Another Ashes series, and cricket acquires the highest profile it can achieve in this country. No one with the slightest interest in cricket is ignorant of who holds the Ashes. And yet the sport’s profile is worryingly low. Yes, these one-day competitions can raise a momentary thrill, but we’ve forgotten who won them within five minutes.
The decision to sell coverage of home Tests to the highest bidder in 2006 has been predictably disastrous. Yes, Sky coverage and commentary are generally top-notch, but the lack of cricket on terrestrial TV has allowed it to fall out of the national discourse. It simply hasn’t been possible to bring my sons up in the reverent faith with which my father imbued me. And the economics of satellite TV have made things worse. Twenty years ago, wherever one went in a town centre there were little knots of blokes enjoying a brief respite from shopping misery in front of a window-display TV. Now, as I found on a recent visit to London, one can’t find the cricket anywhere. If you’re on your own patch, you might know a pub which shows it. But on your travels, you find that most pubs don’t bother, as the satellite rights are expensive, and cricket no longer figures sufficiently in the national discourse to make it worth acquiring them. No terrestrial coverage leads to no satellite coverage either.
Not really worth a major whinge. Just one more harmless pleasure buggered up. Thank you, 21st century.
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