Hodge's Loss is Yousuf's Gain

Or is it?

Lancashire have lost Brad Hodge for 5 weeks to the Kolkata Knight Riders. But they have managed to procure the services of Mohammad Yousuf for that period since he's not eligible to play in the Indian Premier League.

Till only last year cricketers used to jump at the opportunity to play country cricket, not only for excercising their sport during the off season but also for those extra dollars, or rather pounds to be economically correct.

Today, however, with the emergence of the IPL and top notch dollars associated with it, playing county cricket has become the 2nd best option.

Would Yousuf have been available for Lancashire had one of the francises roped him in? Obviously not.

Hodge is going to miss 5 weeks to play in the IPL. David Hussey is already missing the county season. Shane Warne announced his retirement from county cricket despite being under contract to Hampshire for another year or two.

Moreover, this doesn't apply to international players alone. England and Hampshire's own Dmitri Mascharenas has joined the Rajhastan Royals for 5 weeks giving his home county season a break.

ECB better hurry with that EPL or they may lose a lot more as I hear that next year's IPL is scheduled around the same time. Plus Peiterson and some others are itching to play for some Indian teams.

Well, at the end I guess Mohammad Yousuf will be happy to be playing a form of the game he's good at. But he'll still be rueing his chances of making those dollars in hundreds of thousands.

Where it all began

Since the Indian Premier League got underway I have read a number of comments made by English county chiefs and other English men who matter in their world of cricket about how it was they who invented cricket and then 20-20 cricket; that they have fallen behind in terms of progress of the 20-20 game; and that they need to do something to counter the IPL.

"I think the challenge is to respond to the IPL. We invented this game, it's our game and we should be leading." - This was what Rob Bransgrove, the Chairman of Hampshire, had to say to Paul Kelso of the Guardian. Read the full piece here.

"Considering that we invented Twenty20, they [India] should not have got there first. It is important that we act quickly." - this is what The Professional Cricketers' Association's new chief executive, Sean Morris, had to say when asked about the IPL.

These are examples of the kind of comments doing the rounds. I'm sure you all are aware of the talk of the EPL and Allen Stanford's involvement in it, so I'm not going to delve into that.

What I am going to delve into is what took place in Leicester, England in September 2005 - It was the International 20-20 Club Championship.

This was an idea that originated from Leicestershire with the backing of some Asian investors interested in cricket. The idea was to hold a 20-20 championship between the domestic 20-20 champions from around the world.

At that time (2005) only Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and South Africa had followed England and embraced 20-20 cricket as a part of their domestic seasons. Hence invitations were sent out to the 20-20 champions of these countries to take part in an international league.

In September 2005, Faisalabad Wolves (Pak), Chilaw Marians (SL), and Nashua Titans (SA) made their way down to Leicestershire where they were joined by the English champions, Somerset.

It was then and there that the first seeds of a domestic 20-20 tournament involving international and domestic stars were sown. And it was by the same men who invented the game of cricket and its 20-20 form.

Since the championship was Leicestershire's idea, a team from Leicestershire was also included along with the four 20-20 champions. Plus, to make the number of sides even, a "PCA Masters All Stars" was invited to take part.

The PCA Masters squad comprised of former England internationals, Domestic English players, and a few international cricketers. The likes of Phil Defraites, Martin McCague, and Chris Schofield (all Eng) were joined by the likes of Chris Gayle (WI), Javagal Srinath (Ind), and Craig Spearman (NZ).

And it was there and then that the first seeds of a 20-20 cricket team comprising of cricketers from different countries were sown. And it was by the same men who invented the game of cricket and its 20-20 form.

The Indians took the ideas from the English, put in a few millions into it, added some glits and glamour, and brought the ICLs and the IPLs to the world of cricket.

The English have nothing to complain about - they created the monster and they should have known that the slightest indication of success of such a format would result in the Indians embracing it in a big way. After all that is where the money in cricket is.

Thats all folks.

Links worth a look at:

The first news item announcing the International 20-20 Club Championship.
An article on implications of such a tournament.
The PCA Masters All Star Squad.
The final scorecard: Faisalabad Wolves win the first International 20-20 Club Championship.

For a look into all the news coverage, the squads, the points table, and the scorecards of the International 20-20 Club Championship, go here.

And that is where it all began.

Here come the Lahore BADSHAHS!

Team: Lahore Badshahs (Translation: Lahore Kings)
Coach: Moin Khan
Captain: Inzamam Ul Haq

The Squad
Openers: Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Taufiq Umar
Middle Order: Inzamam, Naveed Latif, Hasan Raza
Allrounders: Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Razzak
Wicketkeeper: Humayun Farhat
Fast Bowlers: Mohammad Sami, Rana Naveed Ul Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed, Riaz Afridi, Shahid Nazir
Spinners: Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan

Reading those names as part of a Pakistani squad would seem that a Pakistan A side is touring for a series of matches. This is not Pakistan A, its the Lahore Badshahs team taking part in the 2nd edition of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) that gets underway in a weeks time.

Apart from the 6 teams that participated in the 1st edition of the ICL, the 2nd edition, "ICL 20s Grand Championship" will feature another 2 teams: Lahore Baadshahs and Ahmedabad Rockets.
In the last 2 days Osman Samiuddin, Ian Chappell, and Asif Iqbal have raised their concerns regarding the bans placed on the cricketers joining the ICL. I did the same a few weeks back demanding the rule of the free economy in cricket - Read here and here.

There is a clear distinction between the IPL and the ICL - the former boasts of current international stars, while the other of retired or ignored ones. Then why are these national boards depriving these cricketers of their livelihood?

Moreover, the ICL 20s Grand Championship will run from 9th March to 7th April, thus concluding over a week before the IPL gets underway. ICL has smartly scheduled its competition so it doesn't clash with the IPL and even then the BCCI seems to have a problem with it. They have left no stone unturned in trying to block it with barriers of all forms -including support from the ICC and other national boards.

As has been mentioned in the articles I linked above, the key question here is what are the ICC and the national cricket boards getting out of this? The IPL benefits only the BCCI, the franchisees, and the auctioned cricketers - the other cricket boards get nothing out of it and neither does the ICC.

This just makes the BCCI the big bully monopoly earning billions and the ICC, PCB, CA, ECB, etc its partners in crime who get what?

Intriguing I think.

A Coach's Betrayal.

John Wright did it to India and now Duncan Fletcher has done it to Andrew Flintoff.

It disgusts me no end when cricketers or those associated with the game in one way or the other retire and then publish a book comprising of scandalous stories that are meant to be personal, kept inside the dressing room, or for discussions within the team management and boards. The reason I hate this so much is cause these people do it to make a quick dollar.

There's nothing wrong with publishing a book or writing an autobiography, talking about ones career and the highs and lows of it. But to publish stories about the cricketers one was involved with, which you could not speak of while you were a professional due to a code of conduct, is criminal. Moreover, during their professional careers, these people continue to praise the individuals they work with, while as soon as they move on, they come out with scathing attacks.

I'm not saying what Flintoff did was right in anyway - no one should be drinking that heavily before matches or turn up drunk during practices, but that is an issue that Mr. Fletcher should have sorted out with Flintoff and the ECB. I'm sure he did. Why come out with this story in your book? The public, including me, love reading this stuff, and obviously it will help enhance the sales of Mr. Fletcher's books, but doing the wrong thing to make that extra dollar is just not on.

I don't want to portray a 'holier than thou attitude' as I would be the 1st one to admit that I love reading scandals involving celebrities. I have no issues with the media reporting a cricketer's drinking problem, sex life, or a dressing room arguement; but a former coach doing the same about a player, is a betrayal!