The Surfer

A series of scandals has tarnished the league's image, teams are losing money as player costs escalate, TV ratings are down, and franchise owners are still figuring out how to make the most of their investments from a season lasting less than two months.

“Only after the Hero Cup did BCCI start marketing the telecast rights and that’s when we started making money. Sometimes, when I read the minutes of the board meetings in the early 90s, it is quite interesting. Now, we hold our meetings in five-star hotels but in the early days, powerful industrialists who were then in charge of the board, would often hold meetings in their houses because we couldn’t afford hotels.”

Bopara and Morgan, 26 and 24 respectively, both play against Sri Lanka for the Lions at Derby over the next four days, but only Morgan played in this year’s IPL. Indeed, it will be his first game of the English season, now into its seventh week, time which Bopara, who turned down a belated offer from the Rajasthan Royals, has used productively to make two first-class hundreds and take important wickets for Essex.

Bopara’s bowling, which is improving by the month, makes him the favourite for Collingwood’s role, though it was Morgan who was in the Test side at the end of last season when Ian Bell was injured. Morgan was also picked in the Ashes squad but played only in the one-day series and World Cup that followed, where his performances suffered after breaking a finger.

As Ireland, and other associate nations, prepare to press their case at the International Cricket Council's annual meeting in Hong Kong next month for the right for a qualifying tournament in the 2015 World Cup, they could do worse than challenge the closed, commercially obsessed minds of the ICC by reminding them that without Dissanayake's impassioned speech the likes of De Silva, Ranatunga, Murali, and those two fine upstanding captains of old, Jayawardene and Sangakkara, might never have had the opportunity to bring so much joy to the cricketing world.

As Dale Steyn said recently, the Proteas weren't "out-skilled or outplayed" by New Zealand in that [World Cup] quarter-final. Instead they were 'psyched out', to use terminology from the daft yet discerning movie Baseketball ... Given the above, it's fair to say that South Africa need a good shrink more than they need someone with masses of insight into individuals' techniques.

... They do need someone who won't simply be a buddy in the way that Mickey Arthur was in some respects guilty of. Taking all of this into account it's perfectly clear who the obvious choice is, provided he wants the job. Gary Kirsten has shown with India that he can be as much a mentor as a coach, which is often what is required at international level.

It would be nice to congratulate counties solely on their foresight and benevolence towards the national team. But youth is cheap and they are the upside of an economic downturn which has made life so hard for many clubs. Even the Indian Premier League, blamed for diluting overseas talent in county cricket, has unwittingly helped by forcing many teams to pick from their own stocks rather than import talent.

In time, though, the PCB may just have to bite the bullet and follow England's lead. Waqar's public squabbles have made his position almost untenable and, given current Pakistani woes, the team would be better off with a specialist batsman as the coach. England's fortunes improved remarkably when they replaced the two squabbling incumbents with a well-educated, "boring" but impressively focused captain in Andrew Strauss, and a tactically astute and apolitical foreign coach in Andy Flower

I have heard the fans refer to West Indies players in some really derogatory terms, and I have heard them say that the players of today are not like the players of yesterday. The truth, however, is that Beckles is not a normal fan. Beckles is an educated man, he is a professor, he is principal of the university, he is a director of the WICB, he should not have said it, and if he is sorry that he said it - especially if he did not mean it - he should, immediately and unreservedly, say "I am sorry" to Gayle for linking him with Dudus.

There may be some genuine concerns, but ... the IPL and any event like it should be welcomed. It is possibly the largest gathering of cricketers - the players, coaches and commentators - in a stress-free environment, an opportunity to socialise with former teammates and opponents, and earn a few dollars doing that.

Ask a Paul Valthaty or a Kamran Khan about the blessings of the IPL. Khan's father was a taxi driver in a small north Indian city and his mother rolled bidis (a form of cigarette) to supplement the income. Both of them died due to a lack of money for proper medical treatment, before Khan was spotted by the Rajasthan Royals director of coaching.