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Modi lures football to take over the world
By Will 1 month ago, 5 Comments »
Lalit Modi has risen from seemingly nowhere. Unlike us sleepy Englishmen, with our excellent ideas but reluctance to ever commercialise them – or, perhaps more fairly, our endemic resistance to change – Modi’s timing was spot on. He saw Twenty20 as the adrenaline kick cricket needed, a drug for the fans and moreover for television executives to crave. The ICC, like the ECB, were caught off guard yet Modi spotted his chance and got the international board on side, brushing off the Indian Cricket League – and doubtless others – with a disdainful arrogance not readily afforded to someone who had, apparently, appeared from nowhere. Remarkably, he calls the shots.
That, ladies and gents, is the man we are dealing with. There is a distasteful arrogance to the way in which he announces some of his latest ventures and his name does not attract great affection or joy, rather a looming fear. But that’s only because the rest of the world is envious, shaking their heads disbelievingly at the ease with which he has transformed the game, occasionally showing an insouciance of self belief in his vision not seen since Steve Jobs first took to the stage wearing loose-fitting jeans and grubby trainers. Modi knows he’s nailed it. The IPL is his iPhone, a game-changing device applauded by the world.
The rest of the sport and her clubs are fawning for his attention, and not just cricket teams. Modi might havs snared football into the bargain now, too:
“There is a football club, a very famous football club in the UK, very interested in bidding,” Modi said. “[They are] probably one of the most famous football clubs – that’s all I can say. Probably top three. They are interested in taking a stake.”
Responding to speculation in the Indian media, Modi later said on his Twitter page that the club in mention was not Chelsea. A report in the Sun named Manchester City as the team looking at buying a franchise although the club told Cricinfo they were not involved.
The IPL will include two more teams from the 2011 season and will auction the franchise rights at a base price of $225 million ahead of the third season, which starts in India on March 12, and will invite potential investors this week. That figure – double of what the most expensive franchise was sold for in 2008 and more than four times the base price in that first auction – is, in an uncertain market, a sign of the league’s confidence in itself and the Twenty20 format.
According to Modi, the MCC would be a value addition to the IPL and open up the possibility of taking the bandwagon overseas to Lord’s. “I have talked [to MCC] last night and they are quite interested,” he said.
When will he have his iPad moment?
5 Comments »The halfway line
By Richard Seeckts last year, mid-February, 3 Comments »
Talk to cricketers of a bygone era and they will tell you that batting has become much easier since pitches were completely covered during rain breaks in the 1970s. Statistics strongly support their case. In 2008,46 batsmen averaged over 40 in English first class cricket. 40 years earlier, 10 players achieved the same.
There will be no going back to uncovered pitches. Apart from the fact that modern players could not cope, the commercial world requires weather related delays to be kept to a minimum, and one can only imagine what the health and safety experts would make of professional sportsmen running on wet grass.
We have seen the worst and the best of Antiguan ground management over the last few days. Few, if any, other grounds could have made the horlicks achieved at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, but can anyone seriously envisage an English ground being Test Match fit from a state of partial dereliction within 40 hours, as the Antigua Recreation Ground was? That the pitch had been used mostly for football since the ground was abandoned as a first class cricket venue in 2006 makes the transformation all the more laudable.
England’s first innings score suggested to many that the wicket remained as good as those on which Brian Lara twice broke the record Test score. Andrew Flintoff might beg to differ. Blasted out by a daisy-cutting shooter from Jerome Taylor, Flintoff was the first victim of the halfway line horror. Several deliveries pitched on the thinly disguised football pitch line, which runs straight across the pitch just short of a good length for bowlers from the Factory Road end. His was the first to take a wicket. Flintoff was desperately unlucky that his second ball was one such delivery, virtually unplayable, but with his bowling boots on, he may yet see the funny side of being the only member of England’s cosy top six not to reach 50.
Inadvertently, the groundsmen of the Antigua Recreation Ground have hit upon a great innovation to spice up top-level cricket. How much more interesting might the game be if all Test pitches had a five inch strip of unpredictable ground randomly placed by someone with no knowledge of cricket? The ICC wouldn’t have trouble finding the right personnel. It would be the same for both sides, but the kind of hazard that could strike any player at any time. A player could bat all day and score 169, like Andrew Strauss, or be sawn off without time to break sweat, like Flintoff.
A few averages might be dented, but how harsh would selectors be on players who were clearly victims of the halfway line lottery? Groundsmen would be free to prepare really good batting pitches with reduced risk of dull, high scoring draws as the line would surely claim a few victims in a five day match.
Most of cricket’s law changes have been made in favour of batsmen since the inception of one-day cricket. Thanks to the recent shambles in Antigua, we have chanced upon an opportunity for the bowlers to have one in their favour. The batsmen of yesteryear might also enjoy seeing their successors having just a small taste of what playing on uncovered pitches was like.
3 Comments »‘Football mentality’ at Twenty20?
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 1 Comment »
While the rain spat over Edgbaston yesterday, I armed myself with a dictaphone and set upon the unsuspecting crowd. Most were more than happy to share their thoughts, two of whom were teachers (bunking off school. No, they were!).
I was chatting to them about the influence of Twenty20, and it was fascinating to hear them talk about what they termed a “football mentality” which fuels their fear over cricket’s latest format. Having not been to as many Twenty20 as the rest of you, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Have a read, and offer your opinion below.
1 Comment »Monty wants to buy Luton Town FC
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 5 Comments »
If England win their Stanford match in November, and if Monty Panesar happens to be a member of the victorious XI, he will splash out his £500,000 on buying hapless Luton Town football club. I know absolutely nothing about football, but according to a colleague from Soccernet, Luton aren’t just bad: they’re bloody awful.
There’s something painfully apt about twinning Luton Town with Monty, and you can imagine his banal pre-match rousing speeches. “Yeah, come on guys. Put the ball in the right areas. Wingers? Remain positive – try to improve with each match.”
What other inspiration might he provide them?
5 Comments »England Under-19s’ crossbar challenge
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of March, 1 Comment »
You’ll have to be really bored to watch this, but as I’m wide awake when I should be asleep in prep for tonight’s Test, it’s been the perfect tonic. Hilarious nicknames that they’ve all got, and it’s good to see the complete lack of political correctness among the squad. It was uploaded by James “The sheep” Harris who, unless you’re completely ignorant, hails from Glamorgan…
Click here or here if you can’t see it above.
1 Comment »Football nil, cricket…one?
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of November, No Comments; be the first!
Oh, any excuse to belittle football – my least favourite sport. I’d rather watch curling, or darts – or both at the same time (now there’s an idea; darts on ice skates).
Anyway, England have lost, Steve McLaren has stolen his £2.5m (“wally with the lolly”) and everyone’s wondering what the hell’s going on. But spare a thought for the journalists and managing editors whose 2008 summer now looks a little bleak. Peter Preston:
But – for newspapers especially – there is a countervailing point. Football writers are dead keen. Sports editors are dead keen. Marketing departments are keen, because young, affluent lads are also prime reader targets. (Watch literally thousands of entries slamming the departed big drip flood on to the Guardian’s blog comment site). Yet does the experience of football championships past quite justify all the hype and expense? That’s a much more difficult call.
So with our national football side knocked off the radar next summer, let’s hope that English cricket can gain the high ground. We’ll have three Tests against New Zealand followed by four against South Africa, so there’s no better time to showcase England’s true summer sport.
We need a bowling attack first, though…
No Comments »2007 Cowdrey Lecture
By Will 3 years ago, mid-July, 2 Comments »
Have you read this year’s Cowdrey Lecture, delivered by Christopher Martin-Jenkins’? Hmm, thought as much. Well you really ought to, not least because this year marks the first time in its brief seven years that it hasn’t been delivered by a professional cricketer. And it is fascinating.
I confess not to have read it all, yet, but am working my way through it and finding myself nodding all too frequently. Pleasingly for me and my employers, he mentions Cricinfo (and, revealingly, by name and not “the cricket website Cricinfo” as we are so often called. Clearly the brand hasn’t extended that far yet…) while raising a very good point about the access to, and interest in, county cricket.
Cricinfo recorded 29 million page views from 7.5 million visits to county cricket alone in 2006 – and has already had 19 million this season so, despite the rain, they expect the figure to be exceeded. Obviously because a great many people want to find out the latest scores. Sadly, if they are on the move in their cars they can listen for them in vain; and when they are given it often seems to be as a breathless afterthought following the big story that Scunthorpe’s millionaire chairman has denied rumours that their controversial manager Bruno Boscovic is going to be sacked. Or, more to the point, some utterly mundane comment by Jose Murinho such as he thinks that Chelsea have the players to win the Premiership. What a surprise. The media has been conned to a dangerous extent – if you value the variety of life – into becoming a sort of spin machine for the all-pervading, all-powerful Premiership. Also into the belief that it can’t be of interest if it’s not on television.
Regular or past readers will know of my near-hatred of football, and it is primarily for this reason: that it consumes so much media attention, undeservingly so. But hey ho (Flint), that’s the way of the world.
The lack of fast bowlers also come under Christopher’s scrutinous gaze – and he reveals that changes are afoot to decrease the boundaries. My boss and I went to The Oval earlier in the season and I was absolutely shocked at the shortness of the boundaries. Cynics argue that they are brought “in” from their original position in order to maximise the chances of sixes, increase the number of runs scored in a day and generally get the game finished as quick as possible. The evidence is damning too.
But there is a tremendous amount to be thankful for in the contemporary game – in many respects the standards are higher than ever. There are some magnificent batsmen in world cricket and some magical spinners too. The fielding is sensationally good. It is the fast bowlers who are in short supply in the current phase of a game that has always evolved. In the eternal struggle to find that essential balance between bat and ball what we need is a determined effort to lengthen boundaries – happily both the MCC World Cricket Committee and the new ICC Cricket committee are agreed on that but there is no evidence yet of boundaries being stretched to the furthest practical limits on all grounds as they should be.
Do give it a read, and offer your thoughts of the points he raises.
2 Comments »Sport’s glorious futility
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of March, 4 Comments »
No, there is little to be gained by cancelling. Indeed, surely the whole point of sport is to act as a necessary counterpoint to the grim realities of life. We know that death is a part of life because we see it, in one form or another, every day. Like drugs and alcohol, sport provides an escape from the routine absurdity of everyday existence – and thankfully without any of the side effects.
It gives us the chance to experience the best that life has to offer, usually without serious consequences. We win, we lose, and then we go home and get on with life.
We submit to sport’s arcane rules and regulations and rituals. We recognise that we will need to show courage and skill, and we train hard for the event knowing that we are undertaking an ultimately futile task. It is this futility that explains sport’s universal appeal, that and the desire to satisfy a basic human urge to play.
Sport loses its appeal when it is invested with fake importance. This is why English football engenders scant respect: the managers who snarl and spit at players and officials from the sidelines; the players who confuse competitiveness with sometimes vicious intent; and the supporters who cannot cope with the fact that in sport there must nearly always be a loser.
They have all clearly forgotten that Bill Shankly had his tongue firmly planted in his Scottish cheek when he said that football was more important than life or death.
Sport is not more important. And it won’t help to bring Woolmer back, but it might help us to cope.
One of the most insightful, and certainly the most reasoned and balanced article that I’ve read so far on the Woolmer murder and why cricket must go on. But it also re-enforces the often forgotten notion that cricket is a game. Predictably, it’s by Atherton, and it’s a superb read.
4 Comments »Beckham and his billions
By Will 3 years ago, mid-January, 5 Comments »
I have nothing much to say about the news that David Beckham, the celebrity’s celebrity, is to earn £500,000 per week in his move from Real Madrid to the American league side, Los Angeles Galaxy. By my reckoning, going on us average UK mugs who work a minimum of 78 hours/week, that amounts to £6410. Per hour. (£1.78 per second) It’s football; he’s Beckham; it happens. More interestingly is wondering what he might spend his millions on. He could buy four of these Aston Martin DB9s (Volante, naturally) each week and still have enough spare to buy a terrace (or probably two) in Bradford.
Beckham in Bradford…the mind boggles. What do you actually do with all that money? I can’t imagine him turning to Posh and asking “So. Fancy a DVD and some telly tonight?”. Instead of paying your bill at a restaurant, you’d pay everybody’s. Or buy the restaurant outright.
Can we expect Beckham Airlines in the future? Posh and Becks Train Travel: guaranteeing you a vacuous journey to faux-stardom.
5 Comments »Cricket v football (again)
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of November, 23 Comments »
Right. This sort of thing riles me no end, people slagging off cricket even in jest. We must teach the non-believers, especially those who think football is better than the great game. An example of such infidels can be seen here:
5 The Aussies are brilliant at cricket but pretty crap at football (despite overperforming at the World Cup). Let’s keep it that way, or us Brits will never, ever hear the end of it.
6 Ian Holloway.
7 You get giant-killing shocks in football, all the time. That doesn’t happen in cricket – the best team usually wins. Yawn, too predictable.
8 Compare the huge gulf in attendances between Premiership matches and county cricket matches. Thousands of people can’t be wrong… (can they?)
9 Cricket just isn’t funny enough. For every great goal, football offers up a comedy howler like this…
Quite simply this is all-out-war and you are my troops. Load your pens, arm your typing fingers and go forth and write. I’m sure we can come up with at least 20 valid reasons why football is the most dull, pointless game ever created and why cricket is one for the gods.
GO.
23 Comments »Down with football, up with cricket
By Will 4 years ago, mid-July, 5 Comments »
I’ve been keeping my eye on this blog over the past few weeks, and it’s really enjoyable. Blue and Brown are hacked off with football and, in an attempt to cheer themselves up, have been looking ahead to the first Test against Pakistan:
5 Comments »Andrew Flintoff took 3-4 in a Twenty20 match. This means that he’s still ace and also that he can run around. This is good news.
Pakistan are in the country. That means that Shahid Afridi and Inzamam-ul-Haq are in the country and we’ll get to watch them play cricket. This is also good news.
Ian Bell’s back in the Test team. Pretty much nobody outside of the Bell household (he looks like he lives with his mum, doesn’t he?) will be happy about this, but we are. Ian Bell’s good and still needs a little bit of time. He’s younger than you think. Give him a chance. This is good news really.
Monty Panesar will be playing and not some ‘capable’ spin bowler who just happens to be a batsman really. This is great news.
Despite all the injuries and losing and everything, England’s squad really isn’t all that bad. This is good news.
Writing this list has actually cheered us up a bit. It’s thinking about cricket that does it. Cricket is just fundamentally happy.
We promise we’ll never leave you again, cricket. We’re sorry. Football wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and the stories didn’t have happy endings. There’s a Test match this week and it doesn’t get any better than that.
Sport and society
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of June, 3 Comments »
So Germany are through to the World Cup semi-finals with penalties, which has ended with a bit of a brawl. The commentator on ITV (UK channel) said:
“Germany has never been so unified…its people have never been so universally smiling [sic]”
Now then. Regular readers will know of my indifference to football (even I am pursuaded by the World Cup, however), but is such a comment really necessary or valid? What is he really trying to say? I find it careless and irresponsible. I’m sure I’ll fall victim of making social analogies in my career as a sports writer, but I hope I’m at least aware of them and will learn from them.
It’s over-the-top. That the host nation is through to the semi-final has made the people more unified is probably true…but to say they have never been so unified? Come off it. This is sport. It’s a game. They’re playing a game. Keep it in perspective.
Sport has a huge place in society, globally. Am I being cynical in disagreeing with the notion that sport can define a nation?
3 Comments »Sussex v Gloucestershire: victim of Football World Cup?
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of June, 3 Comments »
Gloucestershire all out for 98 in 36 overs. In reply, Sussex were 72 for 8 before falling three runs short of the required 99, inside 18 overs! Oh dear. A victim of the Football World Cup, and England’s knock-out match against Ecuador (which is on now)?
3 Comments »Football, World Cup, Trinidad and cricket?
By Will 4 years ago, mid-June, 1 Comment »
Batsman
Originally uploaded by Flickr user perreira.
perreira has a set of photos of some Trinidad supporters, in Germany, there to cheer on their team for the World Cup. And what better way to show your solidarity and “it’s for the good of the nation!” isms than to play a game of cricket.
Damn right, I say. Well done that man.
1 Comment »Cheat? Who you calling a cheat?
By Scott 4 years ago, mid-May, No Comments; be the first!
Keeper pays for ‘cheat’ jibe – Cricket – Fox Sports
The sanction followed an incident during an English county championship match on Wednesday, after Sussex spinner Mushtaq trapped Read leg-before fifth ball for a duck.
After being given out, Read briefly returned to the pavilion before coming out to confront Mushtaq on the third-man boundary.
An angry exchange ensued in which Read, who had been irritated by Mushtaq’s appeals on earlier balls, used the word “cheat,” according to astonished spectators at the normally sleepy ground in Hove.
The penalty points remain on Read’s record for a period of two years. The accumulation of nine or more penalty points in any two-year period triggers an automatic suspension.
Read subsequently apologised for his outburst and Mushtaq was philosophical about the incident.
“These sort of things can happen,” he said.
“People get angry when they are disappointed and I have every sympathy for Chris, who is a fine cricketer. We’ve shaken hands and as far as I’m concerned that is the end of it.”
I’m glad that the players have resolved this issue amicably, and moved on. That is how it should be. This ‘points’ system smacks too much of football to be honest.
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