room for all sports - makes a fitter healthier community at any age participating in what they love doing.

It's also posted on the ABC Sport Facebook page, and boy, does Maxwell cop some grief on there over it!

Cricket getting a little nervous about basketball's increasing popularity and profile hey. Jimmy clearly hasn't noticed all the people who play pickup ball on outdoor courts.

I would rather watch paint dry than watch cricket.

Could this be a sneaky PR move by LK to stoke more fire for the benefit of the sport and NBL? Kinda reminds me of Bobby Riggs v Billie Jean king "controversy"...... ;)

Maxwell is just another big mouth trying to keep himself relevant. Basketball is boring - cricket is exciting ??? Been playing with your willie too long Jim.

Wiki:

"Maxwell played cricket in Sydney at the Cranbrook School and once toured with an Australian Old Collegians team in 1972."

AM too. He's as establishment as they come. Eastern suburbs, old school tie. If Australia has an elite establishment, he’s in it.

I somehow think no kids play outside at all in his hood.

Ignorance is bliss Maxwell

I enjoy cricket, do not feel the need to defend basketball as is it plays in to the stupid narrative that it is all flash no substance.

I used to say there is more to it than you realise (basketball) but now understand it is embedded in our culture and others also understand that.

Both can co exist I do not feel the need to bag cricket

Spot the old bogan. It's nearly 2020 and he can't handle progress.

Old bogan indeed. Agree with my little bro.
Cricket is actually boring as batshit.

He doesn't hate T20, which makes him remarkably progressive for an old fogey

This is actually pretty good news. If an old fogey cricket commentator is starting to feel threatened by the NBL it means the league is starting to make significant inroads into the Aussie sports pysche.

My old man is 70 probably a similar age to Maxwell never played or followed the game in his life until a couple of years ago and even he now watches most of the NBL games on TV. Christmas lunch and my old man is sitting their shaking his head in disbelief that I think Casper Ware is a better player than Jerome Randle lol

Loving it!

It is a bit ironic that test cricket is so slow paced that there's enough time to deliver a rant about how boring another sport is without missing anything in the commentary.

I know that the pace of the game isn't the only factor in whether a game is exciting or not but it's still ironic don't you think

Manu "Wendy Byrd" makes a good point

Who?

'Sport Y' is boring. That's a take?

Wendy "Alannis Morisette" Byrd to you.

Had to google Jim Maxwell never heard of the old prick.

Bryce Cotton dedicates that one to Jim Maxwell

How a proponent of cricket could call any other sport boring is beyond me.

And as for calling for kids to play cricket instead of basketball, can he explain the rationale behind that? One is a dynamic full body work out that incorporates sprinting, jogging, jumping, throwing, catching, bilateral movement, hand-eye coordination, reflexes, so on and so on, bringing kids heart rates up and shedding pounds. The other is either hitting a ball, or throwing a ball. It's perfectly possible to obese and a decent cricket player.

Jim Maxwell needs to find another sport to attack, because, in the words of my black bretheren, "this aint it, dawg"

Just out of interest, does there exist people who rewatch entire cricket matches? Or those who will watch a full match if they miss it, even if they know who wins?

I just cannot imagine the answer to those questions being yes.

So, while I can respect the "passive" aspect of watching cricket, and how it might be something people do as a bit of background action that facilitates a reason to yell at a TV and drink, pretending that it is as entertaining as basketball, or as lively, or as action packed, is frankly obscene.

Everyone has the right to like whatever sport they want to like, but basketball being "boring" compared to cricket isn't just a preference thing, it is objectively untrue.

I imagine if you brought in 100 test subjects from an untouched African tribe who have never seen basketball or cricket, had them watch a full randomly-selected game of either, and then have them tell you which they were entertained more by, that the vote would be unanimous. It is only because of our Commonwealth/Australian culture and upbringing and the history of cricket in this country that cricket even has a following.

Once again, I imagine to play cricket is a fun, passive, easy way to waste some time, and that maybe people enjoy watching it if they've had that experience, but to pretend it is objectively more entertaining than basketball? Bitch please!

Believe it or not, but a kid can play many sports. In fact they actually do!

I used to play cricket and basketball as a kid and found both great fun to play and watch. Today though id have trouble watching a couple of overs on TV before tuning out. Its still a good sport to play though.

Each to their own, but to purposefully encourage one sport over another especially for junior participation is a bit low and requires some justification or explanation other than his uneducated opnion of it being boring...

"Each to their own, but to purposefully encourage one sport over another especially for junior participation is a bit low and requires some justification or explanation other than his uneducated opnion of it being boring..."

Yeah, I somehow think the million-something kids playing basketball wont be too deterred by what some old fogey says.

And I definitely challenge him to tell us all the benefits cricket has over basketball for kids health and well being. For socializing, equal. For fun, well, probably equal if the kids play the sport they enjoy. For fitness? Not even close.


As has already been said though, they're obviously starting to feel threatened.

What is the average cricket crowd?

I do know that the New Year's Eve test etc in Adelaide packs out, but outside of that?

To each their own.

Average test crowd this year was 20,400 odd per day, according to austadiums.com. That was for the test matches in Australia in 2019.

Test cricket is dying although the ironic thing is its been other forms of cricket that have killed it off, not so much competition from other sports, although its contributing to its demise moreso than before.

The Brisabne and Perth tests were poorly attended (given the amount of media coverage it gets). Not sure about Adelaide but Sydney and Melbourne get the best crowds due to the so called prestige and historic appeal. Outside of those two, test cricket is obnoxiously overrated.

Driving home at 8:30pm on a saturday evening and noticed that my local basketball courts are full of people, as usual. Indoor sport my arse. I should have taken a photo for Jim. Meanwhile I wonder how many kids are outside playing T-20 cricket right now.

Old fart Maxwell trying to get his 15 minutes of fame.

Wow.

Good to see so much passion about someone, who we've never heard of before, writing something we only know about because it’s been aired by the ABC.

I had to google JM too. He loves cricket. He lives for it. He dreamed of playing test cricket whilst still in his private school short pants. He even toured England in some kind of schoolboy tour (in 1973 I think, ain’t gonna google him twice). In the 1970s, I think David Hookes was the only SA Sheffield Shield player to go to a public high school. JM then dreamed of working for the BBC, and it took him a few tries to get a gig on the ABC. His AM was for his work with cricket. Of course he’s going to defend his livelihood and raise d’etre. I don’t take it personally, and neither should anyone here.

Cricket is very establishment, very conservative. The ABC radio commentary is catering for a small niche market, and that’s what JM does.

I think basketball has a relatively bright future in Australia. It’s easy to practice skills and play game variants with just a ball, the hoop systems you can put in your driveway or yard mean you can play pickup games at home. Lots of local parks have at least a small concrete area with a hoop.

We can sit back and enjoy the publicity produced by these sorts of statements. They will only help the game grow more.

No disputing that 180,000 in three days is impressive, but so is 105,000 in two days at the Docklands to watch Australia v USA.

He mentioned being outdoors during summer as a bonus with cricket. To be honest id rather be in an air conditioned environment during summer.

Serious question: Is basketball more popular than cricket amongst the youth of today?

Even my Indian mates prefer basketball.

I'm not trying to stick up for cricket but using the outlier Boxing Day crowds isn't right. Have a look at the crowds they get for all the other Test matches, the Boxing Day Test is so traditional to practically be sacred Victorians (and others) always turn out in droves for the first 1 or 2 days play.

The biggest issue for cricket at the moment is T20 is cannibalising Test cricket so all the traditionalists are standing around stomping their feet and now the NBL has even come into the firing line. Only a good thing.

Wendy Byrd - you can ch CD Sport Australia's sports participation stats from its annual Ausplay survey here - https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/research/smi/ausplay

Sport Australia used to be called the Australian Sports Commission.

In the past, Australian Bureau of Statistics also run various surveys that collect data on both organised and non-organised sport participation. Not sure whether they still do that or stopped when the Ausplay surveys started. ABS website is at abs.gov.au.

Maxwell is a very knowledgeable and responsible sports commentator.

Do his comments offer any useful insights into how non-basketball people might see the game?

Aussies love fast moving, athletic and physical sports, e.g. AFL, rugby league.

Parents like skillful and safe sports, e.g. football, basketball.

Many Aussies see basketball as a fairly non-contact, non-physical sport, ie, two teams of mostly very tall players going back and forth trying to throw a big ball thru a basket.

And a sport where the interesting bits are continually interrupted by long stoppages and by endless numbers of generally very boring free throws.

Test cricket can be ridiculously slow and predictable, but nevertheless, there are things that basketball can do to improve its attractiveness and watchability.

Spot on, Straight Bat.

Jim Maxwell is a boring old flog, end of story.

Harsh but true.
If Finn Delaney or Cameron Bairstow played cricket I would take more notice.

"And a sport where the interesting bits are continually interrupted by long stoppages and by endless numbers of generally very boring free throws."

But in cricket there's a stoppage in action after every ball is bowled.

Maybe after each bucket is scored, the in-bounder should walk very slowly back measuring their pace and then take a run up.

(That aside, after each over in cricket or goal in AFL, those sports are set up for brief sponsor ads which would help commercially.)

Crack down on pointless fouls or timeouts when there is a 15 point defecit with under a minute left.

Reduce time taken on video reviews.

How on earth can anyone say cricket is exciting, it's akin to golf to watch, nothing happens

Times are a changing less people into cricket these days.
Move with the times J Maxwell far less VB drinking fellas nowadays.

No, not at all.

Isaac:

"Maybe after each bucket is scored, the in-bounder should walk very slowly back measuring their pace and then take a run up.

(That aside, after each over in cricket or goal in AFL, those sports are set up for brief sponsor ads which would help commercially.)"

Spot on with the commercial breaks. Kerry Packer only wanted the broadcast rights when he started World Series cricket. Until then the players had been amateurs. They jumped ship to make bank. Test matches in Australia used to have 8 ball overs before the Packer era. Shortening the overs made more advertising space available.

I also remember NBL refs calling “tv time out”s if no break in play had occurred for too long. (I think it was still The Apollo era in Adelaide).

In veeerry broad brushstrokes, sport in Australia has changed from promoting alcohol and tobacco to promoting sports betting. So maybe in the future sports will grow or wither based on gambling profits. Indian bookmakers offering spot bets on wides and no balls clearly adds to gambling profitability (and corruptibility). I guess basketball equivalent would be missed free throws wait, we already have cheeseburgers for that).