February 22nd, 2008

9:41am Friday 22nd February 2008

PAUL Collingwood's timing may have been magnificent in plundering the fastest half-century by an England player in a one-day international, but the timing of all the participants at Napier in producing a thrilling, highscoring tie could not have been bettered.

It came a few hours before the frenetic auction of players in Mumbai for the late-April launch of the Indian Premier League, for whom a spokesman apparently told reporters he had never seen anything so riveting as the auction, even on the field. "It was amazing drama," he added.

It's a strange world when cricketers being treated like cattle in the parade ring are considered to have inspired greater excitement than 22 players sharing 680 runs in 100 overs. But perhaps the fact that the Napier match ended in a tie might remind a few people that cricket is quite capable of producing high drama without resorting to increasingly undignified gimmickry.

As the eight franchised teams took shape for the IPL Twenty20 bash, India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni attracted the highest bid of £770,000, with Australian Andrew Symonds next on £695,000, despite the furore he created in India through his complaints about being labelled a monkey. The fact that he has said he does not intend to go to Pakistan if Australia's tour there goes ahead, preferring to be present throughout the six weeks of IPL action, confirms that the label was unkind to monkeys.

He is, in fact, a brainless baboon.

No England players are involved because after three weeks' rest they will, hopefully, be playing county cricket for the second half of April, prior to the return series against New Zealand. But a number of overseas players contracted to counties have signed up, including Albi Morkel, the South African signed by Durham for their Twenty20 campaign, which starts on June 11, a week after the IPL ends.

He attracted a bid of £345,00 and will be in a strong-looking Chennai team with Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, former Durham skipper Mike Hussey and Matthew Hayden. The two Australians went for a measly £190,000, probably because they could miss the first ten days if they go to Pakistan. I'm surprised the admirable Hussey is getting involved at all, but clearly money talks and the time cannot be far away when some England players give up their Test careers if the Twenty20 bandwagon continues to gather pace.

SOMETIMES Andy is not so handy. This could equally apply to Murray or Gomarsall, and while the former's inconsistencies can be put down to youth the latter is 33 and will do well to come back from the latest dip in his roller-coaster career.

At his peak he had the excuse of having to compete with Matt Dawson and Kyran Bracken, but even after their retirement he was well out of the running at the start of last season. Then his return to the England team during the World Cup coincided with the team's massive improvement, only for his form to desert him again this season.

I know little of his replacement against France tomorrow, Richard Wigglesworth, except that Sale can't rate him that highly as they have signed Wales scrum half Dwayne Peel for next season.

As for Andy Murray, he appears to lack the clean-cut nice guy factor which made Tim Henman so popular. But he has had to suffer far too much stick - even a barbed comment from his brother - for dropping out of the Davis Cup team for a tie they were never going to win.

Why should he be expected to carry British hopes singlehandedly with the questionable support of people like Alex Bogdanovich, who seems to have been hanging around for years without getting any better?

Murray, who flopped in Rotterdam this week after his memorable triumph in Marseille, is not alone among the world's top players in not putting the Davis Cup at the top of his priorities. After all, in terms of popularity and media attention it can't hold a candle to golf's Ryder Cup.

IT COMES as something of a surprise to learn that Bermuda can raise a women's cricket team, so it is no great shock that they were skittled for 13, of which ten were extras, by the hosts in the World Cup qualifying tournament in South Africa.

Can it really be worth the expense of sending such no-hopers halfway across the world for a tournament of such minimal interest? Ireland are also there, fortified by Middlesex batsman Ed Joyce's two sisters, one of whom made 36 out of 108 all out against Pakistan.

It doesn't say a lot for the women's game that Cricket Australia did not think England worthy of more than a one-match series. Australia hadn't lost a home series for 36 years, but they lost the match by six wickets, and with the Ashes tucked away the England players are to be rewarded with central contracts.

The ECB also plan to raise the profile of the women's game by integrating it into the World Twenty20 Championships.

Whatever next - a player auction?

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