Friday, August 18, 2006

Where the Sun don't Shine

It is time people stopped being super critical of cricket boards and tournament organizers and gave them credit where it is due. This 'glass is half-empty' attitude is especially distressing in these difficult times, when one seeks inspiration, not spirit deflation. With that, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the beautifully constructed shenanigans of the "ongoing" "tri-series" in Sri Lanka, which has proved once and for all that the Big Cheeses of all major cricket boards have elevated incompetence and skullduggery to an art form.

By organizing a tournament in the middle of a war-zone and worse still, in the middle of a monsoon season, sub-continental boards have proved yet again that the driving force for such events is potential television and advertising revenue and not preparation and conditioning time for major ICC events.

The last bit of competitive cricket the Indian team played was in early July in the West Indies. With the Champions trophy starting in early October, why not give the team a long and well deserved break till late August-early September, before calling them in for a one month conditioning camp culminating in two or three warm up games? Not a chance. A completely pointless series in SL had to be organized which meant that the players had to cut short a much needed rest and recuperation period to start preparing for it.

If a series had to be played at all -  and some people might argue the case for having a few international games under a team's belt before  a major tournament, then have it in a place like Sharjah or Dubai, where the pitches are similar to the sub-continent, but more importantly, where it is NOT RAINING CONTINUOUSLY right now. Of course, the bigwigs have decided on having another tri-series in Malaysia in mid-september. Again, not the smartest thing to do because of the weather there.

Well, here's to hoping we get to see the Indian team in action for a couple of games atleast, before the champions trophy.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home