Let's Keep It Real About The Super Smash
GOATs
The constant shuffling of the domestic cricket schedule to try and best-use the Super Smash T20 competition paints a fairly vivid picture regarding the importance placed on the Super Smash from NZ Cricket. We have now seen the Super Smash played throughout December to cater to Sky TV and the telly viewers as well as a this year's version where the Super Smash has apparently been scheduled in favour of drawing crowds in with 'family friendly' time slots.
As T20 cricket and more specifically domestic T20 competitions catch fire around the world, drawing in all sorts of cash, it appears as though NZC want in on that action. Super Smash crowds are decent, not much more than that though and with so much else going on at this time of the year that pulls you away from the telly, along with the smorgasboard of international cricket and Big Bash League cricket, buzz around the Super Smash feels as though it is limited.
Further highlighting the struggles of the Super Smash, is the roaring success of the BBL as well as the Women's Big Bash League. There's no real comparison between the competitions in terms of quality, star-power and relative crowd numbers, although the difference in exposure is the most telling for me. In Australia, BBL games are on free-telly which puts the BBL into every household with a telly across the country while you can also catch a consistent dose of WBBL on free-telly as well.
Take one look at Cricket Australia's Youtube page (which craps all over NZC's) and the disparities between the two nations and just how far behind our trans-Tasman neighbours Aotearoa is, smacks you in the face. The last video uploaded on the 'Blackcaps TV' Youtube page is a live-stream of the Aotearoa XI vs Bangladesh (now a replay), with no Super Smash highlights to be seen.
There's only even sporadic Plunket Shield highlights; it's really not that hard to upload daily highlights/game highlights.
Cricket AU's Youtube page on the other hand has highlights of every BBL game, you can even find a video of Ricky Ponting singing the Barmy Army's Mark Waugh song.
Not only that, but you can also find highlights for every WBBL game as well.
In Aotearoa, we like to think that we support women's sport but we don't. We like to think we are all about equality in sport, yet when you compare the comprehensive coverage of the WBBL in Australia to the treatment of any women's domestic cricket in Aotearoa - it's nothing short of embarrassing.
Our mindset in 2016/17 should be that if men's cricket like the BBL has - at the very least - game highlights on Youtube, that it's mandatory for women's cricket (WBBL) to have the same. Television requires ratings, so while it sucks that women's cricket doesn't rate as well as men's cricket, it's the reality and thus it's understandable that Channel Ten/Fox Sports in Australia doesn't broadcast every WBBL game. It's the responsibility of Cricket AU though, to give the WBBL the same love online as the BBL gets via their media outlets like Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.
In Aotearoa, NZC gives us nothing ... but they want the Super Smash to be successful and talk it up about equality between men's and women's cricket.
To me, it sounds like we're all getting screwed and that the governing body is letting us down.
So the coverage and exposure of the Super Smash isn't so good, I've also come to view the Super Smash as just being a silly concept in it's current format. Right now, the Super Smash is going directly up against the BBL which means that we are not only unable to attract any legit overseas talent because they are playing BBL cricket, we are robbing our kiwi T20 talent the opportunity of playing in the superior BBL.
Comparing the schedules of the two international teams also points to some sillyness at play; Australia's Test team is currently in action, while the Blackcaps ODI team is now facing Bangladesh and the Blackcaps T20 team will soon take over. This means that while all of Australia's Test players miss out on BBL, Australia's limited overs specialists are able to take part and add to the all-round product of the BBL.
If NZC were serious about the Super Smash, wouldn't it make sense to have guys who might not feature in the Test team like Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme and Martin Guptill playing a full Super Smash campaign? Having Aotearoa's best limited overs specialists playing solely in the Super Smash would surely help them get a few more people in to watch.
For me though, that misses the point and we need to keep it real about the Super Smash; it's never, ever going to compete with the BBL. Why should the Super Smash go against the BBL, when it could work in conjunction with the BBL? NZC clearly want the Super Smash to resemble the BBL instead of perhaps switching their focus to try and get more kiwis playing in the BBL.
Remember that there is no Super Smash cricket on Youtube, compared to Cricket AU's comprehensive coverage, so what is there to lose? If the Super Smash is scheduled in a tight window before the BBL starts - while the Blackcaps are playing Test matches - and NZC ramp up their online exposure with common sense highlights packages/streaming, they'd be in the same position as they are now, if not better. This would allow kiwi cricketers like Munro or Guptill or Henry Nicholls (one of a few kiwis to play BBL), to put themselves in the shop window for BBL teams.
Having the Super Smash before the BBL would also attract overseas talent to come play in Aotearoa, as preparation for the BBL. Stuart Broad could have been sent to Aotearoa by Hobart Hurricanes to get some T20 work in before the BBL started ... Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo and Samuel Badree could get some T20 practice in before they head to Australia. With the competitions taking place at the same time, obviously these guys are going to chose the competition that pays more, has a far bigger buzz and is just a better quality.
This means that the Super Smash is ranked below most of the other domestic T20 competitions. The BBL and IPL lead the way, while England's competition is gathering momentum and even the likes of the Caribbean Premier League and Bangladesh Premier League get love from many overseas players.
Apart from Mahela Jayawardene, who is here for a holiday, any overseas player in the Super Smash is here because they didn't get picked up by a BBL franchise. Bowlers are faster/more skillful, sixes are bigger and there's far more extensive coaching resources.
Would you rather follow the Super Smash like a fanatic (which no one's really doing), or enjoy the work of Munro, Guptill, Nicholls, Neesham, Anderson, Santner, Sodhi, Southee, Boult, Williamson and any other kiwi cricketer in the BBL? I'd suggest that if you asked the players, they'd express a desire to play in front of more than 40,000 people over playing Super Smash cricket.
The idea of having a kiwi team in the BBL is a long-term goal to aim for, although it would probably have to involve that kiwi team being based in Australia. I do think this is some time away from actually happening and while everyone loves to talk about expansion (NRL, Super Rugby, A-League etc) it rarely adds to the competition, so there shouldn't be any rush to expand the BBL into Aotearoa. What we should be aiming for is to get as many kiwis playing in the BBL first, once there is a kiwi or two in every BBL team, then we can start to contemplate asking for our own team.
It's interesting how the three smartest kiwi cricketing minds (also the last three Blackcaps captains) have opted to take up BBL roles over Super Smash roles, or any kiwi cricket role. Stephen Fleming coaches Melbourne Stars, Daniel Vettori coaches Brisbane Heat and Brendon McCullum captains the Heat, heck let's throw in Shane Bond who is an assistant coach with the Heat.
Bond was successful as the Blackcaps bowling coach and everyone loves to point out how the kiwi bowlers have plateaued since Bond left his Blackcaps post, possibly making Bond the fourth smartest kiwi cricketing mind at the moment.
Money talks, first and foremost - obviously there's not so much money in Aotearoa. However, these four lads are unable to help share their cricketing wisdom with kiwi T20 teams because they are in Australia, while the Super Smash is on.
Fleming and Vettori have distanced themselves from NZC since their retirements, along with McCullum to some extent (he's enjoying a prominent BBL role) and Bond's departed from the Blackcaps coaching ranks despite doing a great job.
I'll leave y'all with that plethora of thoughts regarding where our Super Smash competition sits in the glorious world of franchise T20 and this; why would our four best modern cricketing minds in Fleming, Vettori, McCullum and Bond rather help foreign T20 franchises and not take kiwi cricket forward?