A distinct lack of seasonal goodwill

Every Sunday, we take a different look at the week that was ...

Shaun Pollock celebrates at Perth ... but he was one of those abused by spectators Getty Images

Race relations Sadly, the week, and South Africa's battling draw, were overshadowed by the ugly spectre of racism. At Perth, various members of the South African side were subjected to racial taunts from spectators during the first Test, which rightly drew the condemnation of the ICC and both boards. According to local newspapers, the South Africans were called kaffirs and kaffir boeties, derogatory terms for blacks and black sympathisers. It seems that security staff at the match did not take any action because they were unaware of what the terms meant. Perth has a large expatriate South African community, but none of them appear to be employed as stewards. The authorities in Melbourne have promised a zero-tolerance policy for the Boxing-Day Test.

The cricketing Lazaruses A week ago Sourav Ganguly was being written off by many, including this column. But politics in Indian cricket is a complex and largely unfathomable beast, and it was, therefore, not too surprising when Ganguly was named in the Indian squad for the tour of Pakistan. The selectors insisted they had not come under pressure from politicians or board, but perhaps they protested their independence too much? And in Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya, controversially omitted for the ill-fated tour of India on fitness grounds, was recalled for the New Zealand trip. The Sri Lankan president's demand for an investigation into Jayasuriya's axing was entirely unconnected with his comeback.

Best of friends? Getty Images

Season of goodwill Shane Warne's veiled dig at Muttiah Muralitharan was all rather odd, as was Arjuna Ranatunga's subsequent outburst. At Perth, Warne took his 87th wicket of 2005, breaking Dennis Lillee's record for most wickets in a calendar year, but said it would not last for long, citing the amount of cricket played and also the paucity of the opposition. Of Warne's 651 Test wickets, only six have come against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh; of Muralitharan's 584, 119 have come against the same opposition. If Murali was annoyed, he stayed quiet, but Ranatunga did not. "He gets a lot of tail-end wickets and I have always said that he's an overrated bowler," he said of Warne. "Question marks will always hover around Warne's performances. After all, he is the one and only Test cricketer banned from the game for taking drugs." And just in case Ranatunga hadn't rattled enough cages, he then turned on VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar, accusing them of needing to justify their place in the Indian side "by virtue of performance and not past glory."

Happy New Year Shabbir Ahmed is unlikely to be sending a Christmas card to the ICC in Dubai after it banned him for a year following tests on his bowling action showed that it was illegal. The Pakistan board have appealed, but that was scant consolation for Shabbir who said: ""I am heartbroken and once you are repeatedly embroiled in such a situation you are compelled to think about quitting."

Allen Stanford: didn't get rich by giving his money away Cricinfo

Cash talks 1 It was only a matter of time before the West Indies Cricket Board tried to get its hands on the $28 million put up by Allen Stanford for a pan-Caribbean 2020 tournament, and this week, rather like an expectant child on Christmas morning, it could wait no longer. After giving passing credit to Stanford for his investment, the WICB made it clear that it wanted control of the money, and lined up some of the bigger regional boards behind it. Stanford swiftly made it clear he was having none of it. You don't become a billionaire by handing over large sums of money to organisations with a startling track record of being able to blow cash faster than my wife in the January sales. There will be only one winner.

TV wrongs The news that India's government have ruled that all the country's international matches as well as major semi-finals and finals must be shared with public TV hardly warranted a mention overseas. And yet if the legislation is implemented as it stands, it could have more impact on the international game than anything since Kerry Packer. A number of smaller countries - notably Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies - rely on the bounty from TV rights of games played against India. Shared rights are worth considerably less than exclusive ones, and this law will seriously reduce the TV income split between boards. And with the bigger catch - the World Cup - up for grabs after the 2007 event, the bids for that are likely to be substantially lower than the ICC would have wanted. Cue belt tightening across the globe.

The new look for the Indian side. Dark blue might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the cash should help ... AFP

Cash talks 2 Better news for India as two lucrative deals were announced. The first, a four-year contract with Sahara for kit sponsorship, will earn the BCCI $70 million; the other, a five-year agreement with Nike to supply the kit itself, is worth $43 million. The board added that it was going to explore more avenues for commercialising the game in the coming year. Is there anything left unsponsored for it to exploit?

Call the commentators More unseasonal remarks, this time from my colleague Telford Vice, who had some no-nonsense comments about two of Australia's most established broadcasters in a column for a South African newspaper. "Bill Lawry is just a one-eyed old fart: not worth feeding, or getting worked up about," Vice said, before turning his full arsenal on Tony Greig. "Life is too short to endure Mr Greig at any hour, much less before breakfast. It's not just that he has made a career out of stating the obvious, it's that he's just plain poor. 'Aw, that's smacked him bang in front of the stumps! Gotta be out! Here comes the replay to confirm what we all know already! Why bother? Let's have a look anyway ... pitched outside leg! Nah, not even close! What the hell are they appealing for?!'."

Take your best shot ICC president Ehsan Mani will be glad to see the back of 2005, but it doesn't seem that 2006 will offer either him or the ICC much respite. Zimbabwe, falling TV revenues, chucking, ambush marketing, umpires ... the list is long. There were even signs last week that the ICC is going to meet fire with fire. "People have a pop at the ICC," Mani told Sky Sports. "We don't mind that as long as its constructive." But he then rather rewrote history when asked about the ICC's inaction over the Zimbabwe crisis by claiming that far from being supine, the ICC banned Zimbabwe from international cricket in 2004. Er, not quite. Zimbabwe actually requested a suspension, which a relieved ICC readily agreed to. Not quite the same thing. Such a get-out-of-jail-free solution is unlikely to bail Mani out of a fast-deteriorating crisis in 2006.

Another nail ... Zimbabwe's cricketers finally snapped, weary after a string of broken promises, threats and non payment, going on indefinite strike and in so doing refusing to participate in the Afro-Asian Cup and South Africa's domestic tournaments. The extent of the Zimbabwe board's financial predicament was highlighted with the revelation that its cheques have proved bouncier than a WACA flier. A $250 cheque given to Andy Blignaut's family to assist following the death of his father was returned unpaid. A number of Zimbabwe players - those that remain - are said to be considering looking for employment outside the game, so disenchanted are they with the endless strife. But as the ICC keep reminding us, it's still a local issue. Happy Christmas.

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