Cricinfo - Blogs - Rob's Lobs - In search of wisdom

Lorgat makes much of “ICC values” in the body’s latest quarterly bulletin, but to suggest that one of them is “working as a team” would be comical if it wasn’t so horrendously wide of the mark. Who does he think he is fooling? As Tim May, the eloquent leader of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, seldom tires of advocating, the need for a new governing body, independent of national interests and historical/racial rivalries, is paramount. But is there the will for such a radical overhaul? Not so’s you’d notice.

In Dubai today and tomorrow there is a golden opportunity to begin the game’s reformation. The priorities seem plain: revamp the Future Tours Progamme, fix a four- to six-week window in the calendar for the IPL and another for a credible annual World Test Championship. First, though, the elected delegates must look reality directly in the eye and concede that, for all the billions of dollars swilling around, there really is something rotten in the state of cricket. Without that acknowledgement, without that will for change and concern for the game’s long-term future, there can be no progress.

The current economic crisis assailing the wider world was born of short-termism and greed. Is it too much to hope that cricket is capable of greater wisdom?

the need for root & branch reform of the ICC has been obvious for some time. the current body has no authority & no vision. the international schedule was a shambles before the IPL came along yet the ICC cling to the FTP when its clearly holed beneath the waterline. if the ICC can't decide whats important then the moneymen will do it for them. a few will get rich. the majority won't. any development plans(which are currently half hearted at best)will fall by the wayside.

Time to call for a grand Cricket Convention. It should be held at a place steeped in cricketing tradition but not part of the current mainstream. I nominate Haverford College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. If anyplace is a cricketing Mecca in America, this is it. It would be a second Philadelphia Convention (the first got the USA on track in 1787) that could save the Spirit of Cricket and put it on course for the 21st century.

In the history of the world has there even been an instance of an international body whose members acted independently of their national interest? Unless, at some point Martians took over an international body, I think not. And even such a Martian run body would ultimately have ruled in someone nation's favor. Don't you get it? Only fools and dictators believe that policies can be objective, neutral and apolitical. Smart people realize that every decision involves picking a direction. The choice of a direction is subjective and biased and serves some or the other self interest. In the given case what you want is English interests to somehow trump Indian interests even though India has both demographics and finance on its side. Fair enough, but at least have the honesty to state it like that. Don't claim it is for the greater good because you cannot possibly give me a measure of how that can be.

The root cause is that the ECB and ACB are so used to doing everything on their own terms that they are unable to swallow their dilution of power. Imagine if ECB were to bring in significantly more money than anyone else. Would they really care about Sri Lankan or Pakistani cricket? History has the answer.

As a cricket fan it is frustration to have to be reading as much about how the game is to be run, as the game itself. That in itself tells us where the rot has set in. The administrators seem like kids in a backyard scuffle. Always wanting to prove that 1 is better then the other. BCCI, ECB, going head to head, the PCB, ACB *or whatever the Aussie board is called* going head to head. Reading this you would think there was some kind of cold war going on in the cricket world. Instead of working towards the game's betterment as a group with the ICC they seem to be making factions and gravitating towards where they see financial gains. The administration side of the game should function like a well oiled machine which runs in the background and never seen by the fans or followers of the game. In cricket though, we see all these people more then I seen New Zeland play test cricket last season.

Well, I can see my country men still moaning the fact that ECB/ACB were once in charge of cricket. Get over it guys (and don’t tell me, it does not bug you to find half of you TV screens plastered with insignificant adds which Modi loves so much). The financial package/deal to SL is downright unethical and Mr. Modi has once again made it very clear that he does not care two hoots about game's interest or growth. ECB can sulk as much as they want about India starting the IPL and Modi / zee can claim to be revolutionaries but fact remains that no one is in charge of cricket as a game and BCCI constant manipulation of the system is not really helping matters. Divisive thought process within ICC or even amongst the fans is very amateurish and will only take us further away from the real game. Cricket has become a business that is run in the public domain, a business where there is neither employee satisfaction nor customer satisfaction, and that's pretty messy.

To Jayant who posted above, there is one important thing that you are forgetting. True often people simple act in their own interests or national interests but it possible to act in CRICKET'S INTERESTS.

This is possible if the people who run the ICC have more love for the game than they have for their country. True, most people are probably more nationalist than they are "Cricketist" but others believe the preservation and development of cricket (Test cricket primarily and ODI and T20 secondarily) is more important than their country or a few businessmen from one country raking in billions of dollars.

I still believe that there are wise cricket fans (Indian, Aussie, whatever) that realise that the game will be damaged by the loss of a cricketing nation. If disaster does happen like international cricket ending and only IPL T20 leagues surviving in 10 years time, I'm sure nearly all of us will be very very sad.

Cricketers are sports people and like any sports people they have the right to make money while the going is good. Where were the ICC when the Sri Lankans had to borrow money from India so that they could play a Tri Nations against Australia and India. In the past the only ones that ever got any favours from the ICC were actually Australia and England. If the ICC had treated the other Nations even remotely fair I am sure they would be showing a bit more loyalty but the truth is they owe you nothing so if the IPL,ICL or the BCCI benefit from this good luck to them. The author is correct you arr getting exactly what you deserve.

If I was to suggest that a reincarnated Hansie Cronje be given a senior post in the ICC, I would no doubt receive heavy criticism from people from all cricket playing nations. Yet those same people are happy to accept a hundred Hansie Cronjes- people who are happy to destroy the game for financial gain- as long as they are from the 'persecuted' Asian countries.

This mindless nationalism throws serious doubt on Rob's statement that the game means more on the subcontinent than it does in England. What appears to be valued by the BCCI is power and money rather than the game itself. The BCCI's efforts to gain absolute control over the game are a betrayal of the average cricketer in India as much as the rest of the world.

Not that the BCCI is alone there. No national board currently values the game above its profits. The current crisis is not really about one national board against another- it's the age-old problem of administrators versus the cricketers they claim to serve.