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[teamindia]

Roy's pockets so full he cannot leap


http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23255555-23212,00.html?from=public_rss

    By Ricky Ponting
    Australia captain
    February 22, 2008

IT has been an amazing couple of days with the amounts of money that have been paid for players to compete in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.

And in our dressing room, this has given us another subject to wind each other up about. There's always chiacking going on among the players so with something like this it's too good an opportunity not to have a dig.

Of course Andrew Symonds, as the highest-paid among us in the IPL, has copped the brunt of it. He's our new million-dollar man. We were asking him about bodyguards and that sort of stuff. We were playing a game of touch footy out on the MCG to warm-up before training in preparation for the game against Sri Lanka and there were a few high balls Symo missed. He jumped up but couldn't reach them so we reckon his pockets were too full and he couldn't leap high enough.

There will be plenty of banter about it, which I think is good. It creates a bit of life and a bit of energy, and it generally freshens us up to help us play good cricket.

While we have been having plenty of fun about the many millions the eight IPL franchises have paid out, there is a very serious side to this. With the amount of money being freely paid for cricketers around the world, there is a real danger that some guys will find the IPL more attractive than playing for their country.

Even with Australian players, who are among the best paid in the world, there could come a point where they look at someone such as Adam Gilchrist, who has retired and just signed a big contract with the IPL, and see him earn all that for a couple of months' cricket.

Making more money and spending most of the year with your family by playing in the IPL instead of for your country could start to look pretty attractive to some blokes. I'm sure a lot of cricketers around the world will look at it that way. And if there are potential stars of Test or one-day cricket who might have any sort of thoughts like that, I think it is really dangerous for the game.

I think it's really important that the International Cricket Council and the various cricket boards around the world have a look at the long-term impact this competition will have. If the ICC is saying it can't find a window for the IPL, those running the game will have to be careful how they handle this Twenty20 phenomenon.

The amount of money being bandied around, and the amount of money and power the Indian board, the BCCI, has, who knows how cricket administration worldwide is going to pan out.

Twenty20 cricket has been big at domestic level for most of this decade in England, then South Africa and now Australia. It was obvious by the crowds at that level that it was going to be big. If the ICC had jumped on it then and developed Twenty20 cricket to its potential instead of trying to keep a lid on it then there might not have been any need for an IPL to counter the rebel Indian Cricket League.

If you look at Symo's situation at the moment, where he is obviously concerned about touring Pakistan and has a $1.5 million deal with the IPL, which is played at the same time as the tour he's concerned about, then there could be some serious implications.

If he doesn't want to go to Pakistan and the tour's on and Cricket Australia says you can't play in the IPL, there will be some serious decisions that will have to be made - and there will have to be some serious thinking that will have to go into those decisions.

That's where I think it could get dangerous, especially for countries such as New Zealand. We've already seem how many Kiwis have signed with the IPL and ICL, which includes their premier fast bowler Shane Bond.

I'll be playing with New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum at the Kolkata franchise of the IPL, and no doubt we'll have a good talk about it.

And I'm not just concerned about New Zealand. More than 20 Pakistan players have signed with the ICL and IPL. All those guys who signed with the ICL, which make up a big chunk, can no longer represent their country so it's getting to a dangerous point already.

[Cover Point]

I think Sharad Pawar and every member of the BCCI should personally go and thank Subhash Chandra for starting the ICL and kicking them into action.

This is the best move BCCI could have made and has literally overnight made the ICC obsolete.

I can actually see in a couple of years there will be an expansion of IPL ... and this may eventually become like baseball a 7-8 month league.

It is going to be great for cricket.

For one we will have teams that are professionally managed (rather than managed by BCCI jokers). We have been asking for professional management of BCCI for years and this will give it to them

[inoc]

I think Sharad Pawar and every member of the BCCI should personally go and thank Subhash Chandra for starting the ICL and kicking them into action.

This is the best move BCCI could have made and has literally overnight made the ICC obsolete.

I can actually see in a couple of years there will be an expansion of IPL ... and this may eventually become like baseball a 7-8 month league.

It is going to be great for cricket.

For one we will have teams that are professionally managed (rather than managed by BCCI jokers). We have been asking for professional management of BCCI for years and this will give it to them

as much as i like T20 I hope what you suggested (in bold above) never happens.

[dhruvdeepak]

I think Sharad Pawar and every member of the BCCI should personally go and thank Subhash Chandra for starting the ICL and kicking them into action.

This is the best move BCCI could have made and has literally overnight made the ICC obsolete.

I can actually see in a couple of years there will be an expansion of IPL ... and this may eventually become like baseball a 7-8 month league.

It is going to be great for cricket.

For one we will have teams that are professionally managed (rather than managed by BCCI jokers). We have been asking for professional management of BCCI for years and this will give it to them

as much as i like T20 I hope what you suggested (in bold above) never happens.

if it is 7-8 months it better have FC and 50 over games.

[Cover Point]

I think Sharad Pawar and every member of the BCCI should personally go and thank Subhash Chandra for starting the ICL and kicking them into action.

This is the best move BCCI could have made and has literally overnight made the ICC obsolete.

I can actually see in a couple of years there will be an expansion of IPL ... and this may eventually become like baseball a 7-8 month league.

It is going to be great for cricket.

For one we will have teams that are professionally managed (rather than managed by BCCI jokers). We have been asking for professional management of BCCI for years and this will give it to them

as much as i like T20 I hope what you suggested (in bold above) never happens.

if it is 7-8 months it better have FC and 50 over games.

that was my point. I am not looking for 7-8 months of ODI cricket but for IPL to replace International cricket in terms as the feature cricket circuit. International cricket then can be novelty that can be played for Asia cup and ICC world cup etc ... ala footy

[dhruvdeepak]

I think Sharad Pawar and every member of the BCCI should personally go and thank Subhash Chandra for starting the ICL and kicking them into action.

This is the best move BCCI could have made and has literally overnight made the ICC obsolete.

I can actually see in a couple of years there will be an expansion of IPL ... and this may eventually become like baseball a 7-8 month league.

It is going to be great for cricket.

For one we will have teams that are professionally managed (rather than managed by BCCI jokers). We have been asking for professional management of BCCI for years and this will give it to them

as much as i like T20 I hope what you suggested (in bold above) never happens.

if it is 7-8 months it better have FC and 50 over games.

that was my point. I am not looking for 7-8 months of ODI cricket but for IPL to replace International cricket in terms as the feature cricket circuit. International cricket then can be novelty that can be played for Asia cup and ICC world cup etc ... ala footy

yeah that is what kic and i agreed on in the other threads. but there is a long way to go to get there, and a lot of convincing, and a lot of quality to be attained.
for now it is a 6 week t20 love fest - and it has a lot to live up to which i feel it will

[gouravk]

what about TEST cricket ?