According to Channel 4 News tonight, the England players have already made their minds up not to play in Zimbabwe and the wrangling is all about how to minimise the financial penalties. The ZCU will certainly cancel their short tour of England next summer and that would cost:
£3m from Channel 4
£3m from Sky Television
£1.5m from the tournament’s commercial sponsor npower
£1m in ticket sales and merchandising
=£8.5m in total
The value of the World Cup match to Rupert Murdoch’s TV companies is supposed to be £2.5m.
The reason SA has given for considering withdrawing from their own tour of England is that they don’t trust the ECB and given the fact that the ECB concealed the second round of death threats against the England players and families from the players themselves means the organisation has lost their trust too. If SA don’t play in England the financial loss to English cricket would probably triple the above figure.
It isn’t clear how much compensation, if any, the ECB would be entitled to expect for breach of contract by the Zimbabweans and South Africans, but several county teams depend on support from the national body, so you can see why the ECB don’t want to cancel the Zim match. They have asked the ICC once more to move the fixture to a safe venue, but the meetings they had today have been described as “acrimonious” and the South African police have claimed the recent death threats must be a hoax because they’ve never heard of the Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe (a flimsy excuse IMHO).
One thing is certain – this is the worst possible preparation for an international sporting contest. I have zero confidence that England will proceed beyond the pool stage and I think it’s a disgrace that we’ll never know for sure how England would have performed in a tournament without these distractions.
The surprise results so far are adding to the entertainment on the field though. Congratulations to WI and SL, but it’s only just begun.
Looks like Shane Warne has taken some of the wrong drugs in an attempt to get his shoulder right in time, and has pulled out of the first match (probably the series, but that’s not confirmed yet) so that the drugs can leave his system.
As MacGill’s been left at home, Australia’s spin attack isn’t looking nearly as fearsome. Suddenly the overwhelming favourites have been brought back to “whelming” status.
More interesting was Waqar being taken off, in the middle of an over, no less, by the umpires for intimidatory bowling - anyone remember the last time this happened?
Australia 8/310, Symonds 143*. Unflappable Umpire Shep shouts at Waqar and banishes him from the attack after his second beamer.
I thought Symonds was out here to be the full-time 12th man. He’d well and truly run out of chances. Now he does what everyone knew he was capable of. The Freak (Harvey) looked ominous too.
Pakistan - yet again - loses its rag. So much talent, yet they are not a team. I can’t see them chasing this down. Big Inzi looks great though. I still cringe at the wastefulness of using Afridi as a slogging opener. Over the past 5 years he should have been coming in at #7 and told to work on his bowling.
Warne’s great judgement strikes again, eh? I fully expect to see the Australian press hypocrites out in force tomorrow (at least in the tabloids). There had better be a VERY convincing explanation, or I guess people are going to assume (note phrasing, please) that it was a mask for the gear.
I’m not really surprised by the SL/NZ result, Gyan9. Sri Lanka were clearly improving at the end of their Australian tour. Now NZ are supposedly reconsidering their decision not to play in Kenya - proving that one can never be too cynical.
The World Cup brings an edge to the one day game. Today’s Australian innings was like a mini Test. Looks like I won’t be getting much sleep for the foreseeable future.
And on a more serious note - Henry Olonga, one of the Zimbabwean Cricketers who announced their intention to wear a black armband because they were “mourning the death of democracy in [Zimbabwe]” has been suspended by his club for his actions.
Even listening on Internet radio, I wasn’t surprised that Waqar got taken off…that second beamer was born of frustration. They had the Aussies at 146 for 5 and simply let them off the hook. Well, there goes upset prediction #1 then.
It’s a WAG but I don’t think that drug bans extend to all forms of cricket. When Ed Giddins was banned from the County Championship for cocaine, I believe he was still playing club cricket. Warne may be in the clear anyway on appeal.
Well, i’m not exactly sure of the distinction here, but according to the Sydney Morning Herald
Like hawthorne, i am waiting for the hypocrisy of large sections of the Australian media to show itself in this case. As Peter Roebuck, one of the best cricket writers around IMHO, says, when it comes to suspicion of using banned substances,
What really got me is the quote from the cricketers’ representative, Peter May, in the first article i linked to:
Fuck that, i say. The list of banned substances is clear an unequivocal, and all players, coaches, team doctors etc., etc., should know what they are and should avoid them like the plague. Even if they are “just” diuretics.
Warne has been a great player, and as an Aussie i’ve cheered many of his fine performances for Australia, but you have to follow the rules. And it seems to me that, on too many occasions, the Australian cricketers think that rules should apply to other teams but not to them.
:mad: