The Sri Lankan Big Bash

With the seeming failure of the Southern Premier League getting off the ground, Australia's  Big Bash Twenty20 tournament is taking matters into their own hands with Cricket Australia allowing each state to recruit up to two international players to their teams. This is a great idea as the appeal of the Indian Premier League has shown that the lure of international stars is big business. Of course while the Australia competition can't compete in money terms with the IPL the timing of the tournament means that it's a good additional option for international players as it will never clash with the cashed up Indian tournament.

Without having a clear understanding of the touring schedules of the different nations it's interesting to see that just about every state has gone for Sri Lankan players. Ajantha Mendis for South Australia, Lasith Malinga for Tasmania and there's talk of Kumar Sangakkara playing for New South Wales and most exciting is the possiblity of Muttiah Muralithuran playing for Victoria. In fact, the only other international stars announced so far appear to be West Indian, with Chris Gayle for Western Australia and Dwayne Bravo for Victoria. Chances are they are the only nations who don't have conflicting tours during the time of the competition mind you there's also word that former Queenslander Brendon Nash is on a bit of recruiting drive for his former state in attempts to lure some of his West Indian tour mates to play for the Bulls, but it will be interesting to see what other players are announced in the coming weeks. A question I have, does Queensland want Brendon Nash? And if they do, does he count as an international player these days? And if they don't want him - isn't that a bit of an awkward situation?

I can just imagine the conversation between the Queensland Bulls rep and Brendon Nash:

BULLS: Hi Brendon, we're looking to recruit some players for the Big Bash tournament this summer.

NASH: Oh sure, I'd be happy to come back and play for you guys!

BULLS: Uh, yeah, um, that's great that you're keen, but, uh, we were kind of wondering if you could have a chat with some of your team mates.

NASH: Oh. Okay then.

Burn.

The [Insert Location Here] Royals

In an interesting development in the continued commercialisation of cricket, the reigning IPL Champions, the Rajasthan Royals are looking to "globalise" their franchise. They've stated their intent to sell shares in the franchise in an effort to raise some cash to take the Royals worldwide, and their focus appears to be on South Africa and Australia, presumably to get a piece of the Southern Hemisphere Twenty20 competition action.

Sounds like a reasonable idea to me, cricket is big money business these days, and as far as cricketing businesses go, the Royals have made a pretty good fist of it, they made a profit in their first year in the IPL, the only team outside of the insanely marketed Kolkata Knight Riders whose Bollywood star owner Shahruhk Khan pretty much whored himself out day and night to promote his team, and they were smart enough to get an IPL franchise at a bargain.

So, are we going to see the Royals setup shop in the Southern Hemisphere Comp? Will they setup Warnie with his own team, the Victorian Royals and just extend the contracts of his players to cover this comp - will we effectively see stars like Warne tour the world playing in all the lucrative Twenty20 comps under the Royals brand? I could see that working, and working well.

Of course, there would be all sorts of confusion when it comes time for the Champions League. What happens when the semi finals consist of the Rajasthan Royals versus Victorian Royals on one side, and the Middlesex Royals are taking on the KwaZulu-Natal Royals in the other? Could get awkward!

Finally, I wonder what other worldwide global franchise would like to diversify into cricket and cash in on this booming sporting frontier? Will we see the Sydney Galaxy or perhaps the Auckland Yankees in the near future?

Champion$ League

I guess it comes as no surprise really, but I was feeling a bit ambivalent about Michael Hussey deciding to play for Chennai rather than WA in the Champions League . To be fair I'm not sure how many games he actually played for either side on their way to qualifying for the tournament, but I feel it's a bit of a shame that he's siding with the money rather than his state. Seems a bit old fashion to think that state loyalties should supersede financial interests I suppose. It would be different matter if he ever chose IPL over playing for Australia, but I suppose when it comes to state cricket, who can blame him?

It could be an interesting situation when the Southern Hemisphere competition kicks off and a conflict like this arises? Will it turn into a bidding war at that point? How will the contracts be written up for the use of players at that point?

Want to start your own Champions League?

Have a few million dollars lying around? Love cricket? Then why not start your own Twenty20 Champions League? Or just create your own competition with big prize money for the winner. You can watch it, as the owner, whilst being fanned by topless women with palm leaves (that's what I would do anyway...)

This week we have had the revelation of 2 separate Champions Leagues cashing in on the popularity of the newest form of the game, to go with a number of new national Twenty20 competitions and the Sanford competitions.

They wont all survive.

I have said on this blog previously that I love lots of cricket being played, and compared the situation to football where there is almost a game everyday in the UK and no one tires of it. But the difference between the current Twenty20 situation and that of football is that all the cricket competitions are largely meaningless and the result of international cricket board fights. When football is on every night, the competitions are well recognised, prestigious tournaments. Tournaments created out of thin air tend to fail, or strong teams don't show up (world club championship, various intercontinental cups and friendlies, for example).

We have known about the BCCI backed Champions League for some time. This year it will involve 2 IPL teams, 2 teams from Australia, 2 from South Africa, 2 from Pakiston and originally 2 from England. There are plans to expand with teams from more countries. But because some Kent players played in the ICL, the BCCI is not allowing them to play. It's not surprising really, the BCCI are on a crusade to control the game. You can make any argument you like about how they are protecting their financial investment - well, why not just ban the players, why the whole team? Some of the blame should also lie with the ECB, who obviously haven't given the best information to their county players and clubs.

So the ECB did what they had to do and set up their own Champions League. The England and Wales Cricket Board announced this week that it has secured a £750m deal over 10 years for a rival Twenty20 Champions League, in which of course its teams will qualify along with teams from every other senior test playing country.

The ECB's event is backed by Middle Eastern investors and will take place in Dubai or Sharjah in October. The ECB has also recently been involved in setting up the Stanford Super Series series involving England, an All Star team sponsored by Texas billionaire Sir Allen Stanford, Caribbean Twenty20 champions Trinidad & Tobago and bizarrely, Middlesex.

Let's have a look at what is happening over the next year in Twenty20 - it's a packed schedule!

Champions League
29 September to 8 October
Venue: Jaipur, New Delhi, Mohali
Teams: 2 from Australia, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa
Cash: Approx £2.5m per team

ECB Champions League
Early October
Venue: Dubai or Sharjah, UAE
Teams: 2 from the IPL, South Africa, Australia and Middlesex and Kent
Cash: £750m over 10 years

India Cricket League Invitation Cup
Sep / Oct
Venue: India
Teams: Eight franchises
Cash: Unknown

Stanford Super Series
25-28 October
Venue: Antigua
Teams: England, Stanford Super Stars, Trinidad and Tobago, Middlesex
Cash: £50,000 to Trinidad and Tobago, Middlesex, plus £100,000 for winner of their match

Stanford Super Series Winner-takes-all
1 November
Venue: Antigua
Teams: Stanford Super Stars v England
Cash: £10m

ICL Twenty20 Indian Championship
Nov / Dec
Venue: India
Teams: Eight franchises
Cash: Unknown

Indian Premier League
10 April- 29 May 2009
Venue: India-wide
Teams: Eight franchises
Cash: £500m over 10 years

ICC World Twenty20 Championship
June, 2009
Venue: Various venues across England
Teams: Nine Test playing teams (Zimbabwe excluded) plus three qualifiers
Cash: £1m (£300,000 to the winners)

My prediction is that although the burgeoning middle class of India love their cricket and are largely funding these new competitions, the IPL and ICL will not both survive. The World Twenty20 Championship will survive but I can't see how two Champions Leagues can. Indeed, I can't say I care much about either. At least this year, international Australian players will miss out on the BCCI comp, and Indian players will miss the ECB one. And do I care about cheering for Victoria and WA against created franchises from India, for which one will include Shane Warne (not playing for his native Victoria)?

This will not last. Think about other sports where capitalism has gone crazy. Super League and the ARL eventually merged in Australia to form the National Rubgy League; the Grand Slam Cup was merged with the ATP World Championship to form the Tennis Masters Cup; there are countless examples. Sanford may have changed cricket in England, perhaps the world, forever but even when Kerry Packer did something similar, eventually it sorted itself out. The good thing for Australia is that because we're good, we get invited to all competitions striving for respectability!

I just hope this doesn't take away from Test cricket. I view it like this: Test cricket is like the very hard working and highly intelligent academic working away on his research. Truly the smartest and best people go down this route, changing the world with little recognition. 50 over cricket is like the fast talking business graduate - a dime a dozen, self important but with some skills and paid well. You do need them from time to time. Twenty20 is the cat walk - very high earning, good looking with a skill set but often superficial. I love Twenty20 (as I love good-looking models) but I have a deep respect for academics. Test matches are still the pinacle. I hope that the money spinning from the short game channels into Tests.

It may be some time till we all work out which Twenty20 competitions are important and which are flash-in-the-pan. All we know now is that the cricketers will get richer.

Read more about this in The Independent

Money buys stars, but Teams win championships

There's the adage that a champion team can beat a team of champions any day. This much is true for the Rajasthan Royals. They were the cheapest team in the IPL. The franchise itself was purchased for the least amount of money, ($67 million, compared to the $111.9 million payed for the Mumbai franchise), and then when it came to buying players, the Royals spent so little, they were fined for not spending enough!

No one gave them a chance, but now they find themselves at the top of the table, and worthy leaders. They have been a team that has played consistently well, sometimes with a bit of fortune, but always with a winning attitude. They have had but a few stand out performances, and mostly all round team performances. The true hallmarks of a championship team.

Before the competition started, my money was on the Knight Riders - partly because of their strong line-up, but also because of their awesomely ridiculous name. Now, I'm all for Warnie and Royals to take it home.

My cabbie tells me....

Late last night I hopped into a minicab and started having a chat to the driver. He told me that 2 IPL captains and one umpire had been found guilty of match fixing over the weekend. Having been away, I hadn't heard anything about this, and this morning's frantic Internet search has not come up with any results. Does anyone know anything about this? Is Handled the Ball breaking a big story here, and does my London cabbie have some inside knowledge? I need to know more!

See Sreesanth Cry

Funny stuff. Can't wait to see footage of the actual slap.

Karmic Balance?

Don't get me wrong, I like Indians, I love their passion for cricket, but I don't care much for their players and their team. Some players I think are fantastic and I have plenty of time for them, such as Tendulkar, Dravid, Kumble and yes, even though he slaughters us more often than not Laxman, but there are others I don't care so much for.

This week, during the IPL I had the satisfaction of seeing two of my least favourite Indians combine in some kind of bizarre karmic retribution. Harbhajan Singh in a typical display of sportsmanship befitting his measure as a man slaps Sreesanth after a match. Now, I blame both of these players for exascerbating the race issues between Australia and India; Sreesanth first for his stare out of Symonds that generated the ill will towards him on the Aussie's last tour, and of course Bhaji for calling Symonds a monkey.

Now, Harbhajan is suspended, and Sreesanth apparently cried like a girl when he got hit. Sweet justice.

IPL Gets My Thumbs Up

In Australia, the time difference to India means most of the games are very late at night. It turns cricket into a fast food, vapid (but fun) spectacle, and has a very tacky Bollywood-esque feel to it all, but the IPL is bloody fantastic.

As a lover of the game of cricket, beyond country allegiances, I think the combination of the some of the best talents in the world together is everything that other franchised sports have offered, and that is a good thing.

My opinions of the game of Twenty20 aside, I think it's the best thing that's happened to cricket since World Series Cricket. I have no idea if in the long run it will work, I have no idea if the franchises that have spent ridiculous millions on the teams are going to make their money back, but I absolutely love the concept, and think it's about time!

I just hope the ICC reorganise the Future Tours Program so they don't clash with the event.

The Kolkata Knight Riders?

One of the more humorous things I have heard recently is the name of the Kolkata team in the Indian Premier League.

Clearly taking from one of the best TV shows of all time, the team will be known as the Knight Riders!

We have exclusive pics of the team's captain (right).

I expect the following pre-game entertainment at each game. Hopefully KITT will show too....