Its only been 5 weeks since the ICC cricket world cup finished but it feels like the cricketing world has moved on leaps and bounds. The teams are already looking forward to the next ICC event in the West Indies and the United States. In this blog I want to cover 3 key topics, (1) A World Cup Dissection (2) Cricket Saturation (3) looking ahead to 2024.

World Cup Dissection

Well firstly how do we define success for a world cup in any given sport? In my view this sits across 3 categories (1) fan engagement and spectators (2) commercial KPIs and (3) competitiveness.

1.Fan Engagement

If we talk about fan engagement and spectators, this world cup broke all sorts of records. Approx. 1.25 million fans went through the turnstiles which is more than 2015 (1.02m) and 2019 (0.75m). In terms of TV viewership, this exceeded more than half a billion viewers globally and a further 300 million through digital platforms, with a world record 59 million viewers watching concurrently and 130 million in total watching the final on digital platforms. These are big numbers but compared to football, around a 1/10 of what the football world cup recorded in 2022. The other interesting stat I would like to understand is the breakup in viewership globally and how it compares between the subcontinent and other nations.

2.Commercial KPIs

Commercially cricket is as strong as its ever been and is now catching up to other major sports in the world. Overall TV ad spend compared to the 2019 edition grew by approx. 25% to around $280Mn. This isn’t too far off from revenues for the Rugby World Cup held this year which recorded around $380Mn. The leader of the pack is of course the mens football world cup 2022 which recorded 10 times more around $2.96bn. If cricket hopes to ever come close to challenging football, it needs to spread its wings wider than the commonwealth and generate interest in the US and China.

3.Competitiveness

This is arguably one of the most important categories when it comes to legacy of tournaments. This tournament was a major disappointment when it comes to close fought games and to really spark the interest of the neutral. Across the world cup only 5 matches were decided by a margin less than 30 runs or 4 wickets. In fact 22 out of the 48 matches were decided by a margin of 100 plus runs, 4 plus wickets and 60 plus balls to spare. One of the main contributing factors is the format and the structure of the tournament. The 50 over world cup will not survive in the same structure and there needs to be more tension added, to keep all teams on their toes. More teams and smaller groups with more knockout matches is the way to go. Also a few changes to bring parity between bat and ball in the 50 over game are also needed. Unless its a poor pitch, the bowlers don’t have a chance, so perhaps keeping two balls until the 40th over and then only playing with one for the last 10 overs will help bring reverse swing back into the game.

Overall I would say this world cup had a lot of potential given it was hosted in India, and could have been a global launch pad. Commercially the numbers seem to be on the right upward curve, but I would assume a lot of the viewership numbers, sponsors etc are very “India” centric. For cricket to continue its journey it needs to appeal globally and the fact it has a seat at the Olympics is a big win. The real question is, how it builds global appeal in the next few years is going to be interesting. Administrators also need to tweak the structure and format of the tournament and seek to normalise the ODI format to keep interest alive.

Cricket Saturation

Too much cricket! This is a trend which cricket administrators have been struggling with for years! Since the World Cup final there have been 13 T20is, 9 ODIs and 3 Test matches played in the last 5 weeks (ICC full members), that’s 37 days worth of cricket in 35 days! This included 5 match T20i series between India and Australia 4 days after the final! The only way to describe this is farcical and if this keeps going, bilateral series are going to get more irrelevant. There is a serious need for the authorities to re-evaluate the bilateral calendars. With franchise cricket growing exponentially year on year, irrelevant bilateral series really make international cricket very boring for the spectator. The authorities really need to think about prioritising the international calendar with fewer but more important games, else bilaterals will become an after thought for more and more nations with players signing multi year franchise contracts picking and choosing when to play international cricket.

What is there to look forward to in 2024?

Alright rant over, so what am I looking forward to as a fan in 2024? I personally struggle to see relevance in bilateral white ball series, which are now nothing more than practice for an upcoming ICC event, which is reflected in my choices below. Also no surprise I mention no franchise tournaments as something to look forward to as I see them as pure entertainment and not matches which actually carry

India vs Eng – Jan – March

Baz ball vs the turning ball! the final frontier for this England team to challenge themselves and repeat the success from 2012. A cracking series the world will be watching.

New Zealand vs South Africa – Feb

The “under rated next”. NZ and SA are often overshadowed by the Big three, but this short test series will hold a lot of importance for the WTC cycle and a great contest between two proud cricketing nations

New Zealand vs Australia – Feb – March

The trans-tasman rivalry is always competitive, and this follows on from NZ’s series with SA so they will be well prepared.

T20 World Cup – June – The Main event

A world cup in the Caribbean and the USA. This is the kind of event the sport needs to really become a global sport outside of the commonwealth. With 20 teams and a good representation of members, associates, this will really feel like a proper world cup!

Pakistan vs Eng – Oct

England triumphed here last time and will fancy them selves again. But with crucial WTC points up for grabs, Pakistan cannot be under estimated at home, and hopefully with a few more sporting wickets, this could be a great series.

Australia vs India 5 Test – Dec

Its always spicy between these two nations. Australia have trounced India in the last two major ICC finals, but India are the only nation to have beaten Australia in their back yard over the last 2 series. It will be interesting to see where both teams are at this point in the year

Lots of amazing test cricket and a T20 world cup, plenty to look forward to, lets hope the cricket doesn’t disappoint!