Good Week, Bad Week
March 13 2009
March 13 2009
Sri Lanka have had to give up the 2009 Champions Trophy because they couldn't guarantee it won't rain in September. Some would say the ICC look a bit silly trying to control nature's elements, that Haroon Lorgat is less a Cnut than a.....well, you get the idea.
Did no-one else greet this news by thinking, 'thank f*ck for that: we can have two weeks with the kids at Pontins'?
It seems not as they've now simply shifted the world's most irrelevant sporting event to South Africa. Meanwhile the 2010 Champions Trophy, which was changed a while ago to a T20, is going ahead in the West Indies next year. So, that's three 'world events' in 17 months and not one of them a World Cup, which comes a year later again?
Finally, with 12 months to go the 2010 T20 is being rescheduled again to accommodate the IPL, which goes to show how seriously we ought to take the whole thing.
West Indies
They own the Wisden Trophy for the first time this century. Better still they may be able to hold onto it in a two-Test series starting in May. For one thing, Lord's can be expected to produce a fourth successive Test of anodyne, income-maximising cricket; certainly Giles Clarke is banking on it. For another, the West Indies may be stronger than originally expected if the IPL crowd are available after all.
However, these are very much short-term gains. With a second Stanford series looking rather unlikely, the unbranded West Indies with their boring old wood-coloured bats remain the best hope for cricket in the region.
If the Caribbean islanders have to sit through many more series like this one then there is more chance of Sir Allen opening the batting with Gayle than there is of a true Windian revival. The Texan's maxim that Test cricket is tedious has looked disturbingly accurate in the last fortnight.
Australia's Ashes chances
England haven't won a live Test against a top-six nation since Pakistan at Headingley in 2006, a shocking indictment of their delusion in itself. Since they have survived almost exclusively on beating the West Indies and now cannot even do that. Not even New Zealand have lost to the WI in the last five years.
Whilst Owais Shah gets so nervous he gives himself cramp, Philip Hughes bats the best attack in the world off the park in South Africa. While Amjad Khan shows you why Denmark win even more infrequently than England, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus make you forget who Brett Lee and Stuart Clark are (and then worry even more when you remember them).
They have reversed the Christmas horror show against the Proteas and are well suited to a strong showing in the world championship this summer before another Ashes formality. It was nice while it lasted, but they're back.
Bad week for...
Ijaz Butt
This item might also have featured under 'Good week' for Daryll Hair, but we prefer to do it this way.
"I'd expect teams will tour here again as soon as possible. I'd give it six to nine months to get things organised," declared the PCB chief in one of the fledgling century's more optimistic announcements.
"I'd want us to get security to a level that would be a guarantee from my government that no such incident like this could happen again, or I will not invite anybody.
"Once I have this assurance I may then invite people to come here. But this can happen anywhere. I cannot give that guarantee, but my government can. If they cannot then we'll not have cricket in Pakistan at all. I definitely think that we'll stage part of the World Cup in 2011."
If the man really believes this then he is as qualified for the job as predecessors who managed Mohammad Asif's swift and seamless return from a failed drugs test in early 2007.
Did no-one else greet this news by thinking, 'thank f*ck for that: we can have two weeks with the kids at Pontins'?
It seems not as they've now simply shifted the world's most irrelevant sporting event to South Africa. Meanwhile the 2010 Champions Trophy, which was changed a while ago to a T20, is going ahead in the West Indies next year. So, that's three 'world events' in 17 months and not one of them a World Cup, which comes a year later again?
Finally, with 12 months to go the 2010 T20 is being rescheduled again to accommodate the IPL, which goes to show how seriously we ought to take the whole thing.
West Indies
They own the Wisden Trophy for the first time this century. Better still they may be able to hold onto it in a two-Test series starting in May. For one thing, Lord's can be expected to produce a fourth successive Test of anodyne, income-maximising cricket; certainly Giles Clarke is banking on it. For another, the West Indies may be stronger than originally expected if the IPL crowd are available after all.
However, these are very much short-term gains. With a second Stanford series looking rather unlikely, the unbranded West Indies with their boring old wood-coloured bats remain the best hope for cricket in the region.
If the Caribbean islanders have to sit through many more series like this one then there is more chance of Sir Allen opening the batting with Gayle than there is of a true Windian revival. The Texan's maxim that Test cricket is tedious has looked disturbingly accurate in the last fortnight.
Australia's Ashes chances
England haven't won a live Test against a top-six nation since Pakistan at Headingley in 2006, a shocking indictment of their delusion in itself. Since they have survived almost exclusively on beating the West Indies and now cannot even do that. Not even New Zealand have lost to the WI in the last five years.
Whilst Owais Shah gets so nervous he gives himself cramp, Philip Hughes bats the best attack in the world off the park in South Africa. While Amjad Khan shows you why Denmark win even more infrequently than England, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus make you forget who Brett Lee and Stuart Clark are (and then worry even more when you remember them).
They have reversed the Christmas horror show against the Proteas and are well suited to a strong showing in the world championship this summer before another Ashes formality. It was nice while it lasted, but they're back.
Bad week for...
Ijaz Butt
This item might also have featured under 'Good week' for Daryll Hair, but we prefer to do it this way.
"I'd expect teams will tour here again as soon as possible. I'd give it six to nine months to get things organised," declared the PCB chief in one of the fledgling century's more optimistic announcements.
"I'd want us to get security to a level that would be a guarantee from my government that no such incident like this could happen again, or I will not invite anybody.
"Once I have this assurance I may then invite people to come here. But this can happen anywhere. I cannot give that guarantee, but my government can. If they cannot then we'll not have cricket in Pakistan at all. I definitely think that we'll stage part of the World Cup in 2011."
If the man really believes this then he is as qualified for the job as predecessors who managed Mohammad Asif's swift and seamless return from a failed drugs test in early 2007.
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