Sun never sets on cricket as franchises pop up all over the world

The Australian team might be on a bit of a break. But that doesn’t mean some of the highest-profile players aren’t on show in different parts of the world.

Usman Khawaja’s Vancouver Knights take on the Toronto Nationals at the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Picture: Getty Images

There I was, happily watching Hulk Hogan tear his top and rave about running wild on giants, savages, and warriors. It felt even better that he was cutting a Hulkster promo at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

All political affiliations aside, it made me swell with pride as a lifelong pro-wrestling fan (and part-time performer) who’s had to endure a lot of ridicule for staying loyal to what I consider the greatest form of sports entertainment.

This was the furthest down the line I could have been in my self-imposed brief exile from cricket after a hectic T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. Soaking in the drama of the US elections on CNN on a random weekday morning. Only to be brought straight back to reality when a still image popped up (as part of CNN’s What A Shot segment) on TV of who else but Steve Smith attempting an audacious paddle sweep off a Pakistani fast bowler while donning the colours of a T20 franchise based in Washington DC.

Oh yes, that’s right. A stern reminder that the Australian team might be on a bit of a break. But that doesn’t mean some of the highest-profile Australian players aren’t on show in different parts of the world.

Almost immediately, I’d moved on from Hulk Hogan’s ode to Donald Trump. It didn’t seem as important to me as finding out how well Smith is going in Major League Cricket as captain of Washington Freedom.

The next hour or so was spent scouring through scorecards and squad lists to ascertain who’s playing for whom and what they’ve been up to. Only to find that Smith had formed a formidable opening combination with Travis Head in a team that also has Glenn Maxwell in its ranks and is coached by Ricky Ponting. Also, that Smith had found a new gear to his T20 batting where at times he was scoring quicker than Head while maybe sending a signal to the selectors that he’s not done with the format yet.

Smith’s team have in fact been the one to beat so far in the second season of the MLC, finishing on top of the league table. By the time you read this, Smith and Head would have tagged up to face Pat Cummins with the new ball in a match that would reveal the identity of the first finalists.

Unlike the two openers, who’ve been there from the start of the season, Cummins was a bit of a late arrival for San Francisco Unicorns, with whom he recently signed a much-publicised four-year contract. Matt Short and Josh Inglis are the other Australians in the San Francisco franchise, alongside the young man who was spoken of like a unicorn at the top of the order before the T20 World Cup, Jake Fraser-McGurk.

And just like that, I was back on the cricket caravan. It had been only a couple of weeks since I had decided to give myself a break from watching cricket with any great interest.

Dom Sibley of Surrey walks out to bat during the Metro Bank One Day Cup match between Surrey and Yorkshire at The Kia Oval in London. Star all-rounder Marcus Stoinis will join the team when his US stint ends. Picture: Getty Images for Surrey CCC

Before I knew it, I was staying up at night to watch Marnus Labuschagne return figures of 5/11 for Glamorgan in the T20 Blast, the forgotten short-form league in the UK, over in Cardiff. And a few nights later to see the slightly more recognised Aussie leg-spinners, Adam Zampa and Amanda Jade-Wellington, star on the opening night of The Hundred, the more-recognised short-form league in the UK.

This to illustrate simply how difficult it has become to keep track of the non-stop cricket schedule, which continues to get more hectic on a weekly basis. To the extent that even cricket journalists can no longer revel in having off seasons. As the MLC draws to a close this weekend in the US, the Global T20 Canada tournament kicked off in Brampton, ­Ontario, on Friday. For the record, the Vancouver Knights led by Test opener Usman Khawaja, who was dismissed by compatriot Jason Behrendorff, went down to the Toronto Nationals. And in a few hours from now, Brampton Wolves led by now-retired (from international cricket only) superstar David Warner himself, will be in action in against Surrey Wolves.

Surrey will be without star all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who is currently still in the US with his MLC team, Texas Super Kings, still in contention for a slot in the finals. He won’t be the only player finishing up in one league and ­potentially appearing for a totally different team in another league within 24 hours this month.

A few have already done that. Look for it on social media and you’ll find a clip of Jamaican power-hitter Andre Russell being dismissed by Kieron Pollard in Dallas while playing for MI New York on Monday followed by one where Russell is smashing Jofra Archer for a gigantic six in Southampton while in London Spirit colours on Thursday.

How about Mohammad Amir, Pakistan’s enigmatic left-arm seamer, then. His last three competitive matches are for three different teams in three different competitions, and they’ve come in the space of six days this past week: for Derbyshire in the T20 Blast on Friday, the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred (who he signed up to play one match for) before flying over to Canada and taking the new ball for Vancouver in the GT20.

What this cannibalisation of short-form cricket, as some call it, means for the sport and the repercussions it’ll have for Test cricket is a discussion for another day. That will require a more detailed analysis of the semi-free market that league cricket exists in currently, especially outside the IPL with its fixed window.

Ironically, in the midst of this cornucopia of franchise cricket, there have also been two classically English Tests, in swinging conditions at Lord’s and a flat pitch at Trent Bridge, and the retirement of one of cricket’s all-time greats in James Anderson.

Newly crowned T20 men’s world champions India have travelled to Zimbabwe for a handful of T20I matches with a squad that didn’t include a single player from their title-winning campaign. Meanwhile, Australia has announced its white-ball squads for the tour of the UK in September.

There’s still a long way to go, and many important weekends of football action to dive into, before we even start thinking about cricket season here in Australia.

That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t catch your favourite cricketers in action in multiple team colours and in multiple leagues, as what remains of the traditional cricket calendar fights for relevance in the wake of a rapidly changing landscape.