Desert debacle highlights ODI decline 

Source: ReutersDropping the match: Brendon McCullum

There's nothing new about the suggestion that our cricketers are playing too much. But when it's Richard Hadlee saying it, those words seem to carry so much further - and louder.

The legendary fast bowler voiced his concerns prior to New Zealand's three-match one-day international series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi: a series that smacks of excess, and boring excess at that.

"Now if someone plays for 10 years, it should be considered a very long career," Hadlee told an Indian newspaper.

"The frequency of injuries to players is perhaps a sign of overdose of cricket".

It's all very well for the usual talking heads to demand that the Black Caps run marathons before breakfast and endure eight-hour net sessions every day to be competitive with the world's best.

Those who have actually played the game at international level will tell you that it can be a sapping experience, both mentally and physically, and especially on the road.

And in an age where the attrition rate of cricketers is already alarmingly high, surely nothing can be gained from shoehorning more pointless series in here and there - other than money?

The fans seem to agree. Hadlee's concern over dwindling interest in ODI cricket in general was backed up by revelations last week that the game has suffered a drop off in television ratings in the lucrative Indian market.

It came at an awkward time, considering that the "marquee" match up of ODI cricket - a seven-match series between top-ranked teams Australia and India - has so far lived up to expectation; at least where the on-field quality is concerned.

In that case, if a duel for ODI supremacy between its two top-ranked combatants can't excite an audience, what hope do the mediocre Black Caps and Pakistan have of drawing a crowd at a neutral venue in a cricketing backwater?

The answer was predictable in Wednesday morning's series opener: not much.

The only sidenote of interest is that the Black Caps' dismal loss sees them fall behind Pakistan to fifth on the ODI rankings. Although the fact that they were ever ahead speaks volumes about the ratings system's obvious flaws.

Not much else rides on this Mickey Mouse series - relocated to the Middle East because of security concerns - although it's doubtful the three matches would have piqued much interest even if they had been played in Pakistan.

Is it therefore a question of whether it's too much cricket, or merely too much pointless cricket, that's turning people off the one-day game?

Perhaps had there been a Test series tacked on to this Middle Eastern jaunt, the level of intrigue would have been higher. Perhaps a return to decent-length tours is what cricket needs to draw the players and the fans back in.

A tour is more than just a string of meaningless matches with no wider context; it's a succession of skirmishes that form part of a protracted battle.

It gives the opposition time to feel each other out; to learn each others' games, exploit weaknesses, target opponents, build rivalries, develop feuds.

It gives travelling players and fans a chance to acquaint themselves with their foreign surroundings. A tour feels more like a full cultural immersion than a mere business trip.

Just as England's 2008 tour to New Zealand showed, a good tour ends with feelings of genuine camaraderie between the teams and fans, mixed with sadness that it had to end.

It's a shame, then, that the international calendar looks ever more fragmented: ODI series here; poky three-team tournaments there; random Twenty20 fixtures thrown in for - well - good measure, because it's hard to see what else they would be thrown in for..

The Black Caps' series in Abu Dhabi, like the Aussies' all-too-brief visit to the subcontinent, has no context. Both just stand alone, a series of utterly-forgettable events.

And while there is no excuse for the dross that Dan Vettori's men served up to mark his first match in charge of both captaincy and coaching, they can't entirely be blamed for feeling a mite short of motivation.

Maybe Sir Paddles is wrong; maybe cricketers are playing about the right amount of cricket.

It could just be that their administrators simply don't give them - or us - full value for money.