The Surfer
Durham reaps the rewards of empowerment
In the Telegraph, Scyld Berry lauds Durham's Championship victory and says the county's success is tribute to the power of empowering regions with first-class cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff
20-Sep-2013
On Thursday, Durham won their third Championship title in 21 years, a victory that was built entirely by players picked from the community. In the Telegraph, Scyld Berry says that the Durham's victory is an example of what can be achieved when new regions are empowered with first-class status. While admitting that the addition of another county may stretch first-class cricket resources too thin, Berry also suggests that the road ahead for English cricket may lie in empowering communities.
I suspect our inner cities contain many cricketers who play below the official radar of premier leagues, or never play formal cricket at all, now or in the past. Not a single England Test player has been born in Wolverhampton, one in Hull, two in Stoke-on-Trent, and one in Liverpool since the nineteenth century.
There needs to be a pathway for inner-city players of all ethnicities, who either have no access to proper cricket facilities or cannot afford to join the few inner-city clubs that exist, with their costly membership and match fees, quite apart from expensive kit.
Full postYoung Indian cricketers need counsellors
The BCCI's decision to exonerate Harmeet Singh of any wrongdoing in the IPL spot-fixing scandal may have come as a relief to the player, but what of his morale?
20-Sep-2013
The BCCI's decision to exonerate Harmeet Singh of any wrongdoing in the IPL spot-fixing scandal may have come as a relief to the player, but what of his morale? Makarand Waingankar in the Hindu writes that the BCCI could have handled the situation better by showing empathy towards young cricketers like him, who face tremendous pressure to secure lucrative deals. Hiring counsellors and psychologists is important to prevent players from going astray.
The 20-year-old who was responsible for India winning the under-19 World Cup sat at home shedding tears while less talented players were enjoying the Kanga league in Mumbai. His self-esteem was crushed. Is a thought being spared for the morale of such performing youngsters? May we know the stand taken by Anil Kumble when the decision to suspend Harmeet was taken by the BCCI? And if he wasn't in agreement with the committee, did he record his dissent? Harmeet is the same boy who was compared to Bishan Singh Bedi by none other than Ian Chappell.
Losing the concept of home
Anand Vasu in Wisden India explains how the busy schedule of a modern-day cricketer affects his life
19-Sep-2013
A cricketer's life is rather coveted in the eyes of the general public. Success on the field leads to adoration, lucrative contracts, travel to exotic locations and much more. But Anand Vasu, in Wisden India, presents the other side of fame: A schedule is so busy the concept of home becomes twisted, a fact left-arm spinner Murali Kartik is quite familiar with, having spent less than a month there for five years straight.
"For the best part of the year my home in Delhi is unoccupied and locked up. You work hard, earn money and make a home for yourself, which is what everyone aspires to, but you don't have the luxury of enjoying it," says Kartik. When in England, he is well taken care of, a lovely residence his for the season, a top-of-the-line sponsored car his to drive, and yet it's just not the same. "There was a five-year period when I played the full season at home for Railways and away in England when I kept a record of how many nights I spent in my own bed each year. The scorecard was 22, 27, 23, 24 and 25 across those years. Can you imagine what it's like only being in your own home for less than a month in the whole year, spread out over three or four trips?" When you reconsider the fact that Kartik has not played for India in six years, you might get a sense of what life has become for the modern cricketer.
Using cricket to tell India's story
James Astill, author of the Great Indian Tamasha, speaks to the Wall Street Journal about the impact of cricket in India
19-Sep-2013
The Great Tamasha mirrors India's rise as a nation to its rise as a cricketing power. James Astill, author of the book, documents the evolution of cricket - with its introduction during the British era to its extravagant and controversial avatar, the Indian Premier League. Speaking to Will Davies of the Wall Street Journal, Astill explains his take on the sport that verges on obsession in the country and believes it is an apt tool to describe the India's story.
I wanted to tell that story, but not through the usual all-India generalizations - not from the usual New Delhi vantage. There have been too many books like that already. Rather, I wanted a unifying theme or a story, which would allow me to reflect on India's broader narrative. And it was only natural that I found this in Indian cricket - which is spectacularly rich and politically powerful, also riven with infighting and corruption, and just unbelievably popular. Most of India loves it. And I love it too
Where did all the money go?
Russell Degnan, writing for Idle Summers, writes how cricket's financial wealth has come at a larger cost
18-Sep-2013
The perception that cricket is in sound financial health tells only half the story. In reality, all the money being pumped into the sport has come at the cost of the ICC scaling back tournaments, restricting international cricket to roughly a third of its members, and leaving as many as five full-member cricket boards bordering on bankruptcy. Russell Degnan, writing for Idle Summers, sheds more light on the subject.
The major difference between cricket and other sports is obviously its international flavour. Numerous sports economists - Szymanski is the most cited - have commented on the difficulties of international (representative) sports compared to domestic (franchise) structures. Notably with uneven competition, the waste of talent unable to gain representation and the inefficiency of multiple stadiums being used for a few days per year. The IPL gets around some of these issues, as does the BBL and other T20 leagues. Their success would leave open the possibility of player wages being paid by domestic competition, and the international arm of the sport making only enough money to pay for its structures. But in order to achieve that, they need to be integrated with each other; and that is not happening; instead each tries to cannibalise the other, leaving both poorer for it.
The BCCI's ministry of truth
Sharda Ugra, writing for Economic and Political weekly, bemoans the BCCI's financial and political muscle that has helped the board secure an unfair control over the media
17-Sep-2013
Sharda Ugra, writing for Economic and Political weekly, bemoans the BCCI's financial and political muscle, and elaborates how it has helped the board secure an almost total control over the media at all levels.
In 2008, BCCI put Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri on its payroll with gargantuan price tags. "Sunny & Ravi" Inc became mandatory mascots, required to be on commentary duty wherever India played, regardless of who owned the TV rights. The two most influential Indian voices on cricket television were safely co-opted ... As revenues skyrocketed through the IPL, BCCI set up its own independent TV production unit. This new team (partly cannibalised from Neo Sports/Nimbus who owned the TV rights to cricket in India until 2012) even purchased its own outside broadcast vans. Ownership over Indian cricket was to be established at every level.
South Africa's domestic players brace for impact
Neil Manthorp in Business Day writes should India's tour to South Africa be cancelled, every South African domestic cricketer would be out R160,000 had the series gone on.
17-Sep-2013
South Africa versus India was billed as one of the premier clashes of the 2013 calendar. Now, however, the tour is almost certain to be stunted from the original three Tests, if not abandoned altogether as the respective boards are locked in a power struggle. If the tour is scrapped, not only will the fans be deprived of some great cricket, Cricket South Africa's finances will also take a big hit. Every domestic cricketer could end up losing R160,000, writes Neil Manthorp in Business Day.
In South Africa the percentage of Cricket SA's (CSA's) gross revenue that comes the way of the players is a little under 20%. If India's tour of South Africa at the end of 2013 is severely curtailed, as it now has to be if it is not cancelled altogether, the likely loss of revenue to CSA will be in the region of R200m. Twenty percent of that is R40m, of which 40% goes directly to the domestic players in the six franchises, a sum of about R2.7m. Each franchise has a contracted squad of about 17 players, which breaks down to an average of R160,000 per player.
So, what exactly is DRS for?
Kartikeya Date writes in his blog of the most pertinent issues regarding the DRS that the ICC needs to immediately address
16-Sep-2013
Five years since its implementation, the DRS has only raised more problems and headaches for umpires than solutions, and has almost constantly occupied headlines for the wrong reasons. With DRS once again set to dominate discussions in the ICC Chief Executives' meeting in Dubai, Kartikeya Date, in his blog A cricketing view, asks the questions that need immediate answering from the ICC.
Is the purpose of the system to help umpires correct obviously wrong decisions? Or is it to allow players to review decisions? There has never been any clarity on this basic question from the ICC.
A series that went back in time
16-Sep-2013
Watching Zimbabwe beat Pakistan to record a first Test victory against major opposition since 2001 was stirring enough, but to be given the chance to see the emotions of the dressing room, the visible signs of pleasure on the pitch, without being cut off from the action via an advertisement break, has lent a special hue to the coverage of this series, one which is welcomed in an increasingly commercialised world. Osman Samiuddin, writing for The National, said viewing this series was like going back in time, when money didn't dictate terms, and commentators spoke as if they were narrating on radio. All of this combined to create an intimacy that has been severely lacking in broadcasting for a number of years.
Full postAdaptation of ambition
As yet another summer of cricket comes to a close, the Old Batsman muses how cricket's complexities allow a different face to each age of the player
ESPNcricinfo staff
16-Sep-2013
As yet another summer of cricket comes to a close, the Old Batsman muses how cricket's complexities allow a different face to each age of the player and how the elements of the game one takes pleasure in continuously shift.
Once you pass the point at which professionals retire, it takes on a new hue. Before that moment, however delusionally, you can convince yourself you're playing the same game that you always have. You're not yet entirely divorced from the young kids who come in to thrash their 60-ball hundreds or mark out their 20-yard runs. Soon though, there's something different in the way that they look at you, and you realise that they are occupying a psychological terrain that you have surrendered.
