I am with him. As dearly as I love cricket, I am fast losing interest. In addition to the usual problems with the one day game and its relatively formulaic nature, I am, not in any particular order:-

1. Simulateously affronted by the general inability of commentators to use the English language properly and exasperated by their collective habit of treating all viewers as though they are blind.

2. Driven to despair by the jingoism that now seems to dominate much which surrounds the game. For example,power batting by an opponent is ‘bullying’ (a much misused term),while that of one’s own team is dominating, thrilling or some other anodyne term.

3. Not surprised by the small crowds. Was there even a cursory glance given to the economic profile of the West Indies and the unlikelihood that the locals would fill the new, bigger, unlovely grounds? Was there an expectation that the travelling supporters, as usual, would happily pay over the odds for an uninspiring experience?

4. Cricketed out. The ICC tournament, followed by the Ashes, followed by the CBA Series, followed by the Chappell Hadlee tournament, followed by the interminable group games, has left me jaded.

All other things being equal, which they are manifestly not, I would like to see Australia win - they are,after all, the team of my country. I would be as happy, I suspect, if the Windies were to surprise everyone, but I really don’t care all that much any more.

Is it a good thing that Australia continue to dominate? Would cricket generally be better off with the rise of some other power, or would we all be happy with sundry brief moments in the sun? This competition cannot solve these, or indeed any other issues. Despite all the money in the game, despite it being ostensibly a more attractive game in its various forms than perhaps it was in the past, it has, to me, lost much of its appeal.

Perhaps we deserve 20/20 cricket, with its mindless mantra of appealing to the great untapped, but that is a rant best left to another day.

All the above points are true really.

It was niave of the ICC to think that the WI locals would put up with hiked-up ticket prices as well as the excessive product security (e.g. not being allowed to take their own drinks into the ground (that picture of a guy pouring rum out of what looks like a suntan lotion bottle was a classic!) - we seem to be putting up with it in the UK at the moment, but it was never going to happen in the WI).

I made my mind up a long time ago that 1-dayers aren’t worth the bother; I pay a passing interest and, of course, hope England win….no, but seriously…. I don’t really care. Thank god I’ll have Warwickshire and the Test Series to follow in a month’s time.

As for the jingoistic TV commentary (which is now getting as bad as a certain UK independent TV channel’s football coverage), you should do as most sane cricket followers do and listen to it on the radio. It’s a far more balanced and interesting medium.

Long live Test Match Special!!!!

Why can’t they just throw it open to the locals with cheap tickets now - they’re not going to lose any more money from here on in, after all. Bring back the music, colour and spectacle of the Caribbean . . . It’s so sad for the host countries, and it’s not their fault the ICC are such sticklers. You never know what a bit of atmosphere might do to inspire the players!

As for the English summer - WAY toooooo much cricket. Back in “the good old days” there were never seven tests, not to mention two Natwest series . . . No wonder they’re old and buggered!

one word for patrick kidd and everyone else above: ‘yes’. good for you, angus, trying to remind us of some genuinely good moments but swamped for me in an overlong, overcomplex, overgreedy format - and as an england fan its easy to find reasons not to like one-day tournaments … i’d like to see some good cricket and only a fool would deny the oz batting line-up is talent anyone should be happy to pay money to see - just not 20 times their lifetime earnings or whatever it is. they said crime was a problem in the windies but i didn’t realise it extended to ticket prices for cricket matches. a real insult to a passionate and knowledgeable cricket audience who appear to love the game not just their own team.
sitting at lords (yes staid, stuffy, up-its-own-arse lords) a few years ago for england/windies, i was treated to a huge woman cheering every wi batsman as the procession became ever quicker (it was the day of four innings so plenty of wickets fell!) with courtney walsh coming in at about 40-8 to her rousing ‘come on courtney - you can do it!’ and i think she believed it. a weedy english fan was greeting each wicket with a pathetic peep from his trumpet when a caribbean bloke called out ‘no, man! THAT’S not a horn’ contributed a vast bellow from his own instrument and informed him ‘THAT’S a horn!’. and this when they were getting thumped. this was around the time that the england management thought the answer to the ramprakash enigma was for him to open so that (and i swear this was the reason advanced in all seriousness) ‘he would have someone else to walk to the wicket with’. that evening he walked out to the wicket with mike atherton - he walked back on his own fairly soon afterwards, i think. sorry to be so far off-thread, but my general point is that watching cricket with west indies fans in the crowd is always better.