Dear Tony,

I have read the Beyond The Test World article on cricket and the Olympics. Yeah unfortunately the ICC are not in favour of bringing cricket into the Olympics.

I think if cricket was brought in, we could have the ICC Knockout Tournament scenario in the olympics. Like if cricket had been in at the Sydney Games, there could have be all the 10 test playing nations and a few emerging nations in that fixture. And with the semi finals, obviously 4 teams, the winner of the two semi finals play for the gold medal while the losing teams battle for bronze!

Oh well, we hope us cricket fans maybe in the future we hope cricket can be in the Olympics!!

Anyway that's my say...

Greg Chapman
gchapman@pbq.com.au
Australia

I think you miss one major problem with cricket being at the Olympics - and that is the nature of the game itself.

Regardless of the format, cricket requires a playing area of unusually large dimensions. It also requires levels of groundsmanship far higher than those required for any other Olympic sport (unless the premier showcase event was to take place on matting wickets...).

All the most recent "new" Olympic sports are playable in stadia used for sports already there - synchronised swimming only needs the pool (which was previously unused for the second week anyway) and triathlon need no facilities at all.

Most Olympics take place outside cricket playing countries. The cost of contructing a stadium for cricket would be high. Once constructed the event would inevitably not attract high spectator interest. And the stadium itself would have little use after the Games (who would use would a first-class cricket ground in Atlanta or Athens?).

The game is also more dependent on good weather than any other sport at an event that runs to a tight timetable.

The argument about getting the game coverage does not wash. How much coverage has baseball or softball or water polo or handball had in the UK as a result of their being Olympic sports? None whatsoever. It is equally unlikely that non-cricket playing countries would bother to televise cricket during a Games.

As for funding... how much funding is the French or Italian or whatever government EVER going to give to what will always inevitably be a minor sport in these countries? If there were financial benefits from membership, then these would be slight - set against which "he who pays the piper..."

Independence from the IOC and other major bodies allows cricket to set its own priorities away from the increasingly political and dirty world of IOC and sporting politics.

John Birch
United Kingdom

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