Money for nothing...

So what do Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Muthiah Muralitharan and Inzamam Ul-Haq derive from a dubiously set, unwanted, farcical tournament held under the banner of developing cricket in Africa and Asia? (Short answer: Nothing. For the long answer, read on…). “Cricket for Unity” is the slogan of the Afro-Asian cup and the irrepressible Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Afro-Asian Cricket Co-operation (!) proudly proclaimed “Singly we are strong, together we are even stronger”. Hmmm…that strength doesn’t seem to convince either the players on the field or the absentee spectators. Nor did it convince broadcasters, who usually tear each other apart for rights to a cricket series. And the much maligned Zee TV, which was on the wrong-end of a court decision, finally got the cricket telecast experience it needed…even though nobody probably bothered to watch the game. Dalmiya’s pet projects in recent years have usually been short-sighted money-making, vote-seeking exercises in disaster. His Asian Test Championship, the Toronto Ind-Pak series and the inclusion of Bangladesh in the test arena are three prime examples. The first and second ones, thankfully, died a quick death. The third one, unfortunately, just holds its nose above water from flash-in-the-pan performances in the one-day game. But give the man credit; if there is a buck to be made from cricket, he knows all the ways.

Normally, a cricket match in which one team wins by a 2-run margin is classified a thriller. In some rare cases, like in Edgbaston, it becomes an epic. But never is it a dry boring spectacle as it was in Centurion Park today. And the manner in which the match was played, official status notwithstanding, was more a leisurely hit-about on a Sunday afternoon. The African XI had one Kenyan player and the Asian XI had one Bangladeshi player. This match would have made a world of difference for players from these two teams, as rarely do they get to perform on a big stage along side some of the best talent. And they would have brought some more heart and soul into this match. But when has it ever been about the players? And it’s unsettling to think that this tournament has the ICC’s blessings, which not long ago sought to cleanup all meaningless tournaments to prevent match-fixing. Heck! Even match-fixing needs people to watch a cricket match first to earn its dirty money. And it is laughable to think that Uganda or Namibia gain anything out of this, apart from some of the promised proceeds of this series. If the opening match is anything to go by, they would be all the more disillusioned by the quality of cricket and permission to the players given by participating boards to skip the series.

Neil Manthrop aptly sums up the mood of the match in one paragraph

“Players came together to celebrate wickets in the same manner that accountants gather to discuss a book-keeping oddity and the tiny band of Indian supporters waving their national flag allowed it to droop in confusion when Shahid Afridi and Kumar Sangakkara teamed up to dismiss Nicky Boje.”

Cricket probably gained millions of new fans in the space of two pulsating Ashes test matches. But what does holding this series for three years propose to achieve for the game, the players and the spectators? Long story short: Nothing.