by daniel
14. May 2010 01:51
OK. It's time to get real. The cricket world has been in conniptions over the IPL. The best players in the world (Pollard? Gilchrist? Hayden?) coalescing around artificial team entities (franchises?) . Where is the future for cricket as we know it? And straight ways comes along a true accumulation of the world's finest talent and blows this nonsecial folderol out of the water.
India may complain about scheduling so close to the IPL but the truth is that confonted by proper international class bowling their collage of T20 specialists are a joke. Sri Lanka have some marquee players but a lot of inexperienced fillers, the Windies have been made over confident by IPL salaries but no international pedigree (Roach, Pollard even Bravo), and the Saffers, whilst on test match paper are strong, are always slow to adapt.
The likely final will feature England who can sport only KP and at a pinch Morgan as IPL success stories, and Australia, who have bizarrely left out the most effective bowler in the IPL, Doug Bollinger. Yet both sides circket has been beguiling, destructive and unsurpassably compelling.
It's really just Packer all over again. Cricket should make more money than it does and Lalit Modi's IPL has screamed loud and long. But ultimately the best games are played between the best players and they are currently owned by national boards.
England v.Australia or Chennai Super Kings v. Mumbai Indians? I wonder.