Twenty20 apocolyptic vision
The sheer ridiculousness of the Stanford Twenty20 deal with the ECB came home to roost at Old Trafford last night as a dull game of cricket was played out in front of a bunch of people who barely knew the rules or what was actually going on, resulting in England cantering to a win.
The ridiculousness comes in when you consider that if it was West Indies v England and Mr Stanford was behind the game then England’s players would have raked in 500k each for the privilege. Someone like Owais Shah would have been laughing all the way to the bank. I have nothing against him – he’s a good cricketer – but I could have done his job last night. He was not needed to bat, was hardly irreplaceable in the field and so if you reckon Colly got his MBE for doing very little after the 2005 Ashes then what to make of him walking away with half a million?
Fair play to him – we’d all take it, but considering England’s best paid player last year earned shy of half a million you’re not telling me Mr Vaughan might be casting the odd envious glance as some journeyman one-day player takes more from three hours work than he does a year for being England’s most successful cricket captain? And what of Mr Stanford – wouldn’t he rather have Vaughan playing than a good county cricketer barely recognisable to anyone outside the county circuit?
There could be trouble ahead.
June 14, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Perhaps you should blame the establishment for sitting and watching it happen!
The IPL was a catalyst in the commercial enterprise that cricket will become, and instead of being positive about the money that can come in to the game and create better players (by way of funding in training new players) all the purists sit and moan about a possibility, of which there is none really, of losing the test match!
This may be the perfect opportunity to get rid of some of the ancient deadwood in the hierarchy, and breathe some new life in to this game!!!! Instead of moaning about it, take the good out of it and create something better where everyone wins…. the game, the players, the fans and the sponsors…. or is that too outrageous a suggestion!?
Am sure this comment will be enough to piss off every purist cricket fan alive!!!