Good Week, Bad Week
Good week for...
None-cap Wonders
What do these people have in common:
You, me, Dinesh Chandimal, Craig Ervine, Vinay Kumar, Michael Lumb, Rob Nicol and Juan Theron?
Correct answer: Not an international cap between us.
Take those first two names out of the equation and there's a second connection. All six are going to the World Twenty20 in the West Indies later in the month.
Almost all squads announced so far have at least one newcomer. Since such last-minute calls are generally considered a mark of desperation, it doesn't bode well.
MS Gill
A selection of quotes from a TV interview with the Indian sports minister this week:
"The BCCI, they have a direct interest as owners of teams, as people who have a direct benefit from the IPL and this is very dangerous.....
""They have abused the rules against another rival league. But the controlling body has to be for India, for cricket for the long term. It has to be totally uninvolved.....
"Those who are to make rules for everyone, for all aspects of the game and keeping in view the interest of the game and the country and the long term, have to be totally apart from being involved in IPL in any way."
Good luck with that.
Michael Lumb
As predicted here two months ago, the Hampshire batsman is going to the World Twenty20, included once the English public had gotten used to the idea of Craig Kieswetter.
The exclusion of Matt Prior robs us cruelly of the statistic that England are taking as many Johannesburgers to the Caribbean as South Africa (the Proteas win 3-2).
But the question of how to stop the England side being overrun by these South African interlopers remains an open one. Some sort of quota system, perhaps?
Bad week for...
Daniel Vettori
Another heavy defeat to Australia is not the way to mark your hundredth Test.
It was Vettori's 18th cap against Australia without a victory. An even more worrying stat as he and Mark Greatbatch seek a miracle cure:
Of the current squad only Ross Taylor has a better batting average than the captain (42.80) since he took charge in 2007.
Without boring you on the mathematical detail, a number eight should not be the second best batsman in the side.
Mohammad Yousuf
The scorer of most calendar runs in a year has retired again - and with more dignity than usual. Great players get better with each retirement of course.
Still he does not compare well to Sachin Tendulkar, who has recently turned down the chance to play for India at the T20. Turning down a penultimate shot at a major trophy for his own fitness and the team's long-term development is rare indeed among leading players.
One explanation for Yousuf's lack of conviction is the widespread expectation he will be back soon. But surely what Pakistan now need is a period of stability under their new captain: the ball-biting, fan-baiting, pitch-booting Test part-timer and full-time mutineer Shahid Afridi.
County Power
The BCCI have flexed their muscles and withdrawn Virender Sehwag from Northants and Yusuf Pathan from Essex for the Twenty20 Cup.
On both occasions the timing has been bizarre. The Indian bodies are either having some horrible internal disagreements or sending the following message to England for no apparent reason: '&$£% you, mother&$£%ers!'
Perhaps to ensure good Indian relations all counties have to enter into one of those global franchises that we are assured will soon rule the world.
So far only Hampshire have signed up. And how is it benefiting the south coast Royals' T20 Cup preparations? They've signed Afridi and Abdul Razzaq, neither of whom are even allowed in the current IPL
