Indian Cricket League to go to Court?

While the Indian Premier League organisers rushed to play their Twenty20 tournament in South Africa,their bitter rivals Indian Cricket League organisers have rescheduled their Twenty20 for October/November later this year.

The ICL are determined to have their tourney in India and on no condition would they shift.They believe that it should be played in its country of birth.The tourney was originally to be played in March.

They realise the importance and the glamour of the tourney lies in playing it in cricket crazy India where the crowds will rally round them and help to make it a resounding success,that they are hoping it would be.

There, the ICL is not packed with crowd pulling stars like the IPL have, but they are more than satisfied with the talent and the draw cards they have and that it is enough to make their circus a success.

The ICL people are fuming that the International Cricket Council has not yet recognised their show. They imagine it is discrimination and are moving to get the ICC to embrace them.

If all avenues fail and if they still remain isolated,then they vow to take the battle to court and seek redress.

Why the ICC can”t see reason and recognise their tourney is inexplicable to them.

If at the next meeting ICC meeting they are not recognised and still remain isolated, then they will have no other option but to take it to court and a long drawn out battle which would not be to the liking to the TCC and IPL will ensure. We hope that would not be the case.

Being sports, all sides should have the give and take policy. They indulge in CONSULTATION, COMPROMISE AND CONSENSUS and should not wait for matters to end up in court. In sporting parlance to go to court is not done.

What is unpalatable is that players figuring in the ICL are banned from playing for their countries.

That is cruel and not fair. Players from all countries involved in the ICL are under a ban.

The ICL reckon that they are also conducting a tournament like do the IPL and ask why they were marked for discrimination. They also remind that the IPL was an afterthought.

Apparently the ICC reluctance to recognise the ICL is because they would not want to antagonise the Board of Control for Cricket in India who are today calling the shots with their money base say the ICL people.

The ICL had to cancel their tournament in March because of tensions between India and Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks. Deepening global recession and the non-availability of some of the Pakistan players forced the hand of ICL to postpone their Twenty20.

The ICL is also apparently unhappy because they allege that the IPL is spreading false stories saying that the ICL is broke and have no money to pay the players.

The ICL is ready to release the players who have signed with them so that they can again play for their countries and come back when the Twenty20 starts in October/November.

If that happens New Zealand will be glad to have fast man Shane Bond with them and Pakistanis would be overjoyed because it would see the return of Mohammed Yousuf,their heavy scoring batsman.

Bangladesh too would jump for joy if this happens because it will mean the return of almost their entire team.

The coming months would give the media men interesting copy.

Good on the IC SLC

Good that the Interim Committee, Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to stay with the Australian coaches Trevor Bayliss and Paul Fabrace until the next World Cup in 2011 in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

There is still a bit of uncertainty and apprehension as to whether this showpiece would ever take place in the sub continent considering the latest terror attacks in Lahore where terrorists targeted a Police Training Academy.

Bayliss and Fabrace have done a good job opine the IC and so their extension. It is also good to note that they have stuck with the fielding coach.When the recent one-day internationals were played against India,the once world class fielding of Sri Lanka dropped drastically and it was an ugly sight to watch regulation catches being grassed and some sloppy ground fielding.

The old adage that catches win matches seemed to have slipped from the fielders vocabulary

Also it was heartening to note that the IC was highly taken up with the coaching of the “A” team by former Sri Lanka opener Chandika Haturusinghe that it has prompted the IC to have second thoughts of employing foreign coaches in the future and go for home grown ones.

Whether the IC would succeed in their tasks would be interesting to watch,considering that they are only an Interim Committee.

Aussies hoping to be tops again

It was unpalatable to Australia the former champions in both forms of the game-Test and one-dayers-to be toppled from their perch by the South Africans, who beat them in the one-dayers and Tests in Australia and grabbed the top position in the limited overs game.

The five one-dayers between the two countries began on Friday,and the kangaroos are determined to win back their lost tag, while the Proteas are equally determined to stuff the kangaroos and maintain their status and go further.

Both teams have strengthened their firepower making several changes from the Test and Twenty20 teams in order to go top and as such the best of one-day cricket could be witnessed. — This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.