Oct 01, 2002 12:04 AM
1607 Views
(Updated Oct 23, 2002 08:49 PM)
This is not a review on 'Cricket' but rather on the people that run the sport. This review comes not after the recently concluded sponsorship scandal or the more infamous match fixing scandal that shook up the entire cricketing world but after the recently concluded 'Champions Trophy' final played in Sri Lanka. How many people are there who have seen this match and have felt that this match has concluded satisfactorily. If any of you'll happen to stay in Pune please mail me, I'd like to fall at your feet.
Two days the fiasco continued and for two days fans waited for a result, all no avail. Why? what stopped us from seeing a result? Why was a tournament thats touted to be the 'Mini World Cup' played in a country where the rainy season is far from over. Who the f... is running things around here? These were some of the many thoughts that ran through the heads of quite a few of my friends (including me).
A 110 overs were bowled in the period of two days. In which Sri Lanka batted both times and the only plus they got was that the scores they made added itself to the players individual records. Both days the match was played in the Day and Night format and both times it rained after the first innings concluded and the second innings had just begun, meaning a day game would have reached a satisfactory conclusion (an unsatisfactory one if we had lost :) but a conclusion nonetheless). The Day and Night game being more profitable made it the obvious choice of time for playing the match, but in a rained out match shouldnt finishing the match have been more important???
Over and over again the ICC is showing itself to be inept and is frustrating all by its untamed greed. The sponsorship scandal still has'nt died down before they managed to create a magnificent blunder in this tournament. One wonders why in the '99 World Cup the final was continued on the next day though only one innings was bowled and the mandatory 25 overs had not been completed and yet over here the same rule was not followed. Was it because one of the finalist's there was Australia or was it because a rematch here would have meant a chance to make a little more money (due to the telecast period increasing, all parties involved must have minted quite a neat bit of cash), either reason stinks of corruption.
Whatever was the reason the ICC owes the spectator and all the millions of fans an apology (which we obviously are'nt gonna get) and also there is need for a major shakedown to take place in the ICC and all the Cricketing Boards across the Globe (sub continent or no sub continent, cricket should be played in suitable conditions, where risk due to climatic conditions can be minimised).
This what I ask is not something impossible, but for it to happen a few honest men should take the initiative.
