...are light years away from what's currently happening at the top of world cricket.
Sometimes we have to bring realism back to the table but that's not going to be easy given the way big money is engulfing the sport.
Ireland's performances at the 2007 Cricket World Cup and to a lesser extent the trials of our Under 19 team in Malaysia have given us an international profile but they have raised the expectations of our supporters to such an extent that we are getting everything out of proportion. We are still minnows in world cricket at both levels and our aspirations have to be judged on those terms. The recent criticism of the hard-working Brian O'Rourke and his Under 19 squad is badly misplaced because we don't have the resources to compete on a level playing field with the big guns and the way things are moving the gap is widening at a rapid rate.
Even the avid cricket patron Antiguan-based Texas billionaire Sir Allen Stanford has been surpassed by what's happening in India right now, a situation that will surely change the face of cricket for ever. Stanford's highly successful second Twenty20 tournament finished last weekend with Darren Ganga leading Trinidad and Tobago to emphatic success over the highly-fancied hot favourites Jamaica amidst tremendous excitement and frenzy. Most of the leading West Indies players finally got into the act albeit the test players had to hurry back from South Africa in time to try and cash in on the big money on offer. Smart guys like the 'injured' Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle got there earlier as nobody wanted to miss out on this financial windfall with US$1 million going to the winners and huge sums on offer for Man-of-the-Match and ancillary awards.
Commentators, former players, umpires, showbiz personalities, spectators, and cricket unions all benefited from this extravaganza, and hopefully somewhere down the line Caribbean cricket will bounce back from the impetus it has generated. Gayle was the losing Jamaican captain in Antigua and his cut out of the US$500,000 runners-up prize won't go amiss to a controversial cricketer who will receive a staggering US$800,000 for playing seven weeks in the Indian Premier League starting in April!
With Indian ODI captain Dhoni receiving US$1.5million and a host of top international players getting mega pay packets, it is easy to see why there are so many early 'retirements' from the organized official world stage. Eight franchises paid US$42 million for players at the auction to promote their participation and the organizers, the Board of Control for cricket in India, are reputed to have already negotiated a staggering US$150 million from TV and franchise sales. At the same time the rebel Indian Cricket League has been recruiting feverishly high-profile players like Shane Bond and for its rival Twenty20 tournament having already enticed players like Brian Lara, Chris Read, Paul Nixon and Ireland's Niall O'Brien to an earlier tournament.
These astronomical figures put into perspective what Ireland and the Associate nations are up against when it comes to competing with the best players and the rich cricket nations of the world. The financial power base in world cricket sits in India and Pakistan these days and therein lies a serious threat to the fabric of the game. Top players in county cricket are already looking at the Indian leagues as a more lucrative alternative form of employment and international test players that have signed county contracts are now looking to arrive later to join the county season or in the case of the rebel league, they may be banned altogether.
The top England players are contracted not to play elsewhere but going forward what player is going to sign an England contract when the sums on offer in India are ten fold for two months work? Even Lords is going in for a US$400 million facelift so obviously Irish cricket has a long way to go to get into this league!
Right now perhaps the best strategy for our new board within the Irish Cricket Union is to source out an Irish Sir Allen Stanford or alternatively send a business delegation to India with the remit to secure a rich sponsor for Irish Cricket. This may sound pie-in-the-sky to some people but aren't the figures on offer already up there?
Clarence Hiles
Editor
