Quotehanger

  • "The fact is that once I was playing again I was automatically available for everything on the schedule and that meant Stanford. I make no apologies for that and, as for the suggestion that I should waive the fee or give it to charity, I don't see why I should be a special case."
    Steve Harmison feels strongly about suggestions that he came out of one-day retirement in order to play the Stanford Twenty20 for 20

    Sep 7, 2008

    • Recent Posts

    Try DVD rental for £3.99 per month!

    The headlines

    The news

    TWC



    A wasted opportunity

    By Emma 2 years ago, at the start of September Leave a comment on this post

    Cricinfo today features an open letter from Neil Manthorp, a South African journalist, criticising the President of the WICB for failing to accommodate the Stanford All Star XI game into their international schedule:

    Mr Gordon, from here it looks like you prevaricated, confused and argued until the game’s biggest benefactor since Kerry Packer finally lost his patience and the richest game in cricket history was postponed.

    I’m sorry to put it this way, but you - personally - were responsible for shattering a thousand dreams.

    I can’t help but agree with the sentiment, if I lack full insight as to where the true blame lies. Earlier in the piece, Manthorp underlines the huge impact that winning the $5million game would have had on either team’s home development programs. I am sure that this is true. However, the loss of spectacle, in what would have been the first international Twenty20 match to only feature players who had proven their ability in the domestic format, is equally as saddening to the neutral viewer. But I’ll wait until 2008 – assuming that the next attempt at this fixture will not receive similar treatment.

    Tags: , , , |

    Comments

    Receive email updates on new comments


    « Mr Ponting and Mr Flintoff | Main | And coming out to open? »