Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Bring on the end

Bring on the end of "cricket." What's that you say, am I not a huge cricket fan. Yes, I love the game of cricket but I hate what it has become, or more specifically I hate what the International Cricket Council has become. They are a greedy corrupt organisation, and the recent world cup only highlighted this situation.
A little trivia for you, the ICC recently gave $2 million to China for development of the game there. Yet the only Chinese who play cricket are forced to by their governement and have never heard of the game before. Cricket in China is just another communist plot for world domination, and they will happily steal away childhood dreams to do so. At the same time the ICC only gave $75 000 to Kenya who are on the brink of Test status, which will only be granted at the ICC's whim. Kenya have done everything they can as far as performance is concerned. Apparently their grounds are not up to scratch. So why wasn't the $2 million given to Kenya.
We all know what a farce the world cup was, high ticket prices that locals could not afford, ridiculous internet fees for journalists, fans with t-shirts from non-sponsors being evicted, making Australia and Sri Lanka play in the dark, the list goes on.
But the final proof that the ICC are corrupt is their handling of the issue of Zimbabwe. South Africa were rightly banned from international cricket during the regime of apartheid, but Zimbabwe have been allowed to continue during Mugabe's ever worsening regime. The week started with John Howard suggesting he would pay any fine imposed by the ICC on Cricket Australia, should they boycott Zimbabwe. Alexander Downer rightly states that an Australian cricket tour there would be a propaganda coup for Mugabe. But the ICC have turned around and said to Cricket Australia thay a withdrawl is only valid for safety reasons, and that a fine would be a "minimum $2 million." Worse yet, the fines would go to the Zimbabwe Cricket Board, which in reality is also controlled by Mugabe and so he would get the money too.
If Howard realises that the money would go to Mugabe and does not pay, then Australia could face suspension from International Cricket. I say, bring it on. Bring on the end to this International Cricket farce. If Australia are suspended from world cricket for boycotting Zimbabwe, it will only highlight how corrupt the ICC is. This may be the catalyst for the end of the ICC.
With two billionaires ready to swipe, one in India and one in the Caribbean with new Twenty20 competitions, a revolution in world cricket is about to happen. And I can't wait for it to happen either, so long as test cricket survives,

John Howard could just ban the cricket team from touring and the ICC would have to respect that. That never happens in Australian sport though. If he were to do that he would be protecting the ICC. If he does not then he is helping their demise. I applaud you John Howard for your part in helping to dismantle a corrupt ICC.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I learn far more about the sport from reading your posts - assuming accuracy - than I otherwise would, even as an Aussie.