Fixing The Fringe

The makings of a great team, says Greg Chappell, lie in raising the playing standard of the fringe players. Because that, the new coach said...

The makings of a great team, says Greg Chappell, lie in raising the playing standard of the fringe players. Because that, the new coach said in his vision statement for Indian cricket, results in positive peer pressure, which in turn motivates team members to higher levels of self-confidence. As Australia have shown us.

All of this points to the need for a strong domestic structure, the importance in nurturing talent at the grass roots and building bench strength. So when Greg Chappell takes over the reins of the national team this Wednesday, his focus may be on 20 players but his peripheral vision will be scanning the entire cricket structure. Chappell says he declined the West Indies job because of their short-term approach to a long-term problem. His preference was for a system that was involved with the whole development process from U-17, U-19, first-class cricket and the 8217;A8217; team through to the Test team.

The WICB, apparently, weren8217;t interested.

Which brings us by association to India, where, for all practical purposes, 8216;8216;cricket8217;8217; refers to a group of 15-20 players. Who are consistent only in their inconsistency. And who, for all their wealth, won just one tournament and two one-day series against major Test-playing nations in the past five years, and have failed to win two of the last three major Test series at home

No wonder Sandy Gordon calls this team the 8216;8216;lost generation8217;8217;.

All this despite a good coach, the best of facilities and its players, and now a lucrative contract to boot. So obviously the problems go deeper than these 20-odd players; in fact they lie in just about every other sphere of cricket in India.

Over the next four days, this paper will examine in detail the four specific problem areas of Indian cricket: the NCA, the TRDW, the state of the stadiums and the quality of domestic competitive cricket. How important is domestic cricket for the success of the international team? Ask England, whose recent success has been largely because, in the two decades the national team was failing miserably, the domestic structure kept ticking. And eventually threw up the players who now pose a serious challenge to Australia.

IN THE past few years, there has actually been some effort to improve the state of domestic cricket: Splitting the Ranji Trophy into two tiers, setting up the National Cricket Academy and the Talent Research Development Wing, using the service of the New Zealand Turf Institute to improve the state of the pitches in the country. Match fees for domestic players were also hiked.

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More recently, the BCCI has appointed a coach relatively quickly once it got into the act, and utilised the help of experts at the NCA to check the mental toughness of the players.

But, as Chappell will find out, there is still a lot of work to be done.

8216;8216;Cricket is the most expensive sport in India8217;8217;, says Jagmohan Dalmiya. 8216;8216;There are two critical issues that are hampering growth in the domestic circuit. First, cricket at the grass-root level is being played on grounds that we are not being able to maintain. And secondly, the schedule is keeping our hands tied in trying out new things to develop the game in the domestic circuit.8217;8217;

The second point is a cop-out, says Dalmiya8217;s predecessor IS Bindra. 8216;8216;Like the Sheffield Shield in Australia, the calendar should be planned in advance so there is no clashing of dates and players are available.8217;8217;

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Former board president Raj Singh Dungarpur believes 8212; as do many others 8212; that the board is more-money oriented and less focused on cricket. Former selector Sanjay Jagdale is one of the many who believe that lack of professionalism is the root cause why we aren8217;t amongst the best cricket nations in the world.

In the next few weeks and months these problems will stare Chappell in the face. Some he can tackle, others will be beyond his jurisdiction in his search for that quality fringe player.

After all bench is strength.

8216;To improve at highest level, improve at lowest level8217;

Kamal MorarkaVice-president, BCCI
Our domestic structure has thoroughly improved in the last two years. The changes have been good and the results will definitely be seen very soon. In my opinion, the India U-19, U-22 teams are doing very well. So there is also a very good feeling that players at the fringe level are definitely competent enough.

Lalit ModiPresident, Rajasthan Cricket Association
Let8217;s get this straight: We just don8217;t have a professional set-up. We spend our time fighting over minor issues. The bottom line is, to improve at the highest level, start improving at the lowest level. Make a good bench, develop youngsters, and make a good domestic circuit.

Chandu BordeFormer selector
The administration is fine. There might be problems but those will be there in every walk of life. Domestic cricket has been totally abandoned. There are good talented players at grassroots. More care needs to be taken on the domestic set-up and the focus should be to prepare a good bench.

Piloo ReporterFormer umpire
I think the attitude of the players has changed. The commitment is missing. The need of the hour is better administration. Talent needs to be tapped. Here I think the role of the TRDOs is very important. They should do justice to their job, approach it with sincerity and commitment.

Nadeem MemonCurator, Mumbai Cricket Association
If there8217;s grass on the pitch cricketers look at you as though you have committed an anti-national act! I think the players8217; interference in pitch-related matters should be eliminated. To produce good cricketers one needs to produce quality wickets. Wickets that are sporting.

Jeet BannerjeeCricket entrepreneur
Try and make sure seniors play a major part of the domestic season. Chappell8217;s views on fringe players matter a lot. It is the bench that defines the strength. One can8217;t do away with the existing domestic circuit. The only way to get things better is to see that the best players compete as regularly as possible.