Mark Richardson: Much cricket but Black Caps sadly not in the TV frame

Does it concern anyone that by the time the summer is up we will have seen more broadcast cricket involving Australia than New Zealand? Probably not, given we have witnessed Shane Warne's magic, Brian Lara become the highest test run-scorer of all time, Michael Hussey emerge as Mr Cricket, Brett Lee bowl frighteningly fast, Ricky Ponting go on a run-scoring bonanza and Australia beat the best of the world combined. All this following up an Ashes series that captivated the world.

Sure, it's all good but can too much of a good thing be harmful? Will all this exposure to the wonderful world of Australian cricket harm the identity of our own game? Will Kiwi youngsters stop identifying with Black Caps and turn to the Baggy Green for their main source of role-models?

All questions the marketing department at New Zealand Cricket might want to sweat over - even more so now Indian cricket has decided to throw around a bit of weight, cancel a full tour of tests and ODIs next year in New Zealand and threaten to become the mafioso of world cricket.

By summer's end, Sky Television will have broadcast seven tests, 18 ODIs and a Twenty20 match involving Australia, compared to three tests, 12 ODIs and a Twenty20 matching involving New Zealand. I'd imagine it was not Sky's intention to deliver such disparity. Cricket has a good audience and it is summer, so cricket fits the bill.

But that cricket has to come from somewhere and it helps if it's current. It was unfortunate that it was New Zealand's turn in the rotation to host Zimbabwe but those games were wiped out when the Government decided to get on its high horse. It was just lucky the Chappell-Hadlee series got invented and the Sri Lankans agreed to reschedule the tsunami-ruined series or the New Zealand summer of cricket could have begun and ended with the West Indies.

The ratings gurus at Sky Television assure me that past records show that games involving New Zealand capture, on average, a third more viewer hours than games involving other nations. Hallelujah to that but people are also creatures of habit and that habit of preferring to tune into our boys at battle needs to be nurtured.

Unfortunately various elements in the recent past and near future threaten to change that habit and I would not like to see that happen.

People appreciate and value sport at its best.

The English football Premiership and the American NBA, for example, is sport at its best and is now highly accessible to the New Zealand public.

It's questionable whether or not this helps New Zealand Soccer or Basketball New Zealand build credibility.

New Zealand cricket has credibility at the top level but Australia vs South Africa is cricket at the highest level. It isn't good when the recent series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka is scoffed at as second rate in comparison.