KEY POINTS:
The new chairman of NZ Cricket talks to David Leggat about the state of the sport and where it's going:
World cricket's landscape is rapidly changing. Where does New Zealand sit in the overall scheme of things?
With Sir John Anderson representing New Zealand Cricket, we probably punched
above our weight in terms of the impact we were able to have. Going forward, relations with those key countries is going to be very important. The Future Tours Programme is in place until 2012 and we want it extended on terms that are suitable to us. It guarantees us our international cricket and commercial revenues that flow from that. We've got to have the best relationships we can with England, Australia and India, so they want to look after us and play cricket with us. We have to accept that commercially we're not as powerful as those three and therefore, in simple terms, we need to be best of friends with them. Clearly if we can perform, and be in the top two or three in the world in one-day and test cricket, and Twenty20 then we're going to be more appealing to those nations.
Is the financial gulf between the haves and have nots among the test-playing nations growing?
The distribution model for the funds from the ICC is very egalitarian. If you're a test-playing country you get an equal share. If you're sitting in India you might say 'we've actually generated, or are responsible, for more and should get a disproportionate share of that'. So the model in place at the moment is arguably pretty generous for smaller nations. But that's consistent with the ICC wanting to, and having responsibility for, developing the game.
As chairman, what is your No 1 priority?
I see representing NZ cricket round that international table as pretty important in terms of building relationships and ensuring the amount of cricket we play and the commercial proceeds that brings. That's got to be a key focus. Obviously the game here is really important, and we have a chief executive and an infrastructure that will manage that.
Can you see the 50-over game fading as Twenty20 becomes more ensconced?
The 50-over game probably needs to be beefed up a little. When you talk to young people today, the Twenty20 time frame has got quite a lot of appeal. We're seeing it with our domestic game. You can't ignore what the public want. What I'd like to see is Twenty20 having more of a place in the club format than perhaps some areas of the country are recognising. Getting young guys to commit to a 12-6pm day is hard. There's a whole lot of social factors and there's not that inclination (to spend a whole day playing cricket). So you've got to appeal to people who can't commit to play as long every week, and Twenty20 does that. We see it expanding the number of people playing the game. Participation levels are good, it's really strong at junior levels and the challenge is to get more to filter through to secondary schools and then to senior competitions. Much of it is about creating interest in the game.
So Twenty20's future looks secure?
It's interesting to speculate where Twenty20 might take us. It's less than two years old. Initially India weren't too keen on playing in the first world competition, then they went on and won it and a few months later the Indian Premier League was created and the face of the game has changed. At the moment, Twenty20 looks like it's here to stay. There's a shadow over the game as we know it, organised as it is, with privately owned teams and leagues. There's got to be a place for the franchise model as well.
New Zealand went through a lean period of tests leading up to last year's World Cup. How do you see test cricket's place from New Zealand's perspective?
It has a huge place in the game. The Ashes series of 2005 and 2006-07, the India-Australia matches last season proved that. It really comes back to the Future Tours Programme. We've got to have arrangements in place where we get countries to tour us and for us to get regular tours overseas so we can get New Zealand's numbers of tests up.
