There is
an interesting trend that seems to be creeping in around the cricketing world.
Private investors are getting interested in pouring their money into the game,
convinced that there will be more to take out, and the ruling authorities don't
seem too happy to see someone looking in to grab a bite out of their plate.
Here's an update on what seems to be developing into a fairly significant
tussle, along with some other interesting developments in the cricketing world.
West Indies suddenly becomes the Million Dollar Baby
Allan
Stanford, Texan Billionaire and amongst the most valuable of cricket lovers, announced
that he is investing 100 million dollars in West Indian cricket. The
announcements from Stanford following this have said the sort of things that
cricket lovers around the world will like to hear – the money will be spent in
developing cricket in the West Indies right from the grassroots, the money will
be spent in developing infrastructure for the game and the most narcotic,
nitrous-oxide-dreams-inducing statement of them all – that in four to five
years, West Indies will be a force no less potent than Lloyd’s invincible from the
70’s and the 80’s.
Alan
Stanford’s plan offers the West Indies Cricket Board a fairly hefty share of
the moolah. In the billionaire’s own words, “What we have offered to them
(WICB) is a financial windfall - basically the opportunity to earn - with no
risk, no investment — US$59 million over five years.”
Now every such dream is bound to face obstacles, and predictably, the
first of them has come from the ‘guardians of the game’ themselves – the ICC.
The ruling body has been, news reports say, ‘cautious’ about Stanford’s new
venture with a statement that clarifies that the benefits of the investments
should come to the 'other stakeholders of the game'. It doesn’t take too much
reading between the lines to understand that the ICC is clearly looking to ‘wet
its beak’, to borrow a mafia lingo. At any rate, this is not a very reassuring
statement because these ‘stakeholders’, we suspect, are exactly the same
entities who eventually turned the 2007 World Cup into practically a
suit-and-tie boardroom event and drove the fun right out of it.
If the ICC does not throw a
spanner in the works, and if the programme goes on as planned, it will involve
a grand 21 nation 20-20 tournament involving even the likes of Cuba. This will
be the second Stanford 20-20 tournament after the first met with resounding
success last year, and will run from the 25th of January to the 24th
of February next year. Stanford’s plans also involve roping in the likes of
Puerto Rico and the Dominican
Republic. And with Stanford and the big
bucks involved, you can be assured that these will be competitive, fighting and
financially well-supported teams and not just a bunch of expats pursuing a
hobby.
A great
shot in the arm for the game just about sums it up.
BCCI
vs. Kapil: Round # 1
The
second major episode over the past couple of days seems to confirm the pattern
going around the world here between private investors and the game’s ruling
bodies. While the ICC has been ‘cautious’ in its reactions to the Stanford
20/20, the BCCI has been quite clear that they do not like other parties
looking to grab a share of the big cash cake that is Indian Cricket.
It
started with the BCCI sending out circulars to everyone concerned
‘blacklisting’ the ICL (Indian Cricket League), and sounded a clear warning
that no one involved in any capacity with the BCCI should associate themselves
with the independent cricket series.
This brought
under the scanner Kapil Dev, who is both; the Chairman of the BCCI controlled National Cricket Academy,
and the Chairman of the ICL’s Executive Board. The former Indian all rounder –
the ‘former’ is perhaps misplaced, given the wide spectrum of activities he is
still involved in – was quick to chose his side. "I have already sent my
reply to them. They can remove me from the NCA if they want to”, he said,
arguing that the ICL is contributing to the game of cricket and giving
youngsters an opportunity to play the game.
Another
aspect to this is a threat by the BCCI to cut off the pensions they pay to
former cricketers who associate with the ICL. This seems to be rather foolish,
considering the money the ICL will offer them is bound to exceed the BCCI’s
pension by more than just a couple of digits.
Twenty20
World Cup: Early entries and exits
In some other interesting but
not-so-pleasing developments, the Indian batting line up’s holy trinity Dravid,
Ganguly and Sachin have opted out of the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.
While
that does take out some star value out of the tournament, the bigger worry is how
seriously other big name players will take the contest. The good news on that
front is that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been included in Pakistan’s list
of 30 probables for the tournament, and at the time of writing, seem interested
in turning up for the games.
The scorecard
The much
discussed, the much criticized and the much doubted move of making team bad boy
Chris Gayle the ODI captain has paid off in style as the West Indies defeated England 2-1 in the 3 match ODI series in England.
Having
lost the first match by 79 runs being all out for 146 chasing 225, it looked
like things for the Windies would slip by the same route as the dismal Test
series and a zillion other series’ in recent history. But the best part about
having the more lively, the more enthusiastic Gayle as captain was the spirit
and passion that sparked in the squad, and they came back to win the next two
games comfortably by 61 and 93 runs respectively, leaving Botham musing on the
fact that the current English ODI team would even “lose to Eskimos.” If Alan
Stanford keeps going, it probably won’t be too long before we see Eskimos play
Cricket.
Sussex, in the
meantime, hung on by one solitary wicket to deny the Indians a good opening
start to their tour. Chasing 265 to win in the fourth innings, Sussex
were down to 172 for 9 when the Indians showed their age old skill in failing
to get the tail enders out. Earlier in the game, the Indians followed up
a solid 388 for 7 (declared) with a habitual collapse for 184. Sussex scored
300 in the first innings, and finished the game at 190 for 9.