As in English football, the age of the Big Four has reached cricket. It's time for the other Test-playing nations to act or they will find themsleves in a media wilderness.
'At present India, Australia, England and New Zealand gain ground with every click of the remote'
Gazing into a cricketing crystal ball, I find a comparison of the film industry and the developing cricket industry revealing.
In a global culture of marketing and nobody can dispute the dominance of Hollywood, Bollywood, Rupert Murdoch and Tony O'Reilly in terms of control of the world's pop media. These forces control the minds of the hungry souls that tune into their broadcasted reality and the shadow they cast on cricket is telling.
Take Hollywood out of the cricketing equation, and you can clearly see who will benefit the most in terms of the mass marketing of cricket. From the top down, India, Australia (and New Zealand) and England.
Scan the internet, pick up a newspaper, turn on the television, the future is plain to see, it's all about the Big Four of cricket. (Their ICC ranking is irrelevant and the quality of their game, thoroughly unimportant.)
To me, as a Proteas fan this is disturbing for a number of obvious reasons. Leaving merit out of it, I highlight the development of the sport of cricket within this equation. The Big Four are increasingly advantaged while the 'minnows' of the game are left in the dust. Teams from South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh don't really stand a chance in a world of marketed stars where the Big Four with media mogul muscle control who is marketed.
In fact, I wonder if after a century of this carry-on, these 'minnows' will exist at all. They probably will become extinct and be absorbed into regional mega-teams or mega-leagues.
For those who hate the rubbish Hollywood churns out, there is an alternative; 'Indie' movies or independent films. Within cricket, I wonder if this isthe answer. It was once believed that, 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em', but independent film makers have bucked that trend. They focus on those seeking an alternative to the mass-marketed stuff pumped out for mass-consumption. They deal with those wth a finer taste and an eye for something more intellectually stimulating.
I wonder if this is possible in cricket. South Africa has little chance within this mass-marketed cricket culture of the future whichever way you look at it, so would it not be prudent to intentionally aim at a market outside the mainstream?
Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the West Indies have equally little chance of basking in the limelight of the Big Four spotlight despite having some of the best players in the world like Muttiah Muralitharan and Chris Gayle. Looking beyond an eternity of Big Four benevolence, (or mercy be, antipathy) something ought to be done to change or reconfigure this world order, and ensure a more equitible spread of exposure for what might forever be unfairly regarded as merely fringe talent.
At the end of the day, the media moguls will dictate and whoever controls the channels will control the game. At present India, Australia, England and New Zealand gain ground with every click of the remote.
The playing field is no longer level and maybe a 'rebel' league is the way to go? Cricket across Africa might be the key, and who knows, with the current strong Afro-Chinese ties, maybe China will catch the bug.
The light at the end of the distant tunnel seems to be attached to a boom of a Rupert Murdoch Sports channel.
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