Selling cricket to the Americans who love baseball
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 : Stanford Files, Twenty20
Cricket and baseball are like parents and their teenage children: they have so much in common and yet remain a total mystery to each other.
So writes England, Middlesex and Kent batsman Ed Smith in his book 'Playing Hard Ball: County Cricket and Big League Baseball'
. Written before the impact of the baseball influenced Stanford Twenty20 cricket, this book now has a strong resonance.
Sir Allen Stanford believes that Twenty20 cricket can take over as the world's most popular team sport. To do this it must sell in the sports saturated market of America. This is going to be difficult. How difficult? Can you imagine the if you were presented with the task to 'Sell Baseball to the English'. Well initially I thought 'no chance', but thereafter found out that, surprisingly, baseball does have a tradition in this country. Both Derby County and Tottenham Hotspur were used as baseball venues in the early 20th century.
Baseball and cricket are very, very similar. You hit a fast-moving ball with a bat. That's it. It is the history and tradition that are different. Both baseball and Twenty20 cricket last for 3 hours so are ideal for sports bars and home viewing, so how is Sir Allen Stanford approaching the US market. We'll to give you some idea, check out www.yougottaseethis2020.com. You can imagine (just) Americans passing this on word-of-mouth 'You Gotta See This 2020'.
In the US there are 36 established leagues, 650 clubs and over 12,000 senior players, and 200 grounds. They are Associate Members of the ICC (the same as Ireland and Scotland for example) and played 2 ODIs back 2004.
For years Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been using baseball style tape under his eyes, which he started wearing after a successful run scoring spree in the United States. It reduces reflective glare from the sun. Maybe he knew something that we didn't.
Ed Smith's 'Playing Hard Ball: County Cricket and Big League Baseball' is available from Amazon.
All books by Ed Smith.
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