Heather du Plessis-Allan: We're seeing the football-isation of cricket

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

You can hardly begrudge Kane Williamson, can you, for finally deciding he wants to prioritise making money over wearing the black shirt?
The guy has more than put in his time with the Black Caps. He's been in the squad since 2010, he's been the captain since 2016, you can’t fault his effort. The same actually is true for Lockie Ferguson, he's been in the squad since 2016 himself.
And we’ve got used to this idea through rugby, haven't we? Where the players do their time in the black and then head off and make their money around the world. That is simply what these guys are doing.
But- this isn't to say there isn't something bigger going on here, it's just another example of what’s coming for us.

We've been talking about this on the show for basically two years, this is the footballisation of cricket.

Where basically, you get super tournaments like the IPL and the South African T20 tournament which become more important - and better spectacles - than the international fixtures.

Because it’s where the money is, which draws in the superstars.
And the first real sign that it’s happening is that you have your star players prioritise those competitions over representing their countries. We're seeing it happen - Trent Boult did it, Kane Williamson is doing it, and Lockie Ferguson is doing it.
And let me remind you, the whole team basically did it just a few days ago. Because the IPL players apparently wanted to rest rather than play warm up matches before the T20 World Cup - and we were knocked out after basically 2 matches.
I think the only way to fix this is for the cricket bosses to set aside very clear windows to say: this is the part of the year where the money-making tournaments can be played, and this is the part of the year where the international fixtures can be played.

That way, they don't overlap and you get the players that you need for both of them. That's probably the only way to keep the Black Caps from becoming essentially a B-squad.
As I say, you can’t begrudge these two guys, they've put the time in. But don’t overlook what’s happening here.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.