Cricket icon slams the huge mistake that is making Australians turn away from the game: ‘We’ve lost our love of it’

Cricket commentator Kerry O’Keeffe has a lot of Aussies talking about rugby league during the height of the cricket season and wants the pal to change a little to put it down.

While Australia retained The Ashes, won the ODI World Cup and Test Championship, and have a big summer of cricket ahead with Test series against Pakistan and the West Indies, the NRL chat continues to dominate.

With International Cricket Council cricket events such as the World Cup and Champions Trophy moving exclusively to streaming until 2027, there will be even less of the sport on free-to-air networks.

O’Keeffe said more cricket needed to be made available to all Australians or he feared an already disenfranchised audience could become even more jaded.

“I don’t know much about streaming, all I know is that I want us as a nation to make cricket accessible more and more, deep down we have lost our love for it,” he said . SEN.

Cricket has been dominating the headlines lately, from stealing the World Cup from India in the final to Mitchell Johnson’s scathing attack on retiring Test opener David Warner.

However, O’Keeffe remains angry that football teams like the NRL are making headlines at a time of year when cricket should be all that worries about any Australian sports fan.

“I don’t want to talk about Addin Fonua-Blake in November, it’s driving me crazy, please,” he said, referring to the ongoing news story about the NRL star.

Cricket commentator Kerry O’Keeffe often sends listeners into hysterics, but he’s not amused when fans talk about football during the cricket season.

Crowd numbers for Test matches in Australia are dwindling and there is little hope of an improvement this summer against Pakistan and the West Indies.

O’Keeffe doesn’t want to hear about the movements of NRL players during the cricket season, such as the current stories about negligent New Zealand Warriors player Addin Fonua-Blake (pictured).

“When I hear sports people talking on other stations, it’s early November and they say, ‘Oh, I can’t wait for the first round of the NRL’, please… give yourself an uppercut, what’s going on,” O’Keeffe continued. .

“If we lose our love for the game, it should be promoted by people in the media, I don’t care if it is considered our national sport or not.”

“The countries that are growing in cricket are those that are absolutely passionate about the game.

“To begin with, India are a powerhouse and we are talking about Addin Fonua-Blake and where he could go in 2027, will the Dragons please get a spoon?” Who cares about November, who cares about March? Come on.’

Australia are unlikely to make any significant selections for the first Test against Pakistan, meaning no home debut for paceman Lance Morris.

Australia have stocked the trophy cabinet this year but haven’t done well in filling places.

The Pakistan series will be a career finale for David Warner, who is looking to finish on a high at his home ground, the SCG.

While Morris impressed Andrew McDonald during Sunday’s training session at WACA Stadium, the manager predicted a predictable line-up for Thursday’s series opener at Optus Stadium.

In his latest newspaper column, former Test pacemaker Mitch Johnson urged the Australian selectors to bleed Morris immediately.

“We saw Lance take notice of a few players, Marnus (Labuschagne) in particular – it was a good contest, good batting,” MacDonald said of Sunday’s session at center wicket.

“How can I put it – it (the side) will look the same as before.”

McDonald also continued to deflect questions about who would replace opener David Warner, saying there was no rush to make the big decision.