The Surfer
On a day when the UK papers lead with more erosion of the country’s civil liberty, the sports pages ponder whether the ECB has sold its own soul to Allen Stanford, or if the move is the saving of the game.
The key players, Giles Clarke and David Collier, waited at the foot of the steps in obeisance, their hair buffeted by the helicopter's blades. Then there were handshakes all round and even a billionaire's arm around the shoulder for Collier. Rarely have such levels of fawning been seen.
Cricket may have lost its appeal as Australia's most popular sport but its stars remain the nation's most sought after sponsorship vehicles. Cricketers filled six of the top 10 spots in the latest Sweeney Sports survey of the most marketable sports stars, with the Australia captain Ricky Ponting listed as marketing's most sought after property. Ponting ranked No. 1 with a score of 74 points on the Sweeney scale, ahead of retired wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist on 67.
In the Guardian Brian Close and Tony Lewis debate whether Twenty20 is destroying the soul of cricket
Alex Brown, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald , speaks to Sir Garfield Sobers in Barbados before travelling around the island looking for signs of the game’s health.
“I keep hearing this all the time, that people have lost the passion for cricket in the region," Sobers says. "But that's not what I see at all. Everywhere, the game is being played. If cricket is fading, I must be silly."
In his column in the Australian Ricky Ponting tells of his love of the atmosphere when playing in the West Indies.
Despite the fact that West Indies have struggled over the past decade or so, the people remain passionate about cricket. They always want to talk about it, and cricket during Test and one-day matches is usually celebrated in typically West Indian style - with plenty of music and action in the stands.
Not alone in his thinking, Steve James believes Ravi Bopara's county form deserves to be rewarded with an England one-day recall
Bopara's stamina was astonishing. Revealing the benefits of some weight loss since returning from winter England duty, he was still pushing hard for twos in the final overs. Between the sixes that is. All 10 of them. His power in the latter overs was surprising: his wristy class earlier, especially in the extra-cover drive, not so. By blending the two it seems Bopara is conjuring a beguiling mixture of the best of western and eastern batting.
Dylan Cleaver gives a diary account of what he describes as a sad sad day for New Zealand cricket, after surrendering another series to England
All the optimism of Hamilton in March has been stripped away and was it any wonder that when he shuffled off Trent Bridge just now he looked a broken man.
Lalit Modi's decision to give the IPL franchises the first pick over international players for the Champions League has Neil Manthorp fuming
In theory the Titans could say 'no' and insist on Morkel's services in the push for $5 million. But it is only theory - in reality all Modi has to do is offer an amount the Titans could not afford to do without. A million rand should do it which, at around $150 000, is the kind of money the IPL budgets for snacks in their Franchise owners corporate boxes. Per match. Besides, Morkel would be ill-advised to upset the SuperKings who now pay him over ten times what the Titans can afford.
Will players ditch their counties in favour of the big bucks of cricket's Champions League
What about England's one-day cricketers who are unavailable for almost all of the domestic Twenty20 which starts on Wednesday? They will probably be free for the Champions League and I suspect will be keen to get their hands on the prize money.Will Peter Moores release them and, if so, what effect will that have on team spirit within their county team?
The sum of prize-money for the Champions League far exceeds the $2million touted when the idea was first proposed. The lid of Pandora's Box has been opened; the expectations of domestic cricketers have been raised as never before; attitudes will change as the object of the exercise is now major money. It may prove to be something of an understatement when Clarke said: "The ECB Twenty20 Cup will be even more fiercely contested this season in the knowledge that the two teams who reach the final will qualify for the Champions League and the chance to win $5 million."
Trent Bridge has gone through many phases as a cricket ground, notably as the epitome of the featherbed pitch in the 1930s and (according to their opponents at least) as a zippy and green seamer's paradise in the days of Richard Hadlee and Clive Rice in the 1970s and '80s.