Rain, No Play

Steve Bucknor has been removed as an umpire from a Test match because one of the teams complained about him. Bucknor made many mistakes and has been on the decline for some time, most notably with the fiasco at the World Cup final. But stop and think about it. India complains about an umpire in a Test match it is scheduled to play and the ICC bows to their request a day after saying that there would be no change in the umpires. What kind of precedent is that? So India can only have umpires that they favour in Test matches? Umpires have always made mistakes. The Windies had a tour to Australia a couple of years ago after which the ICC had to admit that the standard of umpiring slipped. The Windies didn't get a change of umpires for their matches. This is all about money and the ICC being afraid of the millions that the game would lose if India went ahead and abandoned the remainder of the tour. Utterly pathetic and not surprising given the blind greed that has characterised the ICC in recent times.  read more »

It was with total amazement, shock and horror that I read the last line of this report in the BBC about the impact of India's first round exit from the World Cup.

Sony's Kunal Dasgupta now says the format of the tournament is flawed.

"In a 48-day tournament, if teams like India and Pakistan are out for playing bad cricket in two matches, there is something really wrong. We were against this format and even told the International Cricket Council to reconsider it," he said.  read more »

© YouTube

The ICC has ordered popular video hosting site YouTube to remove clips of World Cup highlights. While citing the need to protect commercial broadcast rights, the ICC has decided to put money over the enjoyment of fans. The game of love and unity is being sacrificed on the altars of money and television broadcast rights.  read more »