The last five years have been a golden age for South African cricket - clearly the best since readmission and certainly among the best of our cricketing history. In one week, on and off the field, we've seen the first glimmers of the future. It ain't pretty.
In the board room, CSA's troupe of administrators surrendered to the will of cricket's Big Three. They were bought for depressingly little. I wish I'd been wrong, but it was an easy call to make. With CSA on board, the BCCI and it's two brides got their way and everyone else began their new lives as official lower caste citizens in the cricketing world. The last hold outs, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, abstained. I wish them luck with their continued resistance and would like to apologise on behalf of all South Africa to their fans for our bungling bureaucrat's abject surrender. Time will tell whose path was the right one to choose.
With that last sad act the saga of the ICC restructuring came to an end and there was a gap for actual cricket to take center stage. The Proteas duly followed their board's lead by throwing in the towel against a red hot Australian team. Gaps and weaknesses that have been slowly appearing in Graeme's Smith's team were rapidly wrenched open and it wasn't long before the wheels came off completely. There are two Tests to go but there needs to be a whole lot of improvement if we're going to save the series from here. We got out of jail against Pakistan and India, but I don't know if we can hope for a third such result in a row.
In the board room, CSA say that they have been promised more fixtures for the national team. We will know more once the Big Three finalise their bilateral agreements. No prizes will be awarded for predicting who such agreements will be arranged to suit. Those of us in the lower caste of cricket playing nations will just have to wait and see how the scraps of the rich are divvied out.
On the field, the Proteas will have better days than last week. We might even pull off another miraculous series rescue against these rejuvenated Australians, and even if we don't we will still be ranked #1. The golden era will continue for a while; AB, Dale and the others will fight the dying of light for some time yet. But our first post-Kallis Test has shown us that nothing lasts forever, especially not sporting success.
The wheel always turns, but this time there is a difference: the hand spinning it is the BCCI, ECB and CA. Power in the board room might not directly project across the boundary, but control over the flow of money and the scheduling of fixtures sure doesn't hurt your teams chances. The Proteas of the 2010's could be the last team outside this Big Three to dominate Test cricket.
Showing posts with label icc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label icc. Show all posts
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Everyone Has A Price
The ICC revamp: everyone knows that it's all about the Benjamins. Much more money for the BCCI specifically. The BCCI have stated that they're totally ok with getting more money. Well thank goodness then, happy days.
The original idea seems to have been to get the three biggest kids in the playground to work out some rules for everyone. But that worked out about as well as throwing a dead cow to three sharks and asking them to arrange servings for all the other fish in the sea. Before long it became all about how the biggest shark could get the biggest chunk of meat.
To do that the BCCI needed CA and the ECB to cooperate. Their prices were easy to settle on - deep down both England and Australia feel entitled to more money and the power to arrange their own itinerary (i.e. avoid pesky tours against anyone they don't want to play). England got the extra promise of (maybe) hosting the ICC office instead of Dubai. And so then there were three.
To achieve this goal - loads more cash for the BCCI, and some more it's co-conspirators - a plan was created. No other sane Full Member board would vote for such a proposal, but the Big Three knew that each in turn would have it's price. The draft that they came up with contained carefully planned clauses aimed in specific directions. Along with some hard negotiating, each Full Member would fall.
For good measure the BCCI went all in and put their participation in ICC events on the table, conditional to the draft being approved. Nobody has yet dared to call their bluff.
Zimbabwe needed little more than a vague promise some money and the even vaguer carrot of bilateral tour agreements. They were never really in the game.
The price for West Indies and New Zealand were a series against India each (as an added bonus for the BCCI those matches came at South Africa's expense) and the promise of bilateral tour agreements. These boards folded on the blind, without even waiting to see how serious the bilateral promises were.
Bangladesh got the stick. The threat of a two-tier Test system which would inevitably set them up as the first Full Member relegated out of Tests was a gun to their heads. In due course this clause was dropped and the BCB came on board without much more fight.
That's where we stand today. South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are holding out for "more time" to "consult their boards". This can probably be read as "more time to negotiate for more concessions".
Cricket South Africa's price may well turn out to be eligibility for payouts from the new Test Cricket slush fund and a seat on the all-powerful ExCo. The slush fund is a monetary pittance compared to what's moving around in the Big Three's orbit, but the ExCo seat is a big one. Our bureaucrats have small minds and large egos, so I expect little argument.
I'm not certain of Sri Lanka's position. Like CSA, I think they will be bought by a little bit of money and a seemingly significant slice of political power. Maybe the promise of more games against opposition other than India. Perhaps the power to decide not to play Test cricket if they don't feel like it.
That leaves Pakistan. The PCB has little love for the BCCI and seem to be playing the hardest to get. But if the others fall into line the BCCI doesn't need them, and that's what I think will happen. An organised and united Pakistan would be the nearest rival to India in terms of population and potential cricket revenue so the BCCI will have no problem with shafting them however possible.
This hand of cards has just about wrapped up. No doubt the phone lines are alive to the sound of concessions, and bilateral tour agreements are being bought and sold like packets of crack on a street corner in downtown Baltimore. Once the dust settles the little people will all feel like they've protected their own interests, and the BCCI will get the fat paycheck that it feels that it deserves.
The original idea seems to have been to get the three biggest kids in the playground to work out some rules for everyone. But that worked out about as well as throwing a dead cow to three sharks and asking them to arrange servings for all the other fish in the sea. Before long it became all about how the biggest shark could get the biggest chunk of meat.
To do that the BCCI needed CA and the ECB to cooperate. Their prices were easy to settle on - deep down both England and Australia feel entitled to more money and the power to arrange their own itinerary (i.e. avoid pesky tours against anyone they don't want to play). England got the extra promise of (maybe) hosting the ICC office instead of Dubai. And so then there were three.
To achieve this goal - loads more cash for the BCCI, and some more it's co-conspirators - a plan was created. No other sane Full Member board would vote for such a proposal, but the Big Three knew that each in turn would have it's price. The draft that they came up with contained carefully planned clauses aimed in specific directions. Along with some hard negotiating, each Full Member would fall.
For good measure the BCCI went all in and put their participation in ICC events on the table, conditional to the draft being approved. Nobody has yet dared to call their bluff.
Zimbabwe needed little more than a vague promise some money and the even vaguer carrot of bilateral tour agreements. They were never really in the game.
The price for West Indies and New Zealand were a series against India each (as an added bonus for the BCCI those matches came at South Africa's expense) and the promise of bilateral tour agreements. These boards folded on the blind, without even waiting to see how serious the bilateral promises were.
Bangladesh got the stick. The threat of a two-tier Test system which would inevitably set them up as the first Full Member relegated out of Tests was a gun to their heads. In due course this clause was dropped and the BCB came on board without much more fight.
That's where we stand today. South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are holding out for "more time" to "consult their boards". This can probably be read as "more time to negotiate for more concessions".
Cricket South Africa's price may well turn out to be eligibility for payouts from the new Test Cricket slush fund and a seat on the all-powerful ExCo. The slush fund is a monetary pittance compared to what's moving around in the Big Three's orbit, but the ExCo seat is a big one. Our bureaucrats have small minds and large egos, so I expect little argument.
I'm not certain of Sri Lanka's position. Like CSA, I think they will be bought by a little bit of money and a seemingly significant slice of political power. Maybe the promise of more games against opposition other than India. Perhaps the power to decide not to play Test cricket if they don't feel like it.
That leaves Pakistan. The PCB has little love for the BCCI and seem to be playing the hardest to get. But if the others fall into line the BCCI doesn't need them, and that's what I think will happen. An organised and united Pakistan would be the nearest rival to India in terms of population and potential cricket revenue so the BCCI will have no problem with shafting them however possible.
This hand of cards has just about wrapped up. No doubt the phone lines are alive to the sound of concessions, and bilateral tour agreements are being bought and sold like packets of crack on a street corner in downtown Baltimore. Once the dust settles the little people will all feel like they've protected their own interests, and the BCCI will get the fat paycheck that it feels that it deserves.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Nailing Our Colours To The Mast
Cricket South Africa has surprised everyone by coming out loudly against the ICC restructuring proposals put forward by India, Australia and England (henceforth referred to as The ExCo Members). CSA has habitually been an incompetent, divisive and bumbling organisation. But this time around the feeling must be that they're getting shafted regardless so they might as well go down with the ship, lashed to the wheel and firing all the cannons. Of course, cricket politics leaves ample room for a craven reversal of this position. But at least for now someone has spoken up.
The politics behind India's recently truncated tour to SA have become clear. This proposal needs seven votes of the ten ICC Full Members to pass at the Jan 28/29 board meeting. Let's tally up the votes.
Sri Lanka has always been India's satellite. Pakistan and Bangladesh might have little love for the Indians but are likely to vote with them anyway as part of the Asian bloc. That leaves the three ExCo members with six votes; five if Pakistan go rogue. Zimbabwe will vote with South Africa.
So the ExCo needs one or both of New Zealand and the West Indies to vote with them. Not so coincidentally, these two countries were the ones filling up the gaps in India's schedule created by cancelling matches against South Africa.
The lads at CSA expressed some baffled confusion at the BCCI's politicking around the tour. At the time I thought it was our own incompetent administrators trying to play hardball with a team way out of their league. Now the full and brutal truth has come to light.
The politics behind India's recently truncated tour to SA have become clear. This proposal needs seven votes of the ten ICC Full Members to pass at the Jan 28/29 board meeting. Let's tally up the votes.
Sri Lanka has always been India's satellite. Pakistan and Bangladesh might have little love for the Indians but are likely to vote with them anyway as part of the Asian bloc. That leaves the three ExCo members with six votes; five if Pakistan go rogue. Zimbabwe will vote with South Africa.
So the ExCo needs one or both of New Zealand and the West Indies to vote with them. Not so coincidentally, these two countries were the ones filling up the gaps in India's schedule created by cancelling matches against South Africa.
The lads at CSA expressed some baffled confusion at the BCCI's politicking around the tour. At the time I thought it was our own incompetent administrators trying to play hardball with a team way out of their league. Now the full and brutal truth has come to light.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
ICC Power Grab Leaked
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| Image from Zimbio |
But Jarrod Kimber has already said all that needs to be said. I have nothing to add to his commentary except to urge you to follow the suggestion he makes at the end of his post.
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