Why Australia, India, England and New Zealand are hogging the cricket limelight

Gazing into a cricketing crystal ball, I find a comparison of the film industry and the developing cricket industry revealing.

In a global culture of marketing and nobody can dispute the dominance of Hollywood, Bollywood, Rupert Murdoch and Tony O'Reilly in terms of control of the world's pop media. These forces control the minds of the hungry souls that tune into their broadcasted reality and the shadow they cast on cricket is telling.

Take Hollywood out of the cricketing equation, and you can clearly see who will benefit the most in terms of the mass marketing of cricket. From the top down, India, Australia (and New Zealand) and England.

Scan the internet, pick up a newspaper, turn on the television, the future is plain to see, it's all about the Big Four of cricket. (Their ICC ranking is irrelevant and the quality of their game, thoroughly unimportant.)

To me, as a Proteas fan this is disturbing for a number of obvious reasons. Leaving merit out of it, I highlight the development of the sport of cricket within this equation. The Big Four are increasingly advantaged while the 'minnows' of the game are left in the dust. Teams from South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh don't really stand a chance in a world of marketed stars where the Big Four with media mogul muscle control who is marketed.