English County Cricket is all set to start from tomorrow. Durham looks unbeatable in all formats of the game (County cricket, 20/20, and the newfangled 40/40). But don't rule out Hampshire, they may pose a challenge for Durham!
Living in the Pacific Coast in the mainland US of A, we get to watch very little of this international cricket flavor. The IPL game timings are awkward -- one is at work, and English County Cricket -- who wants to watch it anyway when it is going to rain for the 1st 3 months anyway?
If you take the IPL and County Cricket, as just cricket and ignore the formats, there are some similarities but a lot of differences. For instance:
* The stars (and the best performers) of the IPL and County Cricket are primarily old has-been.
- Anil Kumble -- retired from International cricket
- Shane Warne -- retired from International cricket
- Adam Gilchrist -- retired from International cricket
- Ganguly -- retired from International cricket. If you had seen the match against Punjab you would have sworn that this was the Ganguly from 2000 not 2010!
- Kallis -- he was dropped from the South African World Cup 20/20 team (what were the selector's thinking?) and now he is the star in the IPL
- Steve Harmison -- an extordinary County Cricket bowler, but he loses his nerve when playing for England. Will he ever play for England again?
- Mark Ramprakash -- he will never play international cricket again, but a very successful batsman when playing for his county. In fact he would be rated among the all time best within his county!
See what I mean? The established players like Pietersen, Sreeshanth and others cannot even find a place within their IPL teams. Yet, these are the folks who we are going to see in the world cup. Will they star in the world cup? I would like to see a world team composed of the 'retired stars' participate in the world cup under the UN flag and I'll bet money on them taking the crown based on the recent performances in the IPL
Both IPL and County Cricket has international players in plenty. But I decry the absence of Indian players in County Cricket -- a recent look at the teams show only Murli Karthik and P.Chawla. What happenend to the days of F.M.Engineer (lancashire), MAK Pautaudi (Sussex), S.Venkataraghavan (Derbyshire), Tendulkar (Yorkshire), Dravid (Scotland)? Why is County Cricket avoiding Indians? Are they afraid that India would take over the cricket world? -- they need not be afraid, it has already happened!
English County Cricket has a lot to learn from the IPL. The way IPL is marketed. IPL is show biz and a huge revenue generator for the organizers. In only 3 short years, the team's valuations have sky rocketed! Can English County Cricket match this? Time would tell.
Enjoy the Cricket! It is a great game played by noble spirits.
2 comments:
20/20 cricket and the IPL rubbish should only be open to second string players and amateurs and leave the top line players to focus on real cricket; test matches. 20/20 may be ok for a bit of a giggle but cannot be taken seriously. I for one will never watch it.
I do not think it is because Counties do not want Indian Cricketers, it is more because Indian stars are not able to commit for an extended period of time every season. And ofcourse, many of the names you mentioned have not exactly set the Thames on fire, inspite of their undoubted abilities.
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