http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/ en-us Copyright 2008 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:11:53 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss

Paul Collingwood's own self-image, as a tough but fair competitor, has taken a pounding. © Getty Images

Two years ago, Mohammad Asif was on a roll, whipping out 29 Indians, Sri Lankans and Englishmen in four Tests to confirm himself as Pakistan’s next planet-conquering fast bowler. In Adelaide a few months later, Paul Collingwood became the first Pom to score a double-century in Australia for nearly 70 years, matching the matchless Wally Hammond. Now, for both, the doldrums beckon. In neither case is sympathy unconfined. But neither is it negligible. By failing sundry drugs tests, Asif was the one who actually broke some written rules, rather than merely ignored the urgings of a spiritual manifesto. So it is curious, yet entirely typical of cricket, that there appears to be more compassion for him. As Kamran Abassi wisely points out in his blog, the Pakistan Cricket Board, in failing to provide a proper lead on drug education and then indulging him, convincing him he was fire-proof, have hardly been blameless. There is even talk of Indian espionage. Was it merely coincidence, wondered one poster, that, the day after the PCB decided to bar its players from next year’s IPL dollar-fest in the event of it coinciding with Australia's rescheduled tour, IPL released Asif's positive results? “Not to mention that he was previously found guilty in India. And, also at Dubai Airport where 95% of the working staff is Indian!” It’s all too easy to see where this one is heading! I have still to be convinced that performance-enhancing drugs can do much to enhance performance in cricket [hence the apparent dearth of offenders], other than to ease recovery from injury - which doesn’t really seem that heinous a crime, other, of course, than to the player himself, whose body might suffer in the long run. Nonetheless, my sympathies lie more readily with Collingwood, if only because he appears to have paid a full-enough price for his crime against the cricketing state but seems unable to avoid placing himself in front of misfortune’s steamroller.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/a_tale_of_two_pities.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/a_tale_of_two_pities.php Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:11:53 +0000

Without quotas, would one of the most successful fast bowlers of all time have ever scaled such heights? © AFP

“That’s why it’s the best game in the world.” So texted my best pal after last Sunday’s Wimbledon epic between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, which had made me forget for the best part of five hours that tennis has left me cold ever since John McEnroe threw off his Superbrat cape a couple of decades ago. “Best individual game, yes,” I texted back, still dizzy at the rediscovery of a lost love but not so dazed that my faculties had fled in their limited entirety. Yesterday’s fare at Lord’s underlined why I still feel fully entitled to make the distinction. This is supposed to be the moment in cricket history when virtually every conversation and headline concerns the Twenty20 golden goose. (If the ICC wasn’t supremely confident about the lasting impact of this particular revolution, why else would Haroon Lorgat’s first action as the new Malcolm Speed have been to announce that the best part of US$300 million will be lavished over the next seven years on spreading the gospel?) The quality of the first episode of the first five-day play for more than three weeks came, therefore, as a blessed relief. It was also a glowing reaffirmation of why team sports in general, and Test cricket in particular, beat all that selfish individualistic stuff. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/in_praise_of_quotas.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/07/in_praise_of_quotas.php Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:55:05 +0000

Test matches attract good attendances only in a few countries © Getty Images

“Other people might feel different.” Such were Nasser Hussain’s ominously heartfelt words the day after the announcement of the Champions League. He was referring to the notion of Test cricket as the game’s pinnacle. All-too wisely, he expressed the fear that future generations, of players and spectators, could well disagree, that the appeal of a five-day ballgame might soon dwindle even more quickly for players than it currently is for spectators who prefer bucket seat to armchair. It was difficult not to share his fears. So much has happened to cricket over the past year, at such a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it rate, that keeping pace with developments is becoming akin to plotting the emotional graph of a teenager. One thing, though, must be clear to anyone who holds the game dear: we have reached a crossroads. The past and future will soon be considered the modern equivalent to BP and AP (Before Packer and After Packer). Enterprise, player power and Mammon sit in one corner, fear, loathing and rose-tinted nostalgia in the other. The prize is cricket’s future – and its soul. That soul lies not in cricket’s so-called “spirit” but in the way that, at what is perceived to be its highest level of expression, ie. four-innings matches, two elements above all combine to benefit humanity: second chances are possible and artificiality barely intrudes. You can redeem yourself. Bowlers are not restricted by over-counts, nor captains by fielding circles. Tests are novels, ODIs short stories, Twenty20 cartoons. All are equally valid, but who has time for short stories? Either you want the depth and escapism of the full Monty or you prefer to flick through the pics – or both. Cricket is unique in offering two such disparate options. Long may it be so. Accepting that the game’s loudest format is going to form an increasingly large portion of our cricketing diet is the no-brainer bit. It makes sound financial sense to all the major parties concerned: boards, players and broadcasters (since when have spectators, increasingly marginalised as the less affluent are becoming, been able to vote with anything other than their feet?). The trick is to decide whether there is a will to protect Test matches, which attract good attendances in only a small minority of nations and will become increasingly less attractive to players if the alternative is sufficiently profitable. Why worry about how Wisden will evaluate you in 50 years’ time if you can earn a bundle now? Given the choice between posterity or financial security, what would YOU do? The “others” Nasser referred to may soon be the majority.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/06/for_the_good_of_the_game.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/06/for_the_good_of_the_game.php Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:29:00 +0000

The Kings Commission enquiry © AFP

I’ve just finished watching a BBC TV documentary about a recent former captain of South Africa, someone I hesitate to dignify as a “man”, someone on whom I hoped I would never waste another word. To be honest, I can hardly bring myself to type his name. So please forgive these brief thoughts on the subject of H***** C*****. It was, remarkably to some no doubt, the first time I’d seen coverage of the King Commission, seen the way the falling icon had suddenly aged; the clarity of the voice undercut by the shiftiness of the speaker; those moony child-like eyes, imploring for forgiveness; the tears; the two men it took to escort his buckling body from court. For the first time, too, I saw the poker-faced denials to television cameras, not to mention those three wides Henry Williams bowled in that fateful opening over in India. Even though the dots were never completely joined up, what came across most clearly was what I had always suspected: that, at bottom, as Dr Ali Bacher hinted, it was C*****’s refusal to help the transformation/integration process – or even acknowledge that it was important - that did most to fuel the anger and cynicism that ultimately allowed him to take money and gifts from Marlon Aronstam and others. A cynicism that made it oh-so-easy to bring two insecure coloured players, Williams and Herschelle Gibbs, into his web of conceit and deceit. That, for me, was his greatest crime. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/06/forgive_hansie_not_me.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/06/forgive_hansie_not_me.php Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:05:42 +0000

Against Hampshire in a recent Friends Provident 50-over match, Simon Jones clocked 91mph, blasting batsmen away and reducing others merely to fearful scorelessness © Getty Images

For British cricketers at least, the need to keep up with the Joneses has never been the most inspiring means of motivation. Only five members of the tribe – Arthur, Alan, Geraint, Jeff and Simon - have played for England. Illness, injury and sudden lapses cost four of them dear; Alan was simply stripped of his status. In other words, therefore, he amassed a hell of a lot of first-class runs, all 36,049 of them, without being capped. Has any batsman worked so hard, so fruitfully, for so little recognition? Not so far as the statisticians are concerned. The three-sentence “note” at the top of page 241 of the latest Wisden is a masterclass in pithy heartlessness: “In 1970 England played five first-class matches against the Rest of the World after the cancellation of South Africa’s tour. Players were awarded England caps, but the matches are no longer considered to have Test status. Alan Jones (born 4.11.1938) made his only appearance for England in this series, scoring 5 and 0; he did not bowl and took no catches.” That that notice appeared in the good yellow book at all was thanks to my good friend Huw Richards, a lifelong Glamorgan follower, whose sense of injustice on Jones’s behalf had been festering for decades. Some may have been surprised to see no mention of the “fact” that the opener had been asked to return his England cap, blazer and sweater, but Huw found that to be a load of urban mythical rot. Jones's misfortune was twofold. For one thing, facing the new ball at Lord’s in the opening “Test” of the Guiness-sponsored series, he went toe-to-toe with that Sobers wannabe Mike Procter, who blew him away in each innings, with extreme and grossly unfair prejudice. The Lord’s mandarins, though, proved even more unplayable. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/05/simon_says_aussies_beware.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/05/simon_says_aussies_beware.php Sat, 31 May 2008 10:50:15 +0000

Texas billionaire Allen Stanford is ready to bankroll an ECB Twenty20 tournament © Cricinfo Ltd

Dubai, June 29, 2008. Clad in matching blazers, shorts, long socks and “ICC Rool OK” caps, delegates convene for the ICC “annual conference week”. A Welshman is due to take over as president and a black South African as CEO. Meetings of the ICC Chief Executives' Committee and the ICC Board are scheduled to run until July 4. With proceedings about to begin, the gathering remains a man short. Butter-mountain-sized mounds of Kentish pasties, ostrich pies, wombat burgers, rhubarb-flavour rotis and cherry-topped chapatis are being consumed with much relish and chutney, and no patriotism or partiality whatsoever. But patience is wearing thinner than Harbhajan Singh’s list of alibis for what the more patriotic and/or diplomatic call “inappropriate behaviour”. Just inside the door, unnoticed by most and ignored by the rest, lurks a lone protestor in a cable-knit V-neck sweater, holding a placard that reads “ICC – Idiotic, Corrupt, Crap”. Then, as watches are consulted, heads are shaken, tuts are exchanged and formal introductions are about to be made, the missing delegate is shepherded into the room under blanket and armed guard. (For legal reasons, any vague, distant or mildly plausible relationship between persons alive, dead or in purgatory quoted in the following unedited transcript is strictly coincidental.) England and Wales Delegate (sneering and swigging a magnum of Majestic Wine’s finest and cheapest Chilean): The Honourable Member for Zimbabwe, I presume. These Arabs will do anything to get a Twenty20 international staged here. Australia Delegate (chucking a tin of XXXX at the England and Wales Delegate and hitting the coffee machine): Don’t be so sure, you posh public schoolie pie-chucking Pommy bustard. Could be the former CEO. Go Malcy baby! Teach those curry-eaters a thing or two about political principles. India Delegate (throwing a paper planer with an extremely sharp nose towards his Australian counterpart, who fails to get out of the way in time): You mean, like being kind to your local aborigine? That Aussie sneak. Good bloody riddance. Typical old world. They ran the game - the game we invented please note - for 200-odd years but that wasn’t enough, was it? They still can’t accept it’s our turn to call the shots and make all the dosh. The latecomer takes the seat allotted the purported Zimbabwe Delegate but refuses to remove the blanket. Pakistan Delegate (wearing “I Love Sachin” t-shirt and crossing fingers behind his back): Hear bloody hear! Sri Lanka Delegate (wearing “I Love Darrell” t-shirt): Ditto to the power of n. To infinity and beyond. Bangladesh Delegate (wearing a “Greed Is Not Good” t-shirt): I strongly suspect, unless I’m very much mistaken, that I concur with the Honourable Members for India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Pakistan Delegate (whispering a shade too audibly to Sri Lanka Delegate): Shut up, you fool. You wanna make them think we’re all Buzz Lightyears and Woody the Cowboys? If you’re going to get all clever and Pixar, think Ratatouille and embrace rat-like cunning, for gawd’s sake. (Turning to the Bangladesh Delegate) As for you Bangas, keep it short, eh? Children should be seen and not heard.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/05/the_spirit_of_cricket_2008.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/05/the_spirit_of_cricket_2008.php Thu, 08 May 2008 17:21:52 +0000

Andrew Flintoff has recovered from his latest career-threatening ankle operation © Getty Images

How do you solve a problem like dear Fre-ddie?

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

How do you find a word that means Fre-ddie?

A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown! (With thanks, and profuse apologies, to Rodgers and Hammerstein) How do you solve a problem like Andrew Flintoff? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? Such is the knotty problem that the new England selectorial team, under lone survivor Geoff Miller, will be attempting to unravel this summer. Good luck, lads. The headline news is that The Artist Alternately And Affectionately Known As Freddie, The Fredster, Fab Freddie, Mr InFredible and sundry other nicknames has recovered from his latest career-threatening ankle operation. He is acquiring match fitness with Lancashire and says he is eager to return to the international fray. Over the coming days, as they sit down to select a squad for next week’s first Test against New Zealand, Miller and his compadres will decide whether he knows what’s best for him. As a noted, successful and highly amusing after-dinner speaker, Miller has spent the past two decades regaling folk with his fact-meets-fictional stories of the icons he played alongside in the 1970s and 1980s – Ian Botham, Derek Randall, Mike Brearley and so on. More than most, he will recognise the need to give individuals their head. But will Miller, Ashley Giles and James Whittaker, none of them lovers of orthodoxy, act on the proposal of Michael Vaughan, who believes Flintoff should return next Thursday, for his first Test since January 2007? Perhaps the question should be rephrased. Should they pick him? ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/05/the_trouble_with_freddie_1.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/05/the_trouble_with_freddie_1.php Wed, 07 May 2008 23:26:16 +0000

Sachin Tendulkar could not bring "The Lord" to play for the Mumbai Indians © EMPICS

Sachin Tendulkar may be a demigod in India, but not everyone is in awe of his aura or susceptible to his charms. Try as he might, he could not persuade Alistair Brown to join the Indian Premier League. And thereby hangs a somewhat tragic tale. Out of respect to those who died in Bhopal, Auschwitz and Galle, I would normally resist the word “tragedy” in relating any story that does not involve a fatality, but Brown’s tale seems in keeping with the Shakespearian sense of the word. In Tuesday’s edition of the Times, “The Lord”, as Brown of Surrey has long been belovedly known at The Oval, revealed that he had not only rejected Tendulkar’s entreaties on behalf of Mumbai Indians, but also those of his erstwhile county colleague, Harbhajan Singh, who phoned him shortly before pre-season training began, urging him to reconsider. After all, a three-and-a-half-year deal was on the table. “They were talking telephone numbers,” divulged a still-disbelieving Brown, whose appetite for chewing up and spitting out bowlers in double-quick time is matched only by his modesty. The main reason, he insisted, was a sense of loyalty. “I’ve been at The Oval for 20 years and they’ve been the best 20 years of my life,” he told reporter Patrick Kidd. “The club have been incredibly good to me and, having signed a one-year contract, I didn’t feel it was quite right to turn round and say: ‘Let’s tear that up and do something different. I want to go out to India because there’s a lot of money up for grabs.’” Cynics may be disarmed to know that after the Wisden Cricketer ran a piece about Brown by Hugh Massingberd in its “My Favourite Cricketer” section last year, the subject rang the magazine asking for the author’s phone number. To convey his thanks, embarrassment and heartfelt appreciation. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/04/taking_the_lords_name_in_vain.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/04/taking_the_lords_name_in_vain.php Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:36:34 +0000

Could Ajantha Mendis be the next great spinner for Sri Lanka? © AFP

To steal shamelessly from Jon Landau, the man entrusted with selling a scraggy wannabe Bob Dylan by the name of Bruce Springsteen to the planet in 1975, I have just seen the future of spin bowling – and his name is Ajantha Mendis. Until now, given the recent stumbles of Danish Kaneria and the apparent failure of several young Australian twirlers to live up to their billing, detecting the seeds of a new generation of spinners worthy of following the holy trinity of Warne, Murali and Kumble has been a troubling and deflating quest. Whisper it softly, but on the evidence of his international debut in Port-of-Spain today, however chastening his team’s astonishing defeat may have been, this wide-eyed 23-year-old member of the Sri Lankan army could well emerge as the leader of the new pack. Friends in Colombo had warned me that something special was on the horizon, trumpeting Mendis as the owner of the freakiest fingers since Jack Iverson. They weren’t exaggerating by much. Googlies, leggies, offies and flippers all eased effortlessly from that precociously adaptable right hand, facilitated by three distinct modes of release – barely discernible to the devoted couch potato and leaving the batsmen groping and clueless. The ball that bamboozled and lbw-ed Chris Gayle, just as the West Indies captain was threatening to turn a tricky chase into a jaunt, was a worthy calling card. The one that curved in and straightened to take off stump was utterly wasted on Darren Sammy. No less impressive was the way Mendis held his nerve after Jerome Taylor clouted him for six, tossing the next ball up in similar fashion and reaping the reward of an outfield catch. With the game reeling groggily as the implications of the IPL set traditionalists against innovators, old world against new, Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s improbable boundaries off the fifth and last balls of the final over in Trinidad were a profoundly welcome shot in the arm, a reminder that sport is more about drama and improbability than dollars and nonsense. The advent of Mendis could be that and much, much more.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/04/the_new_murali.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/04/the_new_murali.php Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:47:52 +0000

Virender Sehwag pulverised the South African attack in Chennai © AFP

Yes, it induced awe, albeit not exactly shock. After all, Virender Sehwag’s stupendous one-man-band of a show in Chennai was hardly the first time he has cocked a snook at contemporary wisdom. Given that his last 10 Test centuries have all exceeded 150, nobody, not even Adam Gilchrist, has so consistently belied the theory that aggression militates against substance. How can you play the way he does, with such scant regard for protocol or respect for the tried and trusted means of acquisition, and rack up such immense scores? Luck, certainly, had nothing whatever to do with it. In joining Don Bradman and Brian Lara as international cricket’s only double triple-centurions – and, even more remarkably, becoming the only opener to repeat such a feat – Sehwag, having spent a year on the sidelines, his career in the longer format apparently done and dusted, has completed one of the most gobsmacking comebacks in Test history. But let’s not get carried away. Please. “Great” is an oft-abused word, one that ranks right up there with “fantastic” as the most distorted of the age: a not-so shining example of how a word in everyday speech does not necessarily translate to print. Greatness is also unquantifiable. Not that that stops us trying to quantify it, or lazily using it as a label when common or garden superlatives seem insufficient. Whatever happened to the likes of “tremendous”, “terrific” or “astounding”, to name but three alternatives? To my way of thinking, greatness is defined as much by durability as quality: will we still be agog at a goal/movie/song/statesman 20 years hence? Context, as ever, is all.]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/04/the_greatest_insignificant_inn.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/04/the_greatest_insignificant_inn.php Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:25:23 +0000

Standing up and being counted: Stephen Fleming has spent his entire career doing just that © Getty Images

As I write, Stephen Fleming requires 54 runs in New Zealand’s second innings in Napier to finish his Test career with an average of 40. Much as this shamefully unreconstructed Pom wants to see England win the series, I’d willingly trade that for a spot of statistical justice. On the face of it, New Zealand’s highest runscorer in Tests is out of his depth. With nine centuries to date, he stands six behind Alec Stewart as the maker of the fewest hundreds by any amasser of 7000-plus runs. He is also the only member of that 32-strong elite bar Mike Atherton (37.69) to average under 40. Ultimately, though, whether he gathers those 54 runs should have no effect on how posterity treats him. It is one of professional boxing’s few saving graces that commentators still attempt to identify the world’s best “pound-for-pound” pugilist, for all that proving as much is impossible. On the basis that he is a heavyweight with a flyweight’s economic resources, Fleming deserves to be remembered as the best pound-for-pound captain of modern times, if not ever. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/the_best_poundforpound_captain.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/the_best_poundforpound_captain.php Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:33:02 +0000

The redevelopment of Lord’s will see the Allen, Warner, Compton, Edrich and Tavern stands razed and rebuilt © Getty Images

If those in charge of Thomas Lord’s patch are truly serious about leaving the MCC’s crustily imperialist image behind once and for all – and the admirable new chief executive Keith Bradshaw certainly appears to be hellbent on being just that - now is the time for some prolonged navel-examination and truth-facing. So, let’s start with the proposed redevelopment of Lord’s, under which the Allen, Warner, Compton, Edrich and Tavern stands are all to be razed and rebuilt. Not all of the new constructions should retain those names. If that sounds sacrilegeous, so be it. First, let’s dispose of the names that should survive. Few could argue with any legitimacy that the two newest stands, the Compton and Edrich, ought to. These two Middlesex mavericks did more than anyone, with the possible exception of Don Bradman, to recapture imaginations and reignite cricket as a spectator sport in England – and hence, arguably, the planet - after the second world war. A case could be made for a Brearley Stand, or even a Titmus Stand, in recognition of more recent county stalwarts, but not a terribly strong one. At the other extreme is the Tavern Stand. Since the unpretentiously matey Tavern pub was reborn as the Tavern Bar and Brasserie in 2004, there is no longer any defensible justification for celebration, not least since, for “community relations reasons”, it is not open to the public on major matchdays. Why not – given that the old boy overlooks that part of the ground - the Father Time Stand? Or, better yet, given that no cricketer ever did more – wittingly or otherwise - for human rights, the D’Oliveira Stand? Which brings us to the two contentious names, commemorating as they do Pelham “Plum” Warner and George “Gubby” Allen, the two MCC kingpins who, between them, effectively ran English cricket from the first world war until the Test and County Cricket Board took over most important matters in 1968 – and, in Allen’s case, beyond that. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/of_sacred_cows.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/of_sacred_cows.php Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:58:42 +0000

'With the limited exception of Ryan Sidebottom’s bowling and Alastair Cook’s catching, it was the timorousness of it all, exemplified by that pitiful scoring rate, that galled' © Getty Images

Timidity. Mental cowardice. Unconfidence. Complacency. Ineffable bloody uselessness. And much, much worse. Innumerable words, dispassionate and rabid alike, have been, and will continue to be, expended trying to get to the root of the collective hard-drive failure currently afflicting England’s premier national sporting teams (and yes, I am willfully ignoring Fabio Capello’s collection of “Am I bovvered?” soccer entrepreneurs, whose lack of interest can easily be traced to the absence of a match fee). There is, however, another possible explanation for this conspicuous lack of competence on cricket and rugby fields alike: expectation. In many respects, the past weekend was one of the most cockle-grilling in recent memory, a veritable Underdog Day Afternoon for small towns and Celts, have-nots and never-will-haves. Chelsea and Manchester United and their Russo-American squillions were humbled in the FA Cup by Dickie Bird’s beloved Barnsley and Horatio Nelson’s Portsmouth; Cardiff City flew the flag for Wales in the same competition by duffing up Premiership Middlesbrough. On the international front, Scotland relieved England of the Calcutta Cup and New Zealand beat England for only the eighth time in 89 Tests. That’s the wonder of sport, the importance of sport. In what other public arena could so many little guys defy the gulf in resources and put one over their purported betters? In what other public arena, better yet, could one weekend produce so much heartening evidence that money really can’t buy you love, much less consistent success? As it was at Murrayfield, so it was in Hamilton. Brian Ashton’s rugger-buggers lost because they lacked the imagination, commitment, mental fibre and consistency of performance required to beat lil’ old Scotland. Much the same could be said of Michael Vaughan’ cricketers, but to stop there would be a dereliction of duty. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/trading_places.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/trading_places.php Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:51:36 +0000

If six weeks can really be found to accommodate a Twenty20 tourney, why on earth can a similar provision not be made for the game’s highest form? © Getty Images

Hats off to dear old Malcolm Speed. The outgoing ICC CEO, who has little to gain and even less to lose, has performed a U-turn any self-respecting politician would be proud of. Having stated, without the slightest hint of equivocation, that there was no earthly chance of a window being found in the Future Tours Programme to accommodate the IPL until the current TV agreements elapse, the global interest and player unrest fired by last month’s player auction prompted a remarkably swift backtrack. Well, maybe a teensy little spare pane could be found after all. What a pity that, unlike Tony Blair, Speed seems so unconcerned about his legacy. Had he been clever – and there’s still time to prove otherwise – he would be striving like buggery to find another window. For a proper World Test Championship. With baseball belatedly joining in last year, cricket and American football remain the only major team sports without a world crown worthy of the name. The ICC tables redressed matters to an extent, but the scoring system is about as comprehensible as a Sanskrit to an Inuit, while the inaugural Champions v The Rest showpieces drew as rapturous a critical response as the collected recordings of Little Jimmy Osmond. No, if six weeks can really be found to accommodate a Twenty20 tourney, why on earth can a similar provision not be made for the game’s highest form? ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/test_of_will_1.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/03/test_of_will_1.php Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:30:06 +0000

Robert Mugabe: Flagrant disregard for democracy and human dignity © Getty Images

On Saturday, Robert Mugabe turned 84. By way of celebration, the president of Zimbabwe, the once-heroic figure and still-proud patron of Zimbabwe Cricket who embraced the game because it “civilises people”, staged a rally that reportedly cost £125,000. What this said about his principles, his shamelessness and his conscience is not entirely flattering. Even when Rome was burning, Emperor Nero never fiddled quite so enthusiastically. It does not take a degree in soothsaying to imagine the reaction among the vast majority of Mugabe’s subjects, assailed at every turn as they are by AIDS, economic deprivation and a life expectancy of less than 40 years. According to international estimates, inflation recently topped 100,000% - more than 1500 times higher than in Iraq, to cite the next most-benighted populace; unemployment, according to the (admittedly not always trustworthy) CIA Factbook, stands at an estimated 80% - higher than in any nation bar Liberia and Nauru. Underpinning this is a flagrant disregard for democracy and human dignity that might have made Stalin envious. And yet still we play ball with Mugabe and his cronies. Earlier this month I went to Liverpool University to present a paper on Basil D’Oliveira at the PSA Sport and Politics Group’s annual conference. During the ensuing Q&A I was asked whether I thought there were parallels between the Apartheid-fired events of 1968 and the current debate over Zimbabwe. After an initial hesitation, born of rampant indecision, I said I did, realising as I do so that I had finally made up my mind. “There can be no normal sport in an abnormal society.” Thus was the stance of the South African Cricket Board during Apartheid. It remains even more applicable to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. In 1968, England’s tour of South Africa was called off because Basil D’Oliveira, a Cape Coloured in exile, was not welcome, a reflection of the Republic’s racist laws. What makes the Zimbabwe issue even worthier of our incredulity is that it is about neither skin pigmentation nor discrimination. What it is about is a denial of all human rights. ]]> http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/02/big_wedge_thin_end.php http://blogs.cricinfo.com/robslobs/archives/2008/02/big_wedge_thin_end.php Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:11:46 +0000