News: Kolpak agreement killing Cricket - Majola

 Looks like this issue of losing national players to counties, and then to England is not only affecting the associates, but South Africa as well…… in fact, for some reason it is particularly affecting South Africa, and not England or New Zealand that much.
Gerald Majola has made a statement that Kolpak Agreements are killing Cricket…. [...]

Opinion: Rocks Paper Scissors championship on ESPN….

My Word…… I saw this today on ESPN, and I was rolling on the floor.
The coverage was for a world championship. There was a decent crowd in to watch this as well, and the commentators were going on about strategies etc. There was also a ‘pro’ who used to come between ‘matches’ and talk about [...]

Opinion: Thinking beyond the rain…..

This post is not about associates. This posting is about test teams.
Shouldnt the test countries, especially those that make $5million per match (e..g Pak v Ind game), do something about the rain? The simplest, and most expensive solution is to have a canopy in the stadium. Yes it will cost a lot of money, but [...]

News: So close, yet so far….

If Scotland ever came close to beating a test team, this was their momment. And I would say one that they did squander. However, credit should be given where it is due, and the Saltires did manage to pull this one back from a total lost cause.
Yet, with 9 required from the last over, and [...]

News: Something brewing in Ireland…

There has been a media silence observed by the Irish team after the Netherlands game, and they have given a letter to describe their position. They state that they have some issues with the board that needs to be resolved, including WC money.
I think vis a viz Ireland, we may be in for some crisis [...]

Opinion: Netherlands becoming clowns?

I understand that H Mol (or was it G Mol) was on debut. But even a 10 year old kid playing in the backyard would know not to do a “well left” when there are 7 runs needed off 3 balls…..
But it is amazing that they even got to that point. They were cruising so [...]

Opinion: On the county v country issue (”Oh no… not again”)

A few things that people need to keep in mind in addition to all that has been said about these issues…….
Morgan, Coetzer etc are not the first choice players for their counties…… they arent the expected match winners……. these guys are fringe players, who generally dont even play in the first teams……. such players cannot [...]

News: UAE destroyed by Canada…

Last year, UAE lost to Namibia in a similar manner…… looks to me like the world rankings are pretty much correct, with UAE not being able to fare well against anyone away from home….. in fact, the word that I should be using is woeful……
UAE players are pretty much professional players….. some of them have [...]

News: Stanford to involve new countries…

Looks like Allen Stanfords plans were in line with what we had been wondering, and suggesting.
In the 2007 tournament, Cuba and Turks (a 20K pop country) are going to be included.
There will be no funding for Cuba because of US govt restrictions, but support would be provided in other ways (?)
More interestingly, both Peurto Rico [...]

News: Falkland Islands Cricket!

I am once again amused at this. Falkland Islands has been given affiliate membership to the ICC.
We usually lament how the ICC plays a numbers game, and sometimes talk of countries with 20 K population as if they were China taking the expansion of the game forward. Now we have Falkland Islands, a country of [...]