Speed dumped from ICC

Meh, just cancel it and allow the England players to play in the IPL if they wish.

English players would have played in IPL if they really wanted to. Isn't Mascarenhas playing already ??

the prevailing impression is that they are too lazy and soft to participate in competitive cricket. And they are already pampered and well-taken care of by their board and are not very ambitious go-getter types to boot.

Is that proving your non racism by making a racist remark????

Erm...I realise this is well-meant - rather like the greenies who agitated so successfully against the exploitation of circus dwarfs that the latter ended up begging on the streets instead - but is the world supposed to show its opposition to Mugabe by depriving Zimbabwean cricketers of their livelihood?

Most of the best Zimbabwean cricketers deprived themselves of their livelihood by leaving the country.

JGK wrote:You'd think any shred of credibility the ICC had has now disappeared.

If these reports are accurate, Roebuck's next article will be interesting.

It's in today's press and it's angry and mordant.. His keyboard is spouting true venom these days.

Zimbabwe's banned from tests so won't be playing in England next year in any case.

Red, do you have a link to Roebuck's latest article?

Henry wrote:Red, do you have a link to Roebuck's latest article?

I do but it's not working. I read the hard copy, it's on-line but when you click it it crashes. If they fix it I'll link it but believe me he's off the very long run today.

Red,

Incorrect. Zimbabwe has voluntarily withdrawn from Test Matches so that nobody at ICC had to dirty their hands so much as thinking about a ban. Half of the ICC Full Member countries appear to be going 'la la la this isn't happening'. I suspect that India could do without Zimbabwe's vote, but they would also lose South Africa's compliance and it might lead to people poking about in Bangladesh and noting the human rights record there (a former President of the BCB was jailed a few years ago and was being treated badly enough to have Amnesty International interested).

Oh look at this- One idiot is now having his say over the sacking of another idiot by idiots-

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/347729.html

Has there EVER been anyone competent running the ICC?

an of course an idiot post by a clot commenting on the above

The ICC should just change its name to BCCI & be done with it.

doctorspin wrote:It really is bad this isn't it. It is a clear demonstration of what happens to most organisations; that they develop into self-serving organisations whose purpose is to perpetuate itself rather than carry out the task it was originally set up to administer. When such an eventuality occurs, the organization becomes totally ruthless and intolerant of any worker who doesn't tow the line. Ironically the organisation becomes willing to sacrifice its"charge" just to pursue its existance.

It's called institutionalisation corruption.

Fixed.

Henry,

Know Malcolm Gray well, do you?

No, thought not.

Henry wrote:Red, do you have a link to Roebuck's latest article?

The link to the Roebuck article is now working.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/cricket/its-time-to-stare-down-dark-forces/2008/04/26/1208743328263.html

It's time to stare down dark forces
EVIDENTLY Malcolm Speed has finally had enough of the shenanigans masquerading as leadership taking place at the newly reconstructed International Cricket Council. Clearly he cannot for a minute longer tolerate the smiling but secretly snarling activities of Ray Mali, a compromised man, and his acolytes in high office in Dubai.

Cricket has fallen on hard times. The dollars may be piling up but the game has become devoid of any motivation except power and money. Despite the glib remarks of the smooth-talking rabble in office, objections to their conduct are not based on race, colour or culture. Shame on those arguing that case. Rather it is that spineless, amoral leaders have clawed their way up the greasy pole, and are causing untold damage.

Speed has had a rough time. It must have been bad enough to have to put up with Percy Sonn, a rogue whose sharp brain was so compromised that he did not detect anything wrong with the 2002 election in Zimbabwe, which took place under his supervision. Even President Mbeki no longer so much as presents that case. But the situation continued to deteriorate these past few months, with callow opportunists promoted beyond any revealed quality save self-interest.

Inevitably Speed found himself called upon to defend the indefensible. Chief executives are obliged to defend activities and decisions they privately reject. As a dutiful technocrat armed with a brain intolerant of the usual third-rate liberal bluster, Speed has been prepared to play that role. But he reached his breaking point. A man can only stomach so much bilge, so many lies. Others may be willing for their own lamentable reasons to join the rats in the sewer but Speed did not think his duties stretched that far. And so he departed, and not with the usual cosy remarks but with his position made abundantly clear. He is not a man for grandstanding, detests vapid gestures made to placate conscience. His action told of anger.

Obviously the ICC's abject conduct towards events in Zimbabwe has been the final straw. Not many international issues are simple. But Zimbabwe fits into that category. It is a struggle between good and evil, liberation and despotism, honesty and crookedness, future and past, power and people, greed and generosity. Zimbabwe reels under one of the nastiest bits of work Africa has known, a spiteful man surrounded by odious thugs. It is trite to say and convenient to pretend that the Zimbabwean cricket body does not reflect the regime. Zanu-PF is ZCU's protector. The Minister of Sport is a poisonous little man. But Zimbabwe's apologists do not care about that, or the corruption. Zimbabwe's vote has been tied up and nothing else matters.


In any case it is not so much a question of events in one country as a broader principle. Tyranny is the test of any institution. That has never changed. Over the decades cricket's response has been weak. But the game did eventually boycott apartheid, celebrate the first black captain of the West Indies, rejoice in the Independence of nations. My God, we were slow to stand up to be counted. But better to be slow to stand than to remain seated.

Anyhow the idea that apartheid was ended solely by the ANC is fallacious. An entire continent and most of the enlightened world signed up for that campaign. Just that ANC, UDM and Pan African stalwarts were in the front line and paid an incomparably heavier price. Alas the same nations had entirely forgotten themselves. The countries of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and the blessed Archbishop Tutu have sided with oppression.

By instinct Speed is a conservative. That he has been driven to withdraw ahead of his time and to make plain his reason speaks volumes about his fury and frustration, not for a moment longer could he sustain the public impression that all was well in the ranks of the ICC. Simply, he was not prepared any longer to be associated with appalling decisions taken by cynical men.

Of course that begs the question. How much longer can others put up with this nonsense? Is money also the only thing on their mind? Cricket has lots of fine people, including recent ICC leaders from Pakistan and West Indies. The time has come for them to confront the dark forces among them. Otherwise the disintegration of the game will continue, a disintegration disguised by dollars. Right has been rolled.

India has reason to be embarrassed about the cricket officials who sully its name. It is an untimely lowering beneath men of the calibre of Sharad Pawar. India must act without fear or favour. If the centre remains compromised, the game will fall apart. Indeed it will not be worth holding together.

This week strangely we have something positive from poison pen. He seems to think the IPL might be some sort of pancea for cricket.

Howzat! How IPL revives cricket
02 May 2008
Peter Roebuck

The Indian Premier League (IPL) continues to surpass expectations. Witnesses report that for a fortnight India has been in a ferment and even a frenzy. Of course there is nothing unusual about that. Cricket followers in the region are not inclined to sit in an armchair smoking a pipe before offering an opinion. On the contrary, they customarily act upon the thought with an alacrity calculated to please Mrs Macbeth and to shame Hamlet.

That India is agog is not altogether surprising, for the IPL has been an Indian enterprise driven by Indian money and staged on Indian soil. Altogether more significant has been the response overseas. Cricket folk around the world have been keeping tabs on the unfolding drama. To spend an evening midweek with a bunch of eminent local lawyers was to find all and sundry watching a Twenty20 match on TV and discussing the fortunes of their chosen side (one of them described Harbhajan Singh as a "loose cannon", an interesting line of defence for his next assault case). Never mind that winter sports have taken a grip in Australia and South Africa. Never mind that soccer has been dominating English sporting thoughts. IPL has held its own.

Even stuffed shirts have grudgingly admitted that the tournament has caught the imagination. These grumps take cricket too seriously, treating it as more of a ritual than a recreation. Our God turned water into wine, not the other way around. Clearly She favours merriment. Why must sages look so grim? It is worth remembering that an IPL match lasts as long as an opera (except those written by the more Germanic composers) or a Shakesperian play (unless staged by a Norwegian director). First and foremost these artistic works offer a good night out. They come alive on stage. Audiences can forgive anything except tedium.

Cricket must be willing to don the greasepaint. In some opinions IPL has laid it on a bit thick, but then traditionalists are not forced to attend. These self-appointed protectors of the game are actually doomed romantics. But it is a mistake to overestimate the past. It was not such a fine place. Nor is it possible to pin cricket into a book, like a dead butterfly.

In truth the game has been in poor health. All the more reason to take a chance with youth and energy. Doubtless there will be a price to pay, but is there so much to lose?

West Indian cricket is in freefall, Zimbabwe reels, South Africa is trying to recover from the past without destroying the future, Sri Lanka is enduring a civil war, Pakistan is beset by political complications, England and Australia are involved in an overseas war, Bangladesh is fighting to escape from poverty, New Zealand thinks mostly about rugby and India lacks emerging greatness.

Anyhow, there is much to be said on IPL’s behalf. Certainly the standard and sincerity of the contests have been uplifting. Some stirring innings have been played. Several fine batsmen have reached three figures. It is no small thing to score a hundred in an innings lasting 120 balls, half of them faced by partners. Also fortunes have changed dramatically. In the space of a few balls the most cheerful bowler can resemble a disgruntled chef.

IPL has also impressed in other important areas. Far from insulting spectators, a common enough practice around the world, it has kept them entertained and informed. And sportsmanship has been emphasised. At the opening ceremony the captains signed a document promising to abide by a code of conduct. Has that happened before?

IPL’s other great attribute is the way it brings men together from across the great divides. Most previous attempts to unify players from all nations have been unsatisfactory. This is different. Now players from different countries, some of them supposedly bitter rivals, must find common cause. And it has worked. Kumar Sangakkara has been playing alongside Brett Lee, recently a fierce opponent, and against Murali. Shane Warne and Graham Smith have looked as comfortable together as fish and chips. Nationalism and partisanship are in temporary retreat. IPL is offering us a glimpse of the brotherhood of man. Maybe the sledging will soften and passions will be more easily cooled. Perhaps the very word will be replaced by chirping, a local version indicating a lighter touch.

Far from harming the game’s integrity, IPL may enhance it. Certainly stakeholders will become almost as rich as Croesus. But the important thing is that the money is used wisely so that it does not line deep pockets but spreads and strengthens the game.

oPeter Roebuck is an international cricket correspondent who is based in the KZN midlands.