Cricket Capital

Cricket Capital

The Business of Cricket and Sports

  1. 4d ago ·  Video

    Take Cricket Development out of the ICC

    Cricket has had nearly 150 years of international play and only 12 Test nations. I argue the cause is governance: the ICC board is dominated by England, Australia and India, far from the problem. My proposal is an independent development organization with its own chairman, CEO and budget, funded and overseen by the ICC. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/take-cricket-development-out-of-the-icc

    Take Cricket Development out of the ICC

  2. Oct 28 ·  Video

    What Fire in Babylon Teaches Cricket Administrators

    Fire in Babylon, the 2010 documentary on the West Indies sides of the 1970s and 80s, shows Clive Lloyd uniting players from different Caribbean territories and cricket becoming a source of regional dignity. I argue administrators should watch it too: a team's emotional bond with its people is an asset, and you serve your membership, not yourself. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/what-fire-in-babylon-teaches-cricket-administrators

    What Fire in Babylon Teaches Cricket Administrators

  3. Oct 24 ·  Video

    Break up West Indies cricket to save it

    Players are taking pay cuts, competitions are being reduced, and Cricket West Indies has had to ask the ICC for financial help. I don't think more money fixes it. My view is that West Indies cricket should gradually evolve into separate international teams for countries like Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana. After more than 115 years of international cricket, there are still only 12 Test nations. Right now 11 players represent an entire region at the highest level, and a split could put 60 or 70 players on that stage, with Jamaica v Barbados and Guyana v Trinidad and Tobago as Test fixtures. The financial case is simple: if each country fields its own team, each takes on the job of developing and funding its own cricket, which eases the load on the single regional body now going to the ICC for help. I raised this around 2012, when I was with the ICC, with Sir Clive Lloyd, then chairing the ICC Cricket Committee. He was offended, and I understand why, given what the maroon cap means to him. I've been a fan since childhood, but sentiment alone cannot determine the future of a sport. I'm not proposing to dismantle anything tomorrow. Any transition needs careful planning, financial support and a gradual pathway to international recognition, and a regional qualifying competition could be the first step to identify the strongest potential Test team. Breaking up West Indies cricket may be what brings Caribbean cricket back to life, on the field and in the accounts. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/break-up-west-indies-cricket-to-save-it

    Break up West Indies cricket to save it

  4. Oct 16 ·  Video

    West Indies cricket and the FTP revenue sharing gap

    West Indies players have had their salaries cut by 25%, and the cause sits in how the ICC's Future Tours Programme splits the money. Chris Daring, CEO of Cricket West Indies, has called the current revenue sharing model not equitable. I agree with him. Under the current arrangement, the home country keeps almost all the revenue from a bilateral tour, and the reverse applies when the return tour happens. That looks balanced on paper, but it only works when both countries earn the same from hosting. They don't. Boards have different infrastructure and different setups, so a home series in one country is worth far more than the reciprocal series in another, and the smaller board loses on the swap every time. The fix is to build revenue sharing into every bilateral tour, not just some of them and not only when a board is in trouble. Without it, the FTP hands the biggest earnings to the boards that already have the most, and West Indies absorbs the shortfall through its players' pay. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/west-indies-cricket-and-the-ftp-revenue-sharing-gap

    West Indies cricket and the FTP revenue sharing gap

  5. Oct 6 ·  Video

    2027 Cricket World Cup format change - my views

    The ICC announced a 14-team 2027 World Cup, and countries, players and associates planned around it. The new format sends three teams into a preliminary super series where two are eliminated after two matches and never reach the 12-team main group. I'm not buying the ICC's description of that as 14 teams, and I side with the World Cricketers Association, Scotland, the Netherlands and the players who say they were not meaningfully consulted. A box marked 14 apples with two bad ones is not what was promised. When the language says growth and the outcome is fewer opportunities for emerging countries, I look at the outcome. Consultation does not mean a veto, it means explaining what you're thinking, asking how it affects people, and then deciding. I also look at the media speculation about commercially valuable repeat fixtures, including India and Pakistan, and argue that commercial goals should support cricketing ones, not the other way round. Netherlands over South Africa, Ireland over Pakistan and USA over Pakistan happened because those teams were on the field. Associates should have to qualify, and it should be tough. Once they have qualified, they should get to play. Authority gives the ICC the power to decide, but good governance takes transparency, consultation, consistency and long-term thinking, and on this decision the ICC has fallen well short. Tell me whether you agree or disagree. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/2027-cricket-world-cup-format-change---my-views

    2027 Cricket World Cup format change - my views

  6. Sep 27 ·  Video

    The Players the ICC Forgot to Ask

    Under the ICC's revised 2027 ODI World Cup format, the three lowest-ranked qualified teams will face a preliminary round where only one advances to the main event. Two go home. Scott Edwards, Richie Berrington, Gerhard Erasmus, and Paul Stirling have all spoken out against it, and their objection runs deeper than the format itself. Countries spend years building players and programs to earn qualification. When that qualification gets reduced to two preliminary matches and a potential early flight home, it stops meaning what it should. Namibia's position makes the stakes concrete: the country is a co-host of the 2027 World Cup and still has no automatic qualification. Erasmus isn't asking for a free pass, only for earned qualification to carry real weight. Stirling draws a contrast that's hard to dismiss. Football's World Cup expanded to 48 teams. Cricket went the other direction. And the moments that grow the sport, Ireland beating Pakistan, the Netherlands beating South Africa, USA beating Pakistan, only happen when those teams are actually on the main stage. The ICC's stated rationale is that the revised format improves competitive standards and enhances the tournament experience. Richie Berrington's challenge is about process: players should have a voice before decisions are signed off, not after. The World Cricketers Association raised this. Scotland and the Netherlands raised it. The players themselves are raising it. The ICC has yet to bring them into the conversation that produces these decisions, and that failure is what has turned a format disagreement into a much wider question about who cricket's governing body is actually governing for. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/the-players-the-icc-forgot-to-ask

    The Players the ICC Forgot to Ask

  7. Sep 7 ·  Video

    Disappointing and Disrespectful - Cricket Scotland and Netherlands Call Out the ICC

    Cricket Scotland and Cricket Netherlands have gone on record describing the ICC's handling of the 2027 ODI World Cup format changes as disappointing, disrespectful, and a threat to the credibility of international cricket. These are not outside critics. These are ICC members. Their joint statement centres on two core complaints: the format changes were announced with less than 18 months to go before the tournament, and the affected members were not properly consulted before the decision was made. For associate nations that had spent years planning, budgeting, and developing players around an already-agreed qualification structure, that is not a minor procedural grievance. The consultation question carries the most significant governance implications. Scotland and the Netherlands are not asking for a veto. They are asking to be heard before decisions that directly affect them are finalised. After the changes were announced, both boards met with the ICC twice, requested written clarification, and sought improvements to future decision-making. More than two weeks after their second meeting, there had been no response. That silence is what produced the words "disappointing and disrespectful" in a public statement directed at their own governing body. Beyond their own situation, Scotland and the Netherlands raise a harder question about cricket's global ambitions. Ireland beating England in 2011, the Netherlands beating South Africa in 2022, the USA beating Pakistan in 2024: those results happened because smaller nations were given the stage. Reducing meaningful World Cup opportunities for emerging nations runs directly against the conditions that produce those moments. The ICC has the authority to change formats. What Scotland and the Netherlands are asking is whether that authority is being exercised in a way that holds up to scrutiny. So far, the answer has been silence. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/disappointing-and-disrespectful---cricket-scotland-and-netherlands-call-out-the-icc

    Disappointing and Disrespectful - Cricket Scotland and Netherlands Call Out the ICC

  8. Sep 6

    Small Cricket Markets Have a Better Option

    The European T20 Premier League is a new cricket competition bringing together teams from Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands, representing cities like Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. Each of those three countries is a modest cricket market on its own, too small to attract serious broadcaster interest or sustainable sponsorship. Combined, they create a commercial footprint that is meaningfully larger than the sum of its parts, more cities, more matches, more supporters, and pooled rights that give the league a real shot at viability. The deeper issue the ETPL addresses is structural dependency. Smaller cricket nations have long relied on getting fixtures against India, England, and Australia because those matches generate the bulk of their revenue. The problem is that the big three have their own scheduling priorities, and smaller nations rarely make the top of that list. Building your own commercial platform, rather than lobbying for a spot on someone else's tour calendar, is a direct answer to that problem. Whether the ETPL survives beyond its novelty is still an open question. Consistent audiences, broadcast deals, and sponsors across multiple seasons are a harder challenge than a successful launch. But if it does grow, the lesson for other associate nations is straightforward: find two or three countries in a similar position and build something together that none of you could build alone. The dependency on full members is not a fixed condition. Published on Subwavehttps://subwave.app/@cri9259/post/small-cricket-markets-have-a-better-option

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The Business of Cricket and Sports

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  • Creator
    Cricket Capital
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    47
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    Clean
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    Cricket Capital