar, next to a Kingfisher.

I’ll be next to a Foster’s.

Criconomics 101

Of a weak dollar, of poor cricketing form and of Landmark Book Shop
Last night, the pound sterling had reached 1.95 to the US dollar, the strongest it has been in decades. What this translates into is that UK travelers will find shopping in the US an absolute delight. It also means that the US traveler will find a visit to the UK expensive. It also means relief for US exporters to the UK and worry for UK exporters to the US.
Such is economics. When someone gains, inevitably, someone else loses.
When the Indian cricket team does well, the gainers are the TV channel with the rights to telecast the matches, the sponsors of the tournament, the advertisers on the telecast, and the audiences that get entertained.
The losers are ALL other TV channels, the competitors of the sponsors and the advertisers, and the spouses and friends of the cricket fans.
And, of course, Landmark Book Shop.
And many other book shops, restaurants, malls, pubs, bars, multiplexes, roadside eateries and so on.
Last weekend was a great example: the third loss to South Africa.
South Africa is batting. India gets early wickets. Across India, cricket freaks are glued to the idiot box, thinking, this is the turning point of the South Africa Tour. India is going to bounce back!
The South African innings continues, in fits and starts. Kumble gets a couple of wickets, and the Indian fans are more optimistic than ever before. Cricket freaks are fevicolled to the sofas.
And Landmark Book Shop branches across the country remain empty. As do Shoppers Stop branches, Westside branches, and 112,785 malls across India.
India bats, and cricket owns all the eyeballs.
And India loses the fourth wicket ar 60 odd.
And I speak to my cousin Jayasankar in Chennai, whose wife Hemu is the genius who started Landmark and is the genius who runs Landmark. JS is a cricket freak, and I find him far from despondent.
“What do you think,” I ask him.
“Fantastic,” is his answer. “Millions of Indians are now leaving their houses and making a beeline for bookshops across India.”
And that, my friends, is a lesson in Criconomics 101.

Cricket now a worrying investment

The dismal performance of the Indian cricket team has implications far beyond a drop in India’s rankings or our prospects for the ICC World Cup.
If we carry on doing as badly as this, sponsors of the World Cup are seriously affected. Let us remember, they are already committed to the spend.
And, in return for the spend, they expect audiences who will receive brand and product messages.
Some of those who receive these mesages will go out and buy the products and services advertised.
And the sum total of these buys will deliver a return on investment that sponsors have factored into their projected sales for the coming year.
And, suddenly, it looks like a large part of these projected audiences will disappear. With their disappearance, sales will disappear as well.
And sponsors are in a fix – because:
1.They are already committed to the spend
2.They still need the sales
The only solution for them is to find ADDITIONAL budgets and chase the audiences wherever they might go away to from cricket. And that’s going to affect their bottomlines.
For other advertisers who hoped to cash in on the World Cup, their problem is less daunting. They have to figure out where to buy these audiences if cricket carries on in the direction it is currently headed.
And if serious money goes away from cricket, one would worry about those who have serious investments in cricket.
Like the various channels who have bought the rights to various cricket tournaments over the next five years. There is no change in the amount of money that they will have to pay over whatever contractual period, but there could very well be a significant downward revision in the amount of money they could earn.
Like the various brands who have signed on cricketers as brand ambassadors. Some of these contracts are linked to performance on the field, some are not. But all these brands will suffer.
I’m not, normally, a prophet of doom. But to fail so miserably three matches in a row suggests that it is not just a matter of poor form of a few players; perhaps we had started believing in our own hype. Perhaps the reality is that we have a poor team today, that we have a poor talent pool today.

And, perhaps, investing in cricket is a poor decision today.



Photo courtesy: Cricinfo

Why the Indian cricket team still rocks

Cape Verde Islands.
Burundi.
Chad.
Kyrgistan.

What’s common to the abovementioned countries?

They’re four of 147 countries ranked higher than India according to the just published FIFA rankings. Yup, you read that right. 147 countries ahead of my motherland.

And It’ll be a snowy day in Chennai before we see India qualify for a football World Cup.
That’s why I’m not despondent that Kallis scored more than the entire Indian team in the last one day match. We’re still in the top eight at cricket. And we move up for a few months to 2 or 3, and slide back to 6 or 7 at worst.

And that's why Indians watch soccer on TV when India is not playing, and cricket only when India is playing.

Beat that, Baichung!