Internationalization

Just as meteorologists use satellite images and weather vanes to forecast weather, or a mechanic uses probes to find the status of machine, what would we find if we were to make a quick physical exam of international cricket. Here are the observations:

Australia
The only team in the world that seems to care for excellence. Right from being the national sport of the country to the grassroots level, passion for cricket seems to run down the veins down under,....... and.....a very big 'and'.....translates to the seriousness of maintaining a high standard of game.

• Won 1987 World Cup in India
• Won 1999 Wold Cup in England
• Won 2003 World Cup in South Africa
• Won 2007 World Cup in West Indies
• Finalist in 1975 in England and 1996 in Pakistan

In short, excellent international team for the past 35 years, and does well outside home conditions too.

High cricket standards in national cricket. Unfortunate to have to send only one team on the international level.

India

Passion for cricket runs deep to the point of insanity. The same level of commitment towards achieving professionalism and brilliance for the de facto national sport: Patchy. A single team to represent about a billion people on earth, over and over: Extremely unfair. Highly polarized and nepotistic cricket board that manages Indian cricket: Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI:

• BCCI grows super rich over the past 2 decades, is a monster in the ICC room.
• Bullyish and pushing it's own agenda on ICC. Makes room for Indian cricket for IPL giving international tourneys a second thought.
• Opposed to DRS, on ridiculous grounds
• Produces cricket pitches that would make bowlers take up another sport instead.
• Become Test and ODI World Cup champions only to follow up by 2 back to back overseas whitewashes, bringing home World Cup glory into question.

Sri Lanka

• A nobody cricket team until 1996 World Cup. Wins the World Cup and creates waves for rising up from being underdogs to champions
• Has been on a downward path ever since, and despite featuring in the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals, remains a toothless opposition.
• Circa 2012, Sri Lanka Cricket is cash-strapped, dysfunctional. Players not payed wages. Team selection is erratic and spurred by personal motives. Talent dwindling.

Pakistan

• Always a volatile team. Possesses talent.
• Pakistan Cricket Board - An unruly board. Complete new faces every couple of years. Coaches come and go. Superstar players thrown out only to come back later. And then thrown out again. A team in a constant state of repair and rebuilding.
• Players involved in serious offenses involving spot fixing, drug use
• Political and security situation of the country debilitates international cricket. Sri Lanka team attacked, bomb explodes outside New Zealand team's hotel. A places off-limits for any international team
• India and Pakistan don't play bilateral series for years at stretch due to diplomatic breakdown and make ups between the countries. The only series that could match the Ashes in rivarly doesn't happen for years at a stretch.

England

• As always, truly England
• When will this team be the team to beat. Despite beating Australia in the Ashes twice in a row at the time of this writing, a perennially mediocre team.
• Great county cricket structure, gave the world Twenty20 cricket
• Quick question: How is England an international team, when it is only a part of United Kingdom?

South Africa

• The only other team in international cricket that knows to stay competitive and interesting over the course of many years
• Can be blamed for having players that were at the heart of match-fixing, and got exposed.
• The only team consistently able to challenge Australia at home and away venues.

West Indies

• Old glory does not seem to come back to the Caribbean
• Athlete loyalties shift from cricket to soccer, basketball and baseball. Serious deprivation of talent
• Board infighting leads to key players leaving international cricket, significant player strikes
• Now: Mediocre team with no hope in sight for improvement

New Zealand

• Almsot forgot the Black Caps
• Such is the case with the team who plays the fifth popular sport in the country.
• Talent rare. Passion: Hard to find
• The forgotten team of international cricket. No one except New Zealanders care if they the World Cup or anything

Zimbabwe

• A poor team that looked to become good by 2003
• Political debacle in the country, destroys it's upcoming team. Relegated by the ICC from Test cricket
• Test status regained, but stays a team, no major team can dream of losing to.

Bangladesh

• Achieved Test status in 2000 in a hasty fashion
• Since then, has been able to record upset victories in ODIs against all major teams, but only one-off games. Never a tournament, except if keeping Zimbabwe in picture. By now, these two countries must have developed an Ashes like rivalry, amongst the bottom tiered teams
• In the past 11 years, have won only 3 test matches, 1 against Zimbabwe and 2 against second tier West Indies team sent during their phase of player strikes

Other fringe teams:

• Kenya - The team with the most potential wasted over 16 years since debuting on tier 1 international level in 1996 World Cup. Beat West Indies in 1996, semifinalist in 2003 World Cup owing to match forfeitures. Left to rot by ICC to play against minnows. Never given Test status.
• Ireland - Made an impact by edging out Pakistan in 2007 World Cup. Beat England in 2011 World Cup in stunning comeback victory chasing 300+ total, featuring fastest World Cup century by Kevin O'Brien. Future in dark, as they keep on playing the minnows for the coming years. Test status, a pipe dream.
• United Arab Emirates - Featured in 1996 World Cup. Best known for being clobbered by Gary Kirsten for record breaking World Cup innings
• Netherlands - Barring 1999 World Cup, made it to all World Cups since 1996. Have a couple decent players, but, as usual, ICC won't do anything to bring them up and make them play against elite cricketing teams. The team features mostly original Dutchmen, instead of South Asian disapora pretending to represent the country, which displays some level of mainstream support
• Canada, USA, Scotland, Namibia, Bermuda, Hong Kong, Afghanistan - Good to know they made it to tier 1 stage at different points in time

Conclusion:

• The prospects for international cricket to continue over the same course it has taken for a while looks very bleak.
• The onslaught of 24x7 cricket, between the same teams over and over is getting monotonous
• Teams that were formerly powerhouses of cricket have regressed to mediocrity. New teams do not have good talent and ICC support framework to make a meaningful addition to international cricket
• More and more players are being stretched between the practicality of good fortune offered by club cricket and representing national cricket
• ICC needs to put in a creative and aggressive plan in place, if it plans to keep international cricket the face of the game. It needs to add more teams that are competitive quickly and decide upon the standard format of the game: Tests, ODIs or T20s. Otherwise it risks not just failing to expand it's audience, it might be staring at fan erosion.
• Alternatively, cricket should take a cue from other major professional sports. Promote club cricket around the world and keep international cricket limited to World Cup and it's qualifiers and Olympic Games.

Act ICC! For once.