Test cricket: In danger from its own protectors
While the International Cricket Council (ICC) ponders over ways to make Test cricket more attractive in competition with the electrifying (and lucrative) Twenty20 format, it continues to do more harm than good to the purest form of the sport. Was there a Test series in Sri Lanka, really? Who knows what the ICC was thinking when it decided to have a Test series in Sri Lanka during the monsoon season. The rain had the final say in the first Test at Galle, which ended up in a draw. Unfortunately, Chris Gayle’s second triple century could not receive the fan viewing it ...
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Can the PCB be trusted?
Among the many voices that have been consistently critical of the authorities running cricket in Pakistan is that of legendary captain and all-rounder Imran Khan. His denigration of the Board of Cricket Control in Pakistan (BCCP) went well beyond the usual player-management friction one may expect in sport. In the 1992 version of his autobiography, All Round View, Imran has accused the board of incompetence, nepotism, and outright corruption. The chapter discussing this topic is full of quotable incidents and insights into the visibly bungling authority that is the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). From tales of small-minded board officials trying ...
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Cricket, a gentleman’s game no more
Cricket is not a gentleman’s game anymore. Though this statement has been vindicated in the past, it is currently being promoted in an explosive manner in the form of the ongoing fiasco concerning Pakistani wicket keeper, Zulqarnain Haider. Just when Pakistan cricket and its fans could ill-afford another trauma in this cursed year of 2010, here came the bewildering news of Zulqarnain Haider going missing just hours before the final match of a classic One Day International (ODI) series against South Africa which Pakistan eventually lost. Anyone who follows and comprehends cricket, should know by the history and dynamics of ...
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Cricket championship league: A promising idea
Finally, after years of juggling the idea, the ICC was able to conceive a league-style test championship which will evaluate performances over a four year period and culminate in a top four playoff. The first match is scheduled in The Ashes summer 2013, at Lord’s. The rankings for the league shall run separately from established ICC test rankings. At a glance, this is a terrific idea - inches close to perfection. Yet, it’s not without its cons! A test championship is meaningful only when every team plays the rest of the the teams the same number of times, both home and away, ...
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A little prayer for the Pakistan cricket team
After being trashed and slashed by local and international media any team would have been in low spirits. I don’t know about PCB and its support to our match winning bowlers like Mohammad Aamir. I cannot predict whether or not the ICC will lift the ban from our star players before the World Cup. But it seems now that after a short – unbearable – break, our players are gaining back their confidence. May team Pakistan win this ODI series versus a strong and full of confidence competitor, South Africa. Only our support will motivate and encourage these players. I have ...
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No more ifs and Butts
While the Pakistani nation is busy witnessing their star players show off their talents in the ongoing domestic T20 championship at Qaddafi Stadium, the atmosphere off the field isn’t too cold either. Just two days after PCB issued its one-day captain (Shahid Afridi) a show-cause notice for commenting on the team selection of the very squad he is scheduled to lead later this month, the PCB itself received a warning from the ICC. After a meeting in Dubai (which extended to 2 days), the ICC warned the PCB to clean up its act, otherwise it would have to face ...
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Where is Mazhar Majeed?
On Sunday August 29, we were introduced to Mazhar Majeed, thanks to the oh so credible British tabloid, News of the World, as they cooked up and ‘revealed’ the story of the Pakistan cricket team’s involvement in spot fixing. Almost a month after allegations that turned Pakistan cricket upside down, Majeed, the main man or the middle man, is nowhere to be found. A realtor, a sponsorship agent some of Pakistan team members, owner of a football club and an alleged bookmaker as well. Impressive credentials, are they not? Yet, made a fool of. After an undercover reporter from a British tabloid allegedly spoiled Majeed’s bid to make millions on the last Pakistan versus ...
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Cricket, you broke my heart
My cricketing world has broken down – update after update, word by word, every day is worse than the last. Initially I resisted the urge to write about the scandals – and lately I have found myself unable to. Unable to talk about cricket, unable to read the sports pages, unable to accept what happened and digest how we’ve all been duped for so long. Perhaps it was naïve of me to think that fixing was rare – perhaps I shouldn’t have expected others to live up to my personal standards of morality. This episode is both heartbreaking and ...
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Cricket saga: What a tangled web we weave
The statements are getting increasingly ludicrous, the denials more strident, the twists and turns more and more dizzying, as the precarious house of cards, built on the foundation of mismanagement, nepotism and toadying, by the Pakistan Cricket Board, lurches and collapses around it’s ears. It’s beginning to look like a circus. As the major players jump trapeze-like from one ring to another, attempting to somehow escape unscathed from the bubbling cauldron of corruption and sleaze awaiting them below. The 50,000 pounds sterling unearthed by police in Salman Butt’s room was said to be for his sister’s dowry. Fair enough. But then why ...
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The lament of a jaded cricket fan
Sunday, August 29th, 9:30 am: I wake up, turn on the phone, check my twitter timeline, and I see that almost everybody is tweeting about one topic. Just to be sure, I click on the link, and read the News of the World story. And I say to myself, ‘Bugger off, cricket! You’ve lost me again.’ My visceral reaction was one of disgust. News of the World is a paper I tend to rubbish for its shady reputation, but this story was too fact-driven, the proofs within too clear-cut, to be ignored. So, I am disgusted – but at what, or whom? ...
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