CricDigs Blogs

Cricketing boards around the world seem to be slugging it out over administrative and scheduling issues. As England played the first of its Stanford Series matches, the views expressed from around the cricketing fraternity exclaimed how the ECB had literally sold of its players and teams for a non-cricketing cause. Even the likes of Geoffrey Boycott have come to terms with T20 cricket, saying it is a must for the game to survive, but even he couldn’t comprehend the logic behind T20 matches being organised between a national side and a privately-owned corporate team. Again, what exactly is the logic behind the West Indian players donning the uniforms for Stanford and not their national logos? Does this mean that on that day, the Stanford Group has bought the entire West Indies cricket team? The ECB has gone in a mood of snubbing everyone who has counter-questioned their wisdom.

Now, closer home, the SLC — Sri Lankan Cricket authorities are at loggerheads with the BCCI. The SLC strongly feels that their players should give priority to national duty rather than club cricket — IPL. Notwithstanding, the SLC’s sentiments, the BCCI has cleared that the Sri Lankan cricketers had signed up to participate in the IPL for three seasons. This has stumped the SLC. They were under the assumption that their players had been contracted for the first season only. This comes in the wake of the Sri Lankan players being asked to continue with their England Tour rather than play for the money-rich IPL. Now, the BCCI is on the verge of snapping its ties with the SLC, if the Board doesn’t allow its players to take part in the IPL. Things are getting worse with national sentiments divided among the viewing public. Most people agree with SLC head, Ranatunga, that it is immoral to choose club cricket over international, test cricket.

Even IPL’s arch rival, the ICL is on a warpath with its players. Reportedly, the Dhaka Warriors aren’t pleased with the amenities extended to them. The ICL has suspended an international player, Chris Cairns of New Zealand along with former Indian player, Dines Mongaia on disciplinary grounds. The ICL-IPL talks seem to be headed nowhere as everyone knows that Lalit Modi is going to be relentless in his pursuit to make IPL the undisputed T20 Championship. There were suggestions that ICL could sell its franchise to the IPL, helping IPL to eliminate the competition and increase the number of participating teams. The ICL bosses seem perturbed over the fact that the second edition is witnessing one-sided matches and limited crowds in the stadiums.

So as the situation stands now — the Stanford Series has soured relationships of world cricketing boards and the ECB. The ECB and SLC aren’t on the best of terms, with the forthcoming Sri Lanka – England series on the verge of being scrapped. Like I said, the BCCI and SLC are already slugging it out. Phew!! This is the state of things when we have less than ten Test teams and the game is struggling to re-invent itself and survive. May God hammer some sense into these crusading cricket boards and make them realise the bigger goal — uplifting and spreading the game.