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Greed, shame, disgust
By Will last year, at the end of February, 6 Comments »
Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is already drawing a pension of £650,000 a year, despite only being 50.
The BBC has learned that the pot that generates his pension is worth £16m.
Too angry to even bother linking to the BBC about this bastard and his bastard pension, while nearly two million people, including my brother and my best mate, are currently unable to buy a job. This bastard banker is still trying to justify it, too. The mind verily boggles.
6 Comments »Charitable cricket
By Mark Tilley last year, mid-February, 22 Comments »
Australia have levelled the five game one day series with New Zealand, after a 6 wicket win in Adelaide – but the cricket was overshadowed, in part, in the wake of the disastrous Victoria bushfire. Sponsors of the series, Commonwealth Bank, pledged to donate $5000 for every six hit in the game and $100 for every run scored, meaning that by the end of play they had raised just over $6 million, via donations from players, TV viewers, cricket boards etc.
Australian squad member Peter Siddle, not playing in the game, spent the game roaming around the crowd, asking for donations from generous members of the Australian cricketing public. Siddle’s family live in an area affected by the fires and he revealed that a member of his family had lost friends to the deadly blazes.
It’s good to see that in a time of a national crisis that cricket and sport in general can still play it’s part, however small or trivial. The incentive to hit sixes and raise more money could have also increased not only the entertainment factor but the chance of players giving their wickets away. However, batsman were not to be deterred and as Michael Hussey crashed a six over long on to win the game, their was a sense not of one team winning and one losing but of both doing their part to help out.
The obscene amount of money raised will certainly play it’s part in the rebuilding phase of this tragedy and cricket, on this occasion, can be proud of it’s collective self. It’s always heartwarming to see teams and nations rally when their countries are in crisis – Sachin Tendulkar’s wonderful hundred to beat England in Chennai last December was a tribute to those lost in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
This act of generosity from both Australia and New Zealand and the sponsors of the series ensured that although Australia have fought back from two matchs down, the saddening loss of life will still be at the forefront of Australian minds. Good on them.
And, by the by, it looks like it’s going to be a cracker of a series decider in Brisbane on Friday.
22 Comments »Flintoff and KP record-breaking millionaires
By Will last year, at the start of February, 10 Comments »
Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen have both broken the IPL record, each netting a cool US$1.55million. Holy moly.
Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood were sold for a frankly pathetic $US275,000 while Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara remain unsold, unwanted – the runts of this latest litter of shame.
So Hampshire and Lancashire will both be getting US$155,000 for Pietersen and Flintoff’s involvement in the IPL – a factor which the players are a bit peeved about. But, still, England’s most marketable and successful players can nevertheless eye up a new house, or car. Or a farm perhaps. Small off-licence selling cheap whiskey, wine gums and sellotape? It’s surprising how people turn to local shops in a recession – these are the things Flintoff and Pietersen will have to consider very carefully in the coming months.
What should they do with their loot? I have a feeling Flintoff’ll be sensible, after drinking 1% of it, whereas Pietersen will invest in a Humvee for tootling around town.
10 Comments »England v Superstars, Stanford 20/20 for 20, Antigua
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of November, 25 Comments »
It’s here. It’s arrived. We’re about to enter the abyss, it feels – or that must be how the players are feeling, some three hours away from winning an implausibly huge some of money. The winners, as Ann Robinson would say, leave with nothing.
So, keep your eyes peeled on Cricinfo or have a listen to BBC’s commentary, and – most importantly of all – leave your thoughts about the impending farce or spectacle below.
25 Comments »Test cricket in serious danger
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 10 Comments »
I have accepted Twenty20. I even like it. But watching how powerful the newly-formed tournaments have become is like witnessing a teenager push a pensioner over on the street. It’s rude, wrong and has an air of danger. You want to stop it; you don’t quite know how.
The pensioner, if you’ll allow me to extend this frankly ridiculous analogy, is Test cricket. OK, so the doddery old bugger hasn’t yet been floored by IPL’s gang, but the news this week that Sri Lanka could be sending a second XI to tour England next year is the most significant effect Twenty20 has had on the game as a whole. The Twenty20 World Cup has been a success, and will eventually replace the ageing 50-over wreck, but Test cricket has so far remained swaddled in its own security blanket of tradition. Until now.
The reason, if you’re not aware, is that Sri Lanka Cricket has proposed a US$70m deal with Lalit Modi, the oligarch behind the IPL. In addition, Sri Lanka’s sports minister has said that his top players are therefore committed to fulfilling their highly lucrative contracts with Modi – at the expense of Tests. The teenagers are jeering at the old pensioner. “Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough,” they rant.
By 2010, almost half the County Championship fixtures will be done and dusted by about May 15, to accomodate the English Premier League, the Twenty20 Cup and whatever else the ECB’s bean-counters decide upon. Where does this leave four and five-day cricket? The Championship remains the most coveted title in England. Test cricket remains the atlas of most cricketers’ aspirations. And yet they could soon be marginalised by the unsavoury appetite for money.
Once dollars are involved, it’s very hard to stop the rift widening. Who can blame players when they’re being offered life-changing sums? Happily, the ICC president, David Morgan, has brandished this decision by Sri Lanka as deeply worrying, so there is still hope that his organisation can stop the rot. But if Sri Lanka do decide not to tour, their relationship with India thus strengthens, and the BCCI’s clout over world cricket becomes even more encompassing. Even more worrying.
The whole face of international cricket could be about to change very dramatically.
10 Comments »Stanford unveils US$100m deal with England and West Indies
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 11 Comments »
Good god. Did we ever expect this sort of money to be part of cricket? After much debate, Stanford’s expansion from the Caribbean has been confirmed, and England will face an All Stars XI from the West Indies on November 1. The winner will take home $20m:
There were concerns with the winner-takes-all format proposed by Stanford but those seem to have been resolved. A deal will mean that if England win, each of the XI will receive US$1 million, the rest of the squad share US$1 million, and the management team splits another US$1 million. The remaining US$7 million will be shared between the ECB and the West Indies Cricket Board, regardless of the outcome of the match itself.
All of which puts yet more emphasis on this year’s domestic Twenty20 Cup; not only could a good performance loft a player to India for the Champions League, but a life-changing sum of money in the Caribbean a few weeks later. This is monstrous. Bonkers, but monstrous.
11 Comments »Performance-based bribes for England
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 5 Comments »
England’s players netted a bonus of £180,000 for their series-win over New Zealand a few days ago. It’s a fair chunk of money, on top of their already comfortable salaries and extra advertising deals with the likes of Adidas. The Indian Premier League, however, has blown salaries and players’ monetary expectations out of the water, which has prompted the ECB to raise the series bonuses to £2m. It is effectively a performance-based bribe: do well for us in Tests, the ECB say, and you’ll be handsomely rewarded. Don’t worry about that silly Indian thing: beat the South Africans and we’ll buy you all iPhones and cars.
It’s a fair old whack, and a reasonable gesture by the ECB, but the newly sized pot surely can’t dissuade players from considering the IPL, can it? Over in India players are promised hundreds of thousands, even if they fail abysmally. Money talks, as that awesome AC/DC song says, but can Test cricket genuinely hope to match the new money offered by Indian leagues (and the new Champions League)?
Your thoughts?
5 Comments »The worth of Pietersen
By Will 2 years ago, mid-May, 9 Comments »
Kevin Pietersen, one of cricket’s most marketable assets, is on the verge of signing for an unnamed Indian Premier League franchise for a record-breaking $4m. That is quite some u-turn.
Before (February 29, 2008):
“There’s no way in this world I’d turn my back on England,” he told BBC Radio Five Live. “I know there is interest and, yes, there have been offers, etc etc, but it’s not something I’m particularly interested in. Money’s not really too important, it’s not as if I need money right now. I’m really enjoying doing what I’m doing.”
After (April 5, 2008):
“It’s silly to think that you’re losing up to a million [dollars] over six weeks.”
The comparison is a little unfair: Pietersen did justify his stance later by saying “You want your best players playing both for their country and for the IPL. You don’t want them choosing between the two”, and that’s probably the way it should go. If Pietersen or Andrew Flintoff or any other England player wants to make some quick money, they of course should be allowed.
The big concern for cricketers is whether the IPL goldrush goose will, in their minds, deem Test cricket the ugly, cheap duckling. Worse, Test cricket could lose even more quality players if other leagues spawn, such as Allen Stanford’s, thus diluting the format’s very essence.
9 Comments »Stanford close to luring ECB
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of April, 59 Comments »
Allen Stanford and Lalit Modi. Two entirely different characters, both from opposite ends of the world – geographically and, arguably, morally – but both with a shared love of money and cricket. Why do I worry less about the Wild West cowboy, and more about Modi’s modus operandi?
Perhaps it’s because he’s American and has no historical connection to a cricket board. Maybe it’s because he appears to have no dirty agenda to the politics of the sport: he’s seemingly happy to pile money into the flayling West Indies cricket, and anyone else who wants to join in the fun is more than welcome. This sounds naive – of course, billionaires crave and adore money: it is their driving force – but his come-follow-me attitude is refreshing and progressive, which cannot be said of Modi. Modi’s business is power and politics; the IPL has already made him millions, but it is a vehicule to global dominance. We’ve seen this season how the ECB have been tied up in knots banning (and subsequently unbanning) various players who represented the Indian Cricket League – the antichrist to the sanctioned IPL – which demonstrates just how much power the BCCI wields.
Anyway, I digress. I like Mr Stanford and am quite excited by what he could do to counter Modi’s unquenchable thirst for dominance. He has met with the ECB – significantly, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, Dr Julian Hunte, was also present – to finalise plans for an England v West Indies All Stars XI later this year (and possibly running over five years). The matches themselves aren’t too significant, but it could signal the start of a business relationship which expands far beyond any of our imaginings. Stanford’s 20/20 in the Caribbean was a rollicking success – some say he should be in charge of ICC’s World Cups – so it’ll be fascinating to see what he and England come up with.
59 Comments »The lure of money
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of March, 4 Comments »
We return to England after six weeks of toil, and not much has changed. We have reversed a decline in Test cricket, but realise that sterner ones wait in the form of the touring South Africans later in the season. Also, all the talk is now returning to the IPL, and its influence on the game’s future. I can’t believe for one moment that there aren’t going to be changes to the game. Money talks too loudly, but exactly what they are and when they will come is for others to decide. For the England players, we have just had a timely reminder of what money can’t buy, playing and winning for your country.
Dean Headley on the ECB’s attitude towards the IPL:
4 Comments »“If the ECB ignore these opportunities for players, it could have catastrophic results in terms of losing a star player or several star players,” Headley told The Sunday Telegraph.
“Even if we don’t see an exodus we might have a lot of disgruntled England players and that’s not healthy. Where would that leave our game? It might only take a few brave players to start the ball rolling. We need all parties concerned to come together and reach an agreement that keeps everyone happy.”
BCCI flex their muscles
By Will 2 years ago, mid-February, 24 Comments »
There is yet more evidence of the power that the BCCI wield, and the influence of the Asian bloc, with the news that the Indian board have bluntly warned Australia not to pull out of their tour of Pakistan. What right do they have to “warn” Australia? Not a lot, you would think. After all India is only one of ten members. But such is their immense financial clout, they will always get support from the Asian bloc (and support any Asian country who, in the BCCI’s opinion, need it) and Zimbabwe, West Indies and South Africa are easily swayed to help give India a 7-3 majority.
BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla said Australia would face major repercussions if it abandoned the six-week tour, due to begin mid-March.
“There will be serious consequences because you can’t just pull out a committed tour when the host board is giving you assurances about security and so is the government,” he said.
“If the host board and government is willing to give assurances, you have to accept that you can’t just cancel a confirmed FTP tour,” he said.
From Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
A deeply worrying development. Cricket is as unstable now as it has ever been, and I have absolutely no idea where it will all end up in five, 10, 20 years. Asian bloc v the rest? You wouldn’t bet against it.
24 Comments »Cricket’s wealth in Australia
By Will 2 years ago, mid-February, 3 Comments »
We talk and moan about India’s vast financial grip over the game, but however much it narks us, it is of little surprise: with a growing economy and a colossal population, the majority of whom love the game, India have the two crucial ingredients to making a lot of money out of an entertainment sport. The same goes for football in the UK: it’s watched and loved by millions, and advertisers know they’ll get decent exposure and are willing to pay for it.
The same can’t be said for cricket in the UK. After the Ashes, in particular the following summer, advertisers were swarming like bees over all things cricket. Even this humble blog was targeted. But the interest, like England’s Test form, has slipped away with depressing haste and we’re back to where we were pre the 2005 Ashes.
The same can’t be said for cricket in Australia either, and they come up with some brilliant advertising campaigns. I’m not a sales man and nor will I ever be, but I do find it fascinating how each country uses advertising to exploit the interest of a game to attract new visitors. Inevitably Australia do it with humour, and do it pretty well. Thanks to Duncans.tv here is Mike Hussey in an advert for the CB Series:
…continued…
…and…
3 Comments »Notes from the pavilion for November 2nd
By Will 3 years ago, at the start of November, 2 Comments »
Links of note from the past 24 hours:
- Loadsa money – Here’s a fun fact: On arrival at Derbyshire, Wavell Hinds will make more money than highest paid West Indies cricketer
Travelling in style with the ICC
By Will 3 years ago, mid-April, 3 Comments »
What does the hard-working ICC official travel in from game to game? A brand spanking new BMW of course. Here’s one of nineteen, imported specially for the World Cup (spotted on Flickr).
I suppose they’ve struck a sponsorship deal with them or something. Not a bad way to travel around the islands if you’re into luxurious German vehicles, dripping with leder. Incidentally the photographer has a few other photos worth looking at. It’s always much more interesting seeing photos from the fans themselves, inside the grounds. It gives a more human perspective to what’s actually going on, and they’re not bound by the laws of commercial interest, worrying what their photo editors will want etc.
3 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.
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