How To Ruin International Cricket
I’ve not said much about the IPL and ICL so far on this blog but I think I’ve finally got to the point where I understand how much these new Indian tournaments are going to harm world cricket.
In broad terms, the ICL was the first, and known as the “rebel” league as it didn’t have the Indian Cricket Board’s sanctioning. Because the board saw someone other than them was going to make some money out of it, they quickly put together the IPL, or “official” tournament.
Both of these offer the players huge financial rewards for playing relatively very little cricket. You can’t blame the players for having their heads turned by these rewards, they are human after all. Earning a few hundred grand for about 14 games of 20 over cricket, yes please!
And I don’t blame these tournaments for their season overlapping the English county season either. Yes, some overseas players will have a choice to make and for some it is the moral decision of keeping loyal to someone who has backed you for a number of years or following the money to India. Loyalty, like in football though is in very short supply and we will be deprived of a number of overseas stars this summer. But that isn’t the fault of the Indian tournaments – their offering is more attractive than playing county cricket, and it is something that the counties will need to review. If anything it might give more youngsters a chance in county cricket which would be good – although it will probably just mean more mediocre overseas players who aren’t wanted by the IPL/ICL playing instead.
So although I’m not too bothered about the effect of losing overseas players from a bit of county cricket, I’m not happy that English players like Dimi Mascarenhas are now signing up to the IPL, and will miss a few weeks this season and the whole period of the ‘09 and ‘10 competitions. County cricket is going to die a very very quick death if the best players run off to India for half of the English summer. And this isn’t even my main problem with these tournaments.
My main problem is what these tournaments will do to International Cricket – which is there I think their harm is going to be biggest felt. Already we have the situation where players such as Shane Bond have signed up with the “rebel” ICL are now no longer available to play for their countries. International Cricket is already weaker, and the tournament hasn’t even started. You could point the finger of blame for this state of affairs at the ICL, the IPL or the New Zealand management, but the fact is its happening and it sucks.
Even the ICC sanctioned IPL is getting in on the ruining International Cricket action though, which is disgraceful. A few NZ players, including skipper Vettori are playing in the “official” ICL, and because of that, they will be missing the start of the tour to England this summer. A tour which fits in with the ICC’s ten year tour plan, and has been on the calendar for years is being ignored for a game of wham bam twenty20. Disgusting. If this is the case, how long will it be until test cricket is ignored altogether? Maybe I’m a traditionalist (if you knew me, I’m really not!), but I still think test cricket is the numero uno – all the other cricket is way way down the scale, and I see the IPL and ICL as stamping all over it at the moment. Do the people behind these tournaments really think they are better than anyone else in world cricket, as that is the impression I’m getting. They’ll make their money, be idolised in their country, but to hell with world cricket..
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2 Responses to “How To Ruin International Cricket”
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Pal! Whatever you ve said is fair…but there is no point in running a sport with same old rules and regulations…..You would have seen changes in technical aspect of the game where ODI evolved from TEST cricket and ODI to T20…Now the Cricketing hotspots are evolving …..ICC needs to be more Contemporary and dynamic…..when there are opportunities for cricketers to make some money, it should be encouraged…(Well I didn’t mean match fixing
) . Indians have long been waiting for a glamorous domestic tournament…IPL comes in as a window for Indians to show that they can also host something similar to EPL or NFL…I mean…still a long way to go in terms of money… But still a considerable stride towards that… it is not just cricket; it has a little bit of national pride in it.
In the first year there will be overlapping. The second year we will see less of it and by the third year it would become routine.