Crisis time for cricket?

It doesn't seem like a great time to be a cricket administrator, especially if you aren't an Indian cricket administrator. I'd say this is a pretty testing time for cricket and I really hope the powers-that-be recognize it and fix the real problems.

New Zealand cricket could really do with some help. Shane Bond's NZ Cricket contract was terminated since he wanted to play in the Indian Cricket League. Scott Styris retired from test cricket to focus on playing limited overs cricket. He'd only played 8 tests in the last 3 years, compared to 49 ODIs and 13 Twenty20 games in that same period. I just don't understand exactly how playing 3 tests a year stressed him out. Most other players play between 8 and 12 tests a year on an average! Stephen Fleming may retire from test cricket less than a year after retiring from ODIs after the 2007 World Cup. A whole bunch of Pakistani cricketers, including Mohammad Sami and Naved-ul-Hasan Rana, have joined the ICL.

Update on 14 Feb: Stephen Fleming has confirmed that he will retire after New Zealand's upcoming test series against England.

The Indian Cricket League isn't the only reason why players are retiring. The Indian Premier League (website) is also likely to result in several cricketers in the twilight of their careers retiring to earn a lot of money for a few weeks of effort. Adam Gilchrist is possibly only the first of a long list. Australia's star players are at loggerheads with their cricket board over potential sponsor clashes in the Indian Premier League. Simon Taufel is indicating that he may not renew his umpiring contract with the ICC. Given the umpiring cock-ups we've seen recently and the number of umpires available/eligible, this is a huge problem for the ICC. I'm fairly sure quite a few English county sides are worried as well, since the star overseas players they have signed up, at huge costs, would miss a few weeks of their county commitments to play in the IPL. There was a suggestion by an administrator (possibly from the IPL committee) that the ICC's Future Tours Programme (FTP) could be changed to accomodate IPL tournaments.

But is it fair to assume that the BCCI is the only one which will be sitting pretty? I'm not so sure about it. As various commentators have observed, given the amount of money the franchise owners have pumped in, they will eventually demand that their players be more frequently available to them. Even if they agree to priority being given for international cricket commitments, the owners could insist that the players join the teams late and play IPL games instead of playing in warm-up games. Alternately, they could insist that players play for their IPL sides when they're rested or in-between tours. Will the IPL cannibalize the BCCI's domestic cricket tournaments? Eventually, could the IPL cannibalize international cricket per se to the extent that players will opt for the IPL over an international tour?

So what are the problems here?

• Availability of players: The IPL may insist, eventually when it is successful, that players need to spend more time playing their league rather than international cricket. Can cricket boards make it very clear to the IPL and the franchisees that their contracted players will be available only if they are fit and there are no international or domestic commitments? They may allow players who are dropped to participate in the IPL. Hence this implies that the board's international commitments and domestic cricket tournaments take precedence over the IPL tournaments.
  
• Players retiring to play in the IPL: Once a player retires from international cricket, they are no longer contracted to the cricket board. Hence the board cannot bar a player from playing in the IPL. At most, if the player is still playing domestic cricket, then his state association can do something about it.
  
• Umpires causing the same problems as players: Like Taufel is possibly hinting, he could join the IPL at the expense of his international umpiring career. Also, umpires could opt to umpire IPL games rather than tests or ODIs.
  
• Player/Umpire contracts being terminated since they want to be part of the ICL: This potentially results in a dwindling player/umpire pool for the cricket board since the current ICC policy is that the ICL is an unauthorized tournament.

Labels: australia, bcci, bond, book cricket, fleming, icc, india, indian cricket league, indian premier league, ipl 2008, new zealand, retire, stephen fleming, styris, taufel, twenty20, umpires

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:00 pm | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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World Cup squads: Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka

Australia, who've lost three out of their last four one-dayers, have included Brad Haddin, Brad Hodge and Shaun Tait in the squad and left out Cameron White and Stuart Clark. Gilchrist is expected to join the squad only around the end of the first stage.

Across the Tasman sea, Daryl Tuffey has popped in out of nowhere to be picked in New Zealand's World Cup squad after Kyle Mills' injury last month. In an unprecedented move, Shane Bond has been declared fit to play two consecutive series.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka announced a predictable, well-settled squad for the tournament. Nuwan Zoysa and Upul Chandana have been left out, despite not getting any opportunity to present their cases during the on-going one-day series in India.

Bangladesh, who've won 11 out of their last 12 ODIs (v/s Zimbabwe and Scotland) and lost 13 out of their last 15 ODIs against teams who can play ODI cricket (the two wins coming against Sri Lanka and Australia), have picked Mushfiqur Rahim as the keeper, leaving out Khaled Mashud. Khaled Mahmud's non-inclusion could mean he's definitely retired now.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, bond, new zealand, squad, sri lanka, world cup, world cup squads

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:06 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Shane Bond rips through Sri Lanka top order

Shane Bond's three wicket burst in the morning meant that Sri Lanka's opening test match in New Zealand was off to a horrible start. Things did improve, marginally, from 37/3 to 154 all out. Bond snapped up Sri Lanka's big three, Jayasuriya, Sangakkara and Jayawardene in quick succession. This, after Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and opted to bat, thereby slipping in one foot into the door which opens to the toss decision blunders hall of fame.

Bond had declared that he'd probably play only one-day cricket this season. Bond's repeated unavailability is best reflected by the fact that the most number of tests he's played in a row is a staggeringly low six!

Labels: bond, new zealand, sri lanka

Thus spake Jagadish @ 3:39 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Shane Bond fit

Shane Bond seems set to play only one-day cricket this season and skip the two-test series against Sri Lanka at home.

This obviously is contrary to my view expressed here earlier this year that he'd be better off quitting one-day cricket. Maybe he'll do that after the 2007 World Cup.

Bond was included in New Zealand's ICC Champions Trophy squad and declared himself fully fit and ready to make yet another comeback. Him being fit is a situation at 00:45 on 7 Oct 2006. Things could be different in fifteen minutes time!

Labels: 2006 champions trophy, bond, champions trophy

Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:45 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Shane Bond ruled out of Centurion test

Shane Bond, who tormented Brian Lara recently, has been ruled out of the first test against South Africa starting today, after suffering a knee injury earlier on the tour.

This is obviously the kind of news Stephen Fleming could have done without on the occasion of his 100th test. In fact Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock will be playing their 100th test as well. I can only remember one previous instance where two cricketers played their 100th test in the same match - Atherton and Stewart at Old Trafford against West Indies in 2000. But three cricketers playing their 100th test in the same game is surely nothing that has happened so far.

Bond is no stranger to injury. Stress fractures of the back have meant that he has only featured in 14 tests since his debut in November 2001 against Australia, even though New Zealand have played 38 tests in that period.

64 wickets in 14 tests at an average of 21.5 are an indication of how seriously good he really is. But if he continues to be as brittle as he is right now, chances are that at the end of his career, he may be a classic case of what might have been rather than be counted among the greats of the game.

He doesn't have too much time left. He's already 30 and being a genuine quick, may only be able to play for 2-3 more years. I can't see him reducing his pace over a period of time like Shaun Pollock did early on and settle on being a line & length bowler.

Maybe he should stop playing one-dayers, given the imbalance in favour of batsmen.

Labels: bond

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:00 am | Sledge/Read 4 sledge(s)
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Shane Bond misses the party. Again!

Shane Bond will definitely be missing the one-day series against Australia since he will need a couple more weeks to recover from a back injury.

Labels: bond

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:15 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Shane Bond is targetting a comeback against Australia at home in a couple of months' time.

Labels: bond

Thus spake Jagadish @ 5:07 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Shane Bond, easily one of the three quickest bowlers in the world [when he's bowling, that is!], has suffered from another stress fracture, which could delay his return until the end of the year.

Labels: bond

Thus spake Jagadish @ 7:27 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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