Wellock's World
March 7th, 2008
AS WE await the sound
of leather on willow on
our village greens, the
discordant ringing of cash
tills in India grows ever
louder.
The rebel Indian
Cricket League, which some
said would never get off the
turf, begins its second
instalment tomorrow with
two more teams taking the
total to eight.
One of those is an all-
Pakistani team featuring
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who
seems inclined to pocket the
loot for four weeks' Twenty20
action and tear up his
Yorkshire contract. The global
powers ganging up to grind
the ICL into the dust have
insisted that he can't grace
Headingley if he has tasted
the forbidden fruit.
Durham skipper Dale
Benkenstein will again be
slogging for Delhi Giants,
alongside their new signing
Nic Pothas, the Hampshire
wicketkeeper. But as they are
not regarded as overseas
players in England they can
continue to play county
cricket, at least until the
pressure mounts for them to
make a choice.
The pressure will come
from the Indian Premier
League, the one with official
backing, which will run from
April 18-June 1. Their
chairman claims that most of
the England players have been
in touch, although he
probably means their agents,
and he has suggested that
those players can be
accommodated next year if
the English season starts
later.
If it had started any later
last year it would have missed
the only two weeks of
unblemished sunshine we saw
all summer. And as the season
is short enough anyway I trust
I am not alone in wishing Mr
Lalit Modi would shove his
IPL where the sun is
permanently eclipsed.
ALL this Twenty20 nonsense
will further destabilise
county cricket, in which the
battle to stage the increasing
volume of international
matches has seen less
wealthy counties such as
Derbyshire and
Leicestershire steadily being
cut adrift.
After winning the
championship twice in the
late 1990s, Leicestershire
opened the floodgates for
Kolpak signings by breaking
the agreement not to sign
them. As their four-day
fortunes declined they won
the inaugural Twenty20 Cup,
but last season they struggled
in all competitions and this
week they made paceman
Dillon Du Preez their fifth
current Kolpak player.
The system of payments
designed to discourage this
clearly isn't working, and
rugby will face the same
problem when the new
agreement with the
Premiership clubs brokered
by Rob Andrew comes into
force on July 1.
The England hierarchy
were probably grateful that
the Newcastle v Wasps match
was postponed in last
Friday's gale as it spared the
England squad men from the
risk of injury ahead of
tomorrow's Calcutta Cup
match.
Under the new agreement
they will not be available to
their clubs during either the
Six Nations or the autumn
internationals, or for the two
weeks beforehand. From the
England team's viewpoint
this makes perfect sense, but
for Newcastle it means their
four England backs will miss
half the Premiership
programme.
Faced with the choice of
pitching in raw academy
products or bringing in more
South Africans and Pacific
Islanders, they will have to
take the latter route. So is
there any point in having an
academy? It's a question
which will be exercising
many clubs in football, rugby
and cricket as worldwide
scouting networks make it
easier to go for the short,
sharp fix.
WHY did Brian Ashton call
James Simpson-Daniel into
his England rugby squad this
week then not even name him
on the bench? Now that he's
enjoying a prolonged injuryfree
run, the Teessider should
take his rightful place in the
team.
At a time when the RFU
hierarchy must be kicking
themselves for allowing Wales
to snaffle the coaching talents
of Shaun Edwards, serious
questions remain over
Ashton's judgement. He
finally axed Iain Balshaw, only
to reinstate him, but the
coach's refusal to recall Josh
Lewsey to the squad must be
personal.
IS DAVID Haye the new
Audley Harrison? He has
adopted a similar hairstyle,
but at 27 he at least has time
on his side in his quest to
become world heavyweight
champion, whereas the
hapless Harrison has surely
realised that he will shortly
be in decline from his lessthan-
vertiginous peak.
It says much for the state of
heavyweight boxing that
Londoner Haye, hardly a
household name, can
contemplate moving up a
division to go for the title
after observing "I was
ashamed to be a boxer" when
he watched Wladimir
Klitschko unify the WBO and
IBF belts by out-pointing
Sultan Ibragimov.
First Haye has to win his
world cruiserweight clash
with Swansea's Enzo
Maccarinello in a fight which
starts at 2am in London on
Sunday to accommodate
American television. You can
access it through Setanta if
you wish to fork out £9.99.
THE world and his dog seem
to have advice for Steve
Harmison, and so have I. The
only person he should listen
to is Ottis Gibson, who will be
telling him to clear his head
and believe in his natural
talent. If that fails, England
will have to look elsewhere.
AMID all the furore
surrounding Dwain
Chambers, don't be surprised
if he pulls a fetlock at the
World Indoor Championships
today.
9:15am Friday 7th March 2008
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