CRICKET360
PITCHED BY EDITOR
SATURDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2009
It was a bad past few days for cricket and cricket news, with the mother of all cricket scandals, a pitch that crumbled so that playing on it was impossible, and cricket leagues troubled with financial and other troubles. Now however, things may be taking a turn for the better….
One would be forgiven for thinking that international cricket saw some of its worst days in the past week or so: the biggest ever scandal in cricket news broke, that of Allen Stanford and his $8 billion, an abandoned test match, the problems faced by the cricket leagues Indian Premier League and ICL and everything seemed to be at sixes and sevens. But now that we have had time to sit back and take stock, things don’t seem quite so grim.
Long time observers of cricket had been able to see thru the hollow sham that was Allen Stanford. And if the ECB and the WICB (England and West Indian cricket boards) had done their due diligence rather than being star struck by the promise of so much easy money, they would have done the same.
Loyalists of the game are still smarting at the way the ECB quietly acquiesced to all that Stanford and his king size ego demanded, even to the extent of letting him land a helicopter on the hallowed grounds of Lords, just so that he would hold a cash rich tournament in England. The conduct of the WICB was hardly any better, letting Stanford have his way with cricket in the West Indies to the extent of letting him organise a tournament, build a stadium and have on his payroll a veritable who’s who of the West Indian cricket fraternity.
But then cricket boards have not been known to show perfect wisdom and discretion in the past. Witness for instance the support accorded to the oppressive and inhumane regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe for so many years. It is a different thing that things are now much improved there with the swearing in of the new Unity government there and appointment of David Coltart as Minister of Sport. So then do we conclude that things are turning a new leaf and that we have turned a corner in more senses than one?
Well the cricketing world is certainly well rid of the showy scamster Stanford, and the pitch that fell apart in the West Indies did not really matter, because another superb one was provided to take its place. The developments in Zimbabwean politics can only be good cricket news or at any rate better news, since Coltart is a keen cricketer, lawyer and man of integrity. So in a sense, international cricket turned a virtual corner this past week or so.