Good Week, Bad Week
Money does the talking again.
Good week for...
Passing the Buck
Or, in this case, the millions bucks. One of the most interesting aspects of the IPL was always likely to be team-building: how do you make a unit out of a dozen egos of varying size and substance, artificially lumped together at the last minute and still learning the young uns' names in the dugout?
Quite easily, or so it seemed at the time. Winning sides fell head over heels for each other - Shane Warne and Graeme Smith sharing long moonlight strolls, hand in hand - while losers commended their team-mates for being great cricketers and wonderful fellows, and quietly counted the crore.
Now, to our utter amazement, with the cheques cleared and the 2009 overseas registration deadline looming, the old animosities are rising from the dead.
Shahid Afridi, presumably still sleep-deprived at collecting $675,000 for his own woeful IPL contribution, has run to Geo News claiming that Adam Gilchrist ought to have captained the abject Deccan Chargers rather than VVS Laxman: "At times Laxman lost the plot on the field. Twenty20 cricket is not his forte. Adam is more comfortable in this type of cricket.
"Gilchrist was one of the two most successful players for us along with Rohit Sharma. He played some really good innings and his input was very good at times on the field. If they do appoint Adam as captain I think he would be a better choice than Laxman."
Granted there was something of the lions led by donkey about Laxman's captaincy: as well as Gilchrist and Afridi he could call on Scott Styris, Chaminda Vaas, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs and RP Singh only to bravely guide them adrift at the bottom of the table with two wins from 14.
The maligned skipper was not taking it lying down however, firing back on cricketnext.com:"Afridi has no team ethics. Speaking negatively about the team in public, let alone the captain, is just not on. Being an experienced cricketer, he should not be questioning the way the team functions.
"I am really shocked to say the least. He should know that it was a collective failure because he was part of the team. It is unfortunate that he chose to blame the captain for it."
Boys, boys!
For Afridi, 81 runs @ 10.12, to be pointing fingers is as defensible as his earlier claim that cheerleaders were undermining his displays. As for Laxman he must be regretting the decision to opt out of icon status, a gesture that cost him at least $1,000,000 and potentially the tournament's highest pay cheque (if Hyderabad had still bid $1.35m for Symonds then Laxman would've collected 15% more, surpassing MS Dhoni).
By instead taking a mere $375,000 to loosen the Deccan purse strings he placed team-building and on-field success above off-field earnings, which was not in the spirit of the thing at all. He could now be far better off while his team could scarcely have finished the season any worse off.
Yet players do care about results, if only for how it reflects on themselves. Afridi v Laxman promises to be the first in a series of bouts between bruised and battered egos that will last as long as IPL teams ignore the lessons of Warne and Smith: irrespective of the background circus, team unity is as important as ever.
County Cricket Credibility
Graham Ford, the Kent coach, has clarified publicly that he would prefer to remain in situ than take charge of New Zealand. This is no great shock as he last year withdrew his candidacy to coach India in order to shelter under the protective branches at Canterbury.
Place those decisions alongside Mickey Arthur's willingness to leave South Africa for any number of (potentially) second division teams and it seems that the humble county circuit now has the beating of almost any cricket management gig outside the IPL.
Yes, yes, of course it's about the money, and, we dare say, the comfortable green-and-pleasant middle-class existence with relatively little travel. But whatever the reasons there are worse ways to spend England's wealth than on world-class coaches (if you're asking for examples, Gilo: Rikki Clarke).
Unless you're the kind of buffoon who considers coaches as little more than support staff then there is clearly the potential for massive development of the English game through this trend. The case for incentivising counties to push young homegrown players to the fore only becomes more compelling when there are world-class coaches in charge.
Bad Week
Gary Kirsten
The media-friendly South African is in hot water with the BCCI for suggesting that MS Dhoni is ready for the Test captaincy when Anil Kumble steps down.
It is surely wise to check whether Dhoni is making himself available before making such rash statements but that wasn't the objection of Kirsten's club-tied overlords, who declared through secretary Niranjan Shah:
"As per the rules and regulations, Kirsten should not have spoken such things in the media, it is not his job. We have the selectors to decide who should be the captain.
"His comments have not gone down well with those concerned because he is an important member of the support staff. But I will still give him a benefit of doubt."
Some might also question Kirsten's claim that Kumble is a fine choice though his 25% win ratio actually stands comparison with Gavaskar (19.15%), Bedi (27.27%), Azharuddin (29.79%), Kapil Dev (11.76%), Tendulkar (16.00%) and near enough Dravid (32%).
Suggesting two weeks ago that Sourav Ganguly be reinstated drew all sorts of graphical responses and Kumble still has the credentials as a player and thinker to climb above the morass. But 42.86% is a record the incumbent can only dream of.
Peter May