Lessons from the Ashes

Rapidly declining Australia, 2-0 down in the Ashes, may have some lessons for Bangladesh. Photo: AFP

Make no mistake about it, the Ashes are really not all that, cricket-wise. Not these days anyway. Since 1980, it has not been a battle for supremacy in the world of cricket. By then West Indies were the kings, and both Ashes contenders were routinely swept off their feet by the Calypso tune. Only in 2005 (that eye-poppingly awesome series) was the battle for the urn also a battle to see who at that moment ruled cricket. England won after 18 years of Australian dominance, but were soon distant second again when they were whipped 5-0 in Australia's backyard a year and a half later.
But it still is the oldest and most intense rivalry in cricket. Each series is subject to exhaustive media and 'pundit' analysis because it is taken as the barometer to measure where each country's cricket is at that point. And because of the generally high standard of cricket journalism in these two countries the Ashes make for good reading.
Australia's two losses in two tests so far in the current Ashes in England has engendered much hand wringing and diagnostic witch hunts in the media back home. It all might be turned on its head if it's 2-2 going into the fifth test (as likely as Mohammad Ashraful captaining Bangladesh's next series), but the search to discover the reason behind Australia's fall from being the supreme test force for a decade to losing all their last six tests may contain some relevant information for Bangladesh.
Daniel Brettig's piece 'The rotting of Australian Cricket' on Cricinfo after Australia's second test loss by 347 runs should be required reading for all the decision-makers in Bangladesh cricket. It sought to identify the reasons behind Australia's steep slide. Chief among them was a devaluing of domestic first-class cricket in favour of the lucrative Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. According to Brettig Sheffield Shield cricket, once considered the toughest domestic circuit in the world, 'is now played disjointedly and unhappily around the edges of the Australian season, having ceded the prime months of December and January to the Twenty20 Big Bash League'.
Brettig's was not the sole voice disenchanted by the priorities of Cricket Australia. Former captain Ricky Ponting, a commentator for BBL's next season no less, was angered by Cricket Australia trumpeting the coming season of the T20 league in the wake of Australia's embarrassing loss, and wrote in a column for the Daily Mail that 'they have invested a lot of time in the Big Bash while cuts have been made in first-class cricket... but we must remember that the strength of this business (Cricket Australia) will be measured by the success of the national team'.
Sound familiar? It's a little jarring to compare Bangladesh's cricketing culture with Australia's, but the two countries seem to have some things in common. Australia's supply line of quality national cricketers have been choked dry because they have moved away from their traditional assembly line of Sheffield Shield and club cricket, which developed talent from the grassroots.
Bangladesh's cricketing scene is nowhere near as well developed as that of Australia. But here too the first-class competition (National Cricket League) is played around the fringes of the season -- there was an improvement last year with the introduction of a second first-class competition, the Bangladesh Cricket League. But like in Australia, players get more money for playing T20 leagues like the Bangladesh Premier League T20 for a month of cricket than they do for a season's worth of the longer version. Now we find that our own traditional assembly line, the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, is in danger of not being held at all this season because of some politicking within the clubs and the BCB's obsession of putting the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup, and nothing else, on the agenda.
The question the decision-makers should be asking themselves after reading Brettig's article is: If a country like Australia, which boasts a 130-year-old tradition of great test cricketers and teams, can collapse like a house of cards when domestic priorities are compromised, how long can Bangladesh keep its head above water with the same set of circumstances?

Sakeb Subhan works as a sports journalist for The Daily Star. He has been an avid cricket follower for nearly 20 years and considers himself an armchair cricket expert.