Is it just me, or has this World Cup been a bit dull?

As an avid fan of cricket, I feel disillusioned with the quality of our sport's premier event. These have been a handful of good games, but nothing much else to speak of. The semi-finals were great cricket matches in their own right, but so much more was expected of them.

One might argue, and say that I am only irritated because Pakistan and India are not a part of the cup, but I don't believe that is the reason. I follow most cricket and watch games that don't involve either country. I think the cricketing world (the bloody ICC) really needs to think about the direction in which they are taking this sport. If people like me, who are born into a cricketing system, are feeling slightly disconnected from the premier cricketing event, then how can we expect new countries and new followers to absorb the game.

Several questions came to mind while discussing this tournament and cricket's state of affairs in lengthy conversations with my friend at Billu.net. These questions will be addressed by us, either in collaboration or individually, over the coming weeks.

1) What is the role of the minnow countries? Is throwing them into the deep end every 4 years really helping them out? Would something regular and structured be more appropriate?

2) Was the format of this World Cup flawed? Was it too middle-heavy (Too many games in a league type structure) with not a lot of room for unpredictability?

3) If the ICC is hellbent upon expanding cricket's reach outside of the traditional nations, then how can it truly attract audiences?

4) Cricket's influence in India, Pakistan, and the West Indies is receding with competition from soccer, rugby and basketball. Should attempts be made to reverse this trend? And if so, how can the ICC go about doing it?

ICC going after YouTube videos - Damn them!

Now this is fucking ridiculous. In the wake of Viacom suing YouTube, the ICC, thinking that its actually an important organization, has ordered YouTube to remove WC cricket footage. Bastards! They now join my infamous "Omar hates cricketers" list.

The ICC has ordered YouTube, the online video-sharing website, to remove World Cup clips claiming copyright infringement. The ICC and the rights holder to the event, the Global Cricket Corporation, took the action after hundreds of World Cup clips appeared on the site.

"We are here to protect the commercial broadcast rights for the ICC and GCC and there is an issue here," Christopher Stokes, the chief executive of online rights protection agency NetResult, which represents the ICC, told Media Guardian.

Go Stoke your balls, fucker! Now the ICC are starting a dangerous precedent. They're actually messing with the fans now. This cannot be good. Even though the ICC has the legal right to do all this, what exactly could they lose by having cricket videos on the Internet? It's good for the game, awesome for the community, spreads the word, and great for us bloggers.

Put blogging aside for a minute, It's great entertainment too as I'm youtubing cricket all the time watching highlights and such of past games. And its past games. I've never heard of the ICC peddling footage of old games. Are they planning on making more money from this? Fuck you if are! This obsession with money needs to be curtailed.

Cricket was the one sport that was so untarnished by commercialism and video ownership. It's rare to find baseball and basketball clips on the net because they have been completely submerged by legality and lawsuits and all the things that make sport boring. I love the fact that if I want to see Umar Gul bowl Laxman and make him look like a fool, I can do in a second. Here it is. This is the beauty of having YouTube for us cricket fans.

YouTube was reported to have agreed to the request and the clips were gradually being removed from the site. However, one of the problems faced is that as fast as the offending clips are withdrawn, more are uploaded. A search this morning showed only a handful of clips from the Bangladesh v India game, and yet a few hours later it was dozens

Naturally. You're messing with cricket fans, and they're not going to succumb so easily. I say we get back at the ICC. Lets surface some videos of Malcolm Speed and some mammals? It's perfectly okay if they we make them on Photoshop and they look really fake. Malcolm is old and old people are offended by everything.

Andrew Miller's response is worth quoting. A snippet...

Does this game know of any other ways to shoot itself in the foot? Only three days ago it was suggested on this website that the events of the past week might serve as a wake-up call for cricket's fiscally obsessed powerbrokers. Fat chance. A game run increasingly by lawyers for lawyers, has deemed it necessary to go to war on the very online enthusiasts who can spread the word of a game whose reputation has been dragged through the mincer.

Hair (white chap) is suing claiming racial discrimination

White people suing citing racial discrimination isn't unheard of, yet it's still laughable. What stands out for me is that he's actually pulled Doctrove, the other umpire (A West Indian, hence black) into this mess. His argument is really childish. He's been punished, and now his way of hitting back at the ICC and PCB is: "You punished me, but what about Doctrove? It was half his fault too! You guys are racist!"

No, you fat &^%$, it wasn't Doctrove's fault. It was completely your own doing. I don't feel like writing anymore about Hair, so I will just quote my blogging colleagues who are a lot more eloquent than me at expressing frustration...
Billu writes...

Darrell Hair is like a big, fat, ugly boomerang - no matter how far you think you've thrown him, he keeps coming back. The latest installment in this ongoing saga involves him trying to sue the PCB for racial discrimination.I can think of two possibilities:
1. Because the PCB suggested that he is a racist...
2. Because he was removed from the "elite panel" and Billy Doctrove wasn't...

King writes...

Darrell Hair was made a scapegoat because he's an abrasive buffoon, lacking in people skills and several Test nations have no confidence in him. That's enough to ensure his demotion from Tests in itself.

Teeth writes...

With Hair filing the suit it puts PCB on a defensive back foot as it now has to defend its position contrary to what could have been had if PCB filed the suit according to its own stance on the issue. To prove racial discrimination is a tough task which generally is taken if a number of witnesses testify convincingly that there was a strong discrimination. As far as Hair is concerned he started the entire mess which consequentially lead him down this path, ICC in its hearing did not find credible evidence to support his ball tampering claim so hence he was definitely wrong to even suggest a side to have cheated.

ICC charges Afridi for swinging bat at fan: Faces ban

Damn you Afridi! Here is the video which I posted just now. At first, it was thought that the ICC would not be charging Afridi, but circumstances quickly changes once Malcolm Speed saw the video footage. Here is how events unfolded. From SuperCricket...

The International Cricket Council on Tuesday angrily rejected criticism that they had failed to take any action against Shahid Afridi for trying to hit a spectator with his bat due to a fear of antagonising the Pakistanis.

Afridi was caught on television jabbing his bat at a spectator after he was dismissed for 17 in the first one-day international against South Africa at SuperSport Park, but is unlikely to face any official sanction.

"The ICC Code of Conduct says the four umpires, the team managers and the CEO of the home board can all lay a charge, but they must do so within 18 hours of the end of the match. The fact of the matter is none of these people did so," ICC media and communications manager Brian Murgatroyd said on Tuesday.

"Any decisions that are taken by ICC officials are made on the merits or otherwise of each individual situation and to suggest otherwise is misguided. I resent any implication that the ICC are biased or that we refuse to act because we want to maintain good relations with Pakistan and are afraid of antagonising them," Murgatroyd said.

Speed has five days after the match in which to react to the Afridi incident, but is currently in the Caribbean, where preparations for the World Cup have reached fever pitch.

"Malcolm Speed laid the charge against Gibbs because he felt it was appropriate to do so. If he had not done so then we were given to understand the Pakistan team manager would have acted instead," Murgatroyd explained.

"In the Afridi case, none of the other parties able to lay a charge chose to do so. Malcolm has five days to act and lay a charge if he deems it appropriate, and in all matters he reserves the right to do so."

Speed saw the video in question and promptly charged Shahid Afridi.

Afridi has been charged with a Level 3 offence under section C 2 of the Code which refers to "conduct unbecoming...which could bring (players or officials) or the game of cricket into disrepute."

If found guilty of a Level 3 offence, Afridi faces a ban of between two and four Test matches or between four and eight ODIs.

Great...If I were him, I would not appeal, but take the ban now before the World Cup begins. Afridi, you piece of.....

Video of Gibbs Cursing Pakistanis

Here is the video, where through the stump microphone, you can clearly hear Herschelle Gibbs cursing. His action resulted in a 2 test ban for Gibbs. Gibbs father is understandably ticked off, at what he feels are double standards of the ICC. He cites the abuse hurled at the South Africans during their tour to Australia.

This issue of stump microphones has even come up. The secretary of the South African Cricket Association and the Mickey Arthur, the coach, both have reservations about the microphone.

"Gibbs says he has not made any racist remarks nor has he been racist to any one and therefore he has not transgressed any rule of the ICC regarding racism," Tony Irish, secretary of the South African Cricketers Association, said. Irish added that the association was also concerned about the negative effects of stump microphones, as far as the privacy of players is concerned.

No doubt Gibbs was provoked. But he was just pissed. I don't think he was being racist. Calling someone people 'f***ing Pakistanis' is just cursing at them. They are Pakistanis after all. Nothing racist about calling them that. (Unless of course you want to get into the nitty gritty of it all, where calling someone 'Paki' is offensive, especially in the UK!)

The ICC should perhaps be a bit clear about the racism aspect of their accusations. If anything, he should be banned for aggression, and lack of spirit or self control, or cursing at people or at a country, or whatever else players usually get banend for when they go on a tirade.

That being said, I read somewhere that he thought the spectators provoking him should belong in a zoo. Is that really racist? Though we may not hear the entire story either. Perhaps the Gibbs told the ICC more that we hear in this video? Either way, he has appealed and will probably end up playing in this next game.

In this ultra sensitive era, things always seem to get blown out of proportion. People have to be clear about what they mean. One can't say this or that for the fear of being politically incorrect. Most of it is well-founded and understandable, but exceptions such as this incident arise. The people who should have been banned (and probably have been) are the rowdy people in the crowd. We have no room in our sport for hooligans. Gibbs apologized for his lack on control, and I suspect he is trying to get the ICC to recognize that though he was angry, and perhaps deserves some punishment, it shouldn't be because he said something racist. I have to agree with him. The label of 'racist' needs to be removed from the ICC's accusations.

WADA aims to challenge Shoaib, Asif doping reprieve

I doubted the ICC and WADA would let Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif off as easily. I am guessing a long and arduous legal battle will probably ensue. I don't know why the PCB are being so naive and stubborn about this. The matter is NOT closed, which is what the PCB are claiming. This whole process has made Pakistan look bad according to international eyes. Whether or not the players are innocent is not even the question anymore. The legality, transparency and appeals process that was applied is in question. The ICC and WADA are joining hands and probably have the authority to put their foot down and order re-testing, or perhaps place the ban again on the players. From the IHT...

ICC chief executive officer Malcolm Speed said his organization will offer WADA its full support.

"Our lawyers have examined the finding of the (Pakistan appeals panel) and do not believe the ICC has a right of appeal, but we will cooperate with WADA and provide it with any assistance it requires," Speed said Monday.

The World Anti-Doping Agency will argue to the Court of Arbitration of Sport that Pakistan is a full member of the ICC, which signed up to its code in July.

Seems like the PCB is preparing to defend its decision to the hilt. I just hope this happens well before the World Cup.

It's all about the Benjamins: ICC rights sold for $1.1 billion

From CricInfo...

The ICC's television rights for 2007-2015 have been sold to ESPN-Star, a joint venture between ESPN and the Rupert Murdoch-owned Star network, reportedly for a staggering "$1.1 billion", double the previous amount for the same period of time.

Included in the eight-year period under discussion are 18 ICC tournaments with two ICC Cricket World Cups, in Asia (2011) and Australasia (2015), and a minimum of three ICC Champions Trophy tournaments. Also included are the first two ICC Twenty20 World Championships, in South Africa (2007) and England (2009), the latter taking place in the ICC's centenary year.

"We are absolutely delighted that, after an open and transparent process, we have what we believe to be the best deal for cricket," Percy Sonn, the ICC president, said immediately after decision was announced.

"However, the Board was unanimous in the view that the ESPN STAR Sports bid was the best, and we believe all of our 97 Members will gain significant benefit from an agreement with ESPN STAR Sports.

No doubt about it...Commercialization of this beautiful sport is expanding in leaps and bounds. Though from the wording, it implies that there will be 3 more Champions Trophy's during that time period.

97 member nations? What the hell is he talking about?