It's Just Not Cricket

It is somewhat ironic that the game of cricket has been Americanized by a group of wealthy Indian bussinessmen. But the glitz and glamour, not to mention the vast wealth, of the Indian Premier League has totally turned the cricket world up side down.

The IPL, which is an inter-city Twenty20 competition which lasts for roughly two months, has overshadowed the beginning of the English county season and dominated the cricket agenda. The worlds best best players have been attracted to the competition by huge sums of money and the unquenchable thirst for the game in India. And whilst the tournament has not been a totally unqualified success, it has succeeded in laying the foundations for a competition which threatens the future of the world game.

The IPL has attracted substantial and long term sponsership deals with internationally recognised brands and the broadcasting rights have been sold for more than $1 billion in total. Amongst the current list of contracted players are Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, Shoaib Ahktar, Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori, Glenn McGrath and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Also the IPL are actively looking to recruit more star players for next years competition, and are especially keen to speak to memembers of the current England team including Andrew Flintoff.

Presently only one player currently in the England setup- Dimitri Mascheranas- has agreed to sign up for the competition, but others including star batsmen Kevin Pietersen have expressed an interest. The ICC and the ECB both worry that the money offered by the IPL could lead to the sports best players retiring early from the international game to exploit their commercial value in India.

Also the county game could be deprived of the best overseas talent because of the lure of the IPL, which would in turn damage the overall quality of the English domestic game. Clearly cricket has reached a cross-roads and for the games governing bodies there appears to be no obvious solution.

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