Making cricket a joke

The International Cricket Council, rulers of world cricket put on show another episode of 'making cricket a joke', when they staged the tri series cricket encounters between Australia and a World XI at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne.

Part two of this crazy cricket series would follow when a Test match is played after the one-day series in Sydney.

We have no grouse with the ICC staging these series. But what is irritating is that they add insult to injury by calling these games international and giving them official status.

True that Johnnie Walker whose blurb says that he is still going strong is pumping in big money for these games. But that does not mean that the ICC should make a mockery of cricket, by playing games with the game and lowering its esteem.

To begin with the ICC played the first tsunami game in Melbourne and called it an international. Then they did an about turn and withdrew the official tag from the second game.

Calling these games official is without doubt unfair and unbecoming of the ICC. Surely the ICC are not lacking men who can think out better and more profitable things for the game and player.

The ICC must not make cricket for clowns as they are now doing. True, the super sub and the other Sunil Gavaskar innovations are on trial. One man goes and bowls, and the side chasing drops the bowler and allows a batsman in. How funny or what is the big deal?.

The power play is another funny happening.

One hopes that no bright spark would turn up and want to introduce the super sub and the power play into the established game - Test cricket and signal its death knell.

True that the one-day game is cowboy stuff. But the original format has enough and more excitement and it need not be tampered with. What the governing body must do is to endeavour to give more incentives to the player and its officials. No wonder then that Bill O'Reiley, the former Australian leg spinning great told me during a visit to Australia that he would rather turn his chair towards the wall and watch it rather than watch one-day cricket.

Probably the great man would have had a premonition that the game would be made a mockery of before long.

An official Test is played for five days and is usually between two Test playing countries. That has been tradition. Who does the ICC think they are to break this honoured tradition and go and play a Test for six days and mind you between a World XI and Australia.

Sad on Ganguly

If the 'mild tennis elbow' injury to Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly is an indication, then it can be safely said that it could be the end of the career of this great Indian cricketer. If the injury requires surgery, then it could be safely said that it will be the end. Sachin Tendulkar, arguably India's batting great suffered a similar injury and it has taken him nearly a year to recover.

If Ganguly is ruled out, he would miss the one-day series against Sri Lanka and probably the World Cup in the Caribbean. The injury has been a blessing in disguise for the Indian selectors who would sit soon to name a captain for the Lankan series. Had Ganguly been available and with coach Greg Chappell not showing a liking to have him continue as captain, the selectors would certainly been in a quandary.

Now the selectors would heave a sigh of relief and name Rahul Dravid as captain and probably keep faith in him for a long time. Dravid has been and has proved an able leader.

In the matches he has led India he has shown a clever cricketing brain and with his inspiring batting should be the man that Chappell has been looking for to map out strategy and take India to the top of both versions of the game - Test and one-day cricket, and who knows win the next World Cup.