Opinion | Peter English >> Rash dash for cash Why Australia's players should rest instead of joining the IPL crush February 15, 2008 Australia's elite are so in love with Twenty20, they want to play it during their time off © Getty Images   At Australia's Boxing Day sales there are stampedes as crowds of shoppers rush for ridiculously priced items. People are crushed in the frenzy for $50 washing machines and $5 shoes and the greedy procession is filmed for television news. The few winners show off their prized purchases like World Cups, but overall the whole process is bruising and demeaning. Australia's best cricketers are always busy on Boxing Day, but their eagerness to be involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which still relies on permission from Cricket Australia, would get them a public-holiday bargain in any department store. Currently they are the shoppers and the white goods are pots of Indian gold. It is the same for the rest of the world as cricketers sprint for Twenty20 cash. For a few weeks' work they could seal a payment with more zeroes than Glenn McGrath, who is back from retirement, managed in a year. Money is undoubtedly attractive and sportspeople have earned the right to lots of it, but the back-flips for potential reward have been astounding. The March tour to Pakistan has not been called off - a neutral venue remains a possibility - but the players are already calculating with their managers, and arguing with Cricket Australia, about what they can gain if they collect some bonus time off. Ricky Ponting wants a window for the tournament so international performers don't retire prematurely, Andrew Symonds can't understand why Cricket Australia is "putting up a heap of red tape", and Brett Lee is confident of a plan that will make "everybody happy". Look out for a Champions Twenty20 league that the current players can appear in later in the year, leaving the recently retired men and those not engaged in international duties to walk out in the IPL. If the Pakistan series is cancelled, the Australia squad members must stay at home, resting and preparing for the two-month trip to the West Indies. The team is due to leave on May 10, three weeks before the IPL final, so any Indian adventure would be brief. It would also increase the likelihood of injury despite the compensation of a heaving wallet. Apart from protecting its corporate backers, Cricket Australia is also reluctant to let its contract holders go because of conflicting tour dates, training camps, Centre of Excellence appointments, and its desire to protect the Future Tours Programme. Which is why the lure of the Champions League tournament later in the year - it would run as well as the IPL - is attractive and figuring prominently in the current Australia-India board negotiations. The off-season series with Bangladesh lost its two Tests when Cricket Australia finally realised the not-for-profit contest was being staged at the same time as the Olympics. Darwin will host only three one-day internationals instead, and the stars who have complained about being jaded from too much cricket are likely to receive what they originally craved. Only now many of them don't want a lighter winter.     In 2006 Tim May, the FICA chief executive, was worried players might turn to drugs to cope with the punishing schedules, but now he and his ACA counterpart, Paul Marsh, are fighting for a quick fix   The turnaround of the players' unions has been swifter than that by the men in the middle. For years the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) and the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) have had one major platform, screaming about burnout and overload. The noise has been so loud and regular it has become as numbing as shopping-centre background music. In 2006 Tim May, the FICA chief executive, was worried players might turn to drugs to cope with the punishing schedules, but now he and his ACA counterpart, Paul Marsh, are fighting for a quick fix. They want a six-week window free of Tests and one-day internationals so their members can switch between board and IPL demands. Of course the idea wins support from the players and their managers. At least the associations' change in stance is not a surprise. They push for what their group wants. Previously it was less, now it is more. Cricket and money. Arguments about the Twenty20 being easier because of its shorter time scale have been rejected by those who know the demands. The Australians were surprised by the intensity of last year's abbreviated World Cup in South Africa and suffered a series of injuries. Earlier this month Ponting, who was recovering from a back problem, revealed he would have been more comfortable in a one-day international than the Twenty20 match he missed against India because of the format's exertions. Everybody is learning about the new game and wondering how far it can go. Channel Nine, the traditional broadcaster of summer cricket in Australia, is not convinced of the off-season worth of the concept and did not bid for the IPL rights. They were picked up by the smaller Ten Network, which has paid up to A$15m for matches that will start here around midnight. In Australia the various football codes will hold more attraction to cold sport followers from late April to the final in June, but the promise of potential riches is swaying more than players. The charge towards the IPL is as unseemly as any shopping-centre crush. Peter English is the Australasia editor of Cricinfo © Cricinfo

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Posted by lv11 on February 17 2008, 12:34 PM GMT

do you think it is sensible for players to retire from international careers for the incredible contracts as the ipl or Icl may only last for one or two years and what is more important the nations pride or these leagues money

Posted by masterblaster666 on February 16 2008, 16:56 PM GMT

@kkthedoc: The power of money is all pervasive and nothing will stop the gold rush,we are just not used to seeing our cricketers behave this way, that's all. We are at the cusp of a very important stage in the history of cricket and as cricket fans we must hope and pray that IPL somehow turns out just fine despite the fact that people like Preity Zinta and SRK are going to run a team each.:P For if it fails, there is no way to predict what impact it would have on cricket as a game with some commercial viability. I really don't blame the cricketers although the gold rush is admittedly amusing - we talk of Sachin here in India but the fact is cricket is a relatively poor sport and an opportunity like IPL is just too attractive to miss. For the ICC, it's another opportunity to showcase cricket as a business venture - for better or worse, all big sports are going to be looked at through the prism of business sense and cricket is no exception.

Posted by kkthedoc on February 16 2008, 07:27 AM GMT

The first season of IPL is probably a good exercise to weed out the wanna-get-rich-while-it-lasts young cricketers due to injury and retain those sane cricketers who want to live their cricket out and then retire to a quiet life knowing they enjoyed their profession and lived happily with what earnings they got, which is the essence of life, however old-fashioned it may sound. Watch soon how many cricketers are going to grumble about IPL once inside. The grass is always green on the septic tank. I may give room for aspersions cast on me for saying things against IPL, but let it be so. Am not for or any thing, except say one must not seek rich thinking the world's gonna crumble tomo, so make hay. Because everyone's succumbing to peer-pressure to get rich, the Aussie cricketers at least, because others don't seem to heed the truth, must use their mind over matter as they always had. Let's have some sanity around. As for retired, cut-short, burnt-outs with name, there is always ICL!

Posted by kkthedoc on February 16 2008, 07:08 AM GMT

I am an Indian. And I am not a great fan of IPL due to various reasons. I see a lot of validity in this article. I would say the same thing for other boards as well. For one thing, cricket is a profession or a career, not a business, for players. The Modi Inc of IPL and the people who have invested in cricket may look at it as their business. Accepted. While Modi Inc can be compared to the Sharjah lots who started cricket in the desert, the Bollywood actors and business barons of India who have invested in IPL teams can be compared to the Stallones of the world who are interested and hence promote the sports, but do not understand the responsibilities and repercussions of such an act of passion. IPL is wrong because it is promising trade-offs a-la European Football or NBA. As an Indian who has seen the greed of filthy lucre envelop the middle class, this is pernicious. India is going to dogs because of this. Players must resist Mammon for a trade-off with peace and rest for the body.

Posted by masterblaster666 on February 16 2008, 05:05 AM GMT

Dear 'mallen', even Ranji Trophy (India's equivalent of Pura Cup) matches are never played at Kashmir and most of the IPL fixtures are at our major cities. Sure, you can and have had bomb blasts in Mumbai and Delhi, but even London's Underground bore the brunt of terrorist attacks, so what's the big deal? It's funny though, that Brett Lee is going to be rested for the crucial India -Aus tie at Adelaide and Ponting has hurt his back badly enough to drop tough chances (??) and yet the Aussies are more than eager to cash in on IPL. Don't I remember Ponting saying he is not too enthused by the format of T20 just as the inaugural T20 World Cup got underway?? Not that we Indians mind at all, it's great to see so many international stars converging for a tournament to be played in India. :P And I agree with Kunushah, Mumbai v/s Bangalore could become MU v/s Arsenal...depending on how well BCCI manages the whole thing.

Posted by mallenfromoz on February 16 2008, 02:12 AM GMT

Reply to Cibby. I'm sorry, and your right - there are no matches in Kashmir and there is no terrorist risk. The point I was trying to make was not about the IPL (which I look forward to watching) or about India (a great nation which I mean to visit and should learn more about) but about the mercenary attitude of the Australian team. I don't mind if they want to make money but they already get paid well to play for Australia and it seems as if they are taking that honour for granted in their eagerness to play in the IPL. What offends me is the appearance that they would rather make easy bucks in India that play a crucial (and potentially enthralling) test series in Pakistan. Plus its disrespectful to Pakistan to imply that they can't determine whether it is safe for Australia to tour. If they guarantee our safety we should go.

Posted by Venkatb on February 15 2008, 20:29 PM GMT

IPL may end up being one of the most ill-fated exercises that may damage all cricket. The parallel league ICL was set up as a different operating model where Indian first-class players poorly treated and compensated by the BCCI were finally given their reward and recognition albeit with the monopolistic BCCI flexing its muscle on these players in every form possible including making them lose their corporate jobs. The IPL, on the other hand, represents blatant greed on the part of the BCCI to cash in in every conceivable way the Indian public's insatiable appetite for cricket. The $ 700 million plus raised will not go to improve the game and the infrastructure at the grassroots level but retained to boost the coffers or to prop up this evening circus. Teams and locations have been decided more by state associations that are friendly to the current regime. God save this game from the rapacious BCCI.

Posted by Nampally on February 15 2008, 19:18 PM GMT

Peter You are right. IPL is a cash cow for the retired international cricketers financed by mainly Indian spectators. Aussies such as Warne, Gilchrist, McGrath will continue to earn even after their retirement for few more years. In three months their earnings will match their best yearly earnings. So basically it is extending the earning potential for the cricketers.A 20/20 format is being played by older cricketer than traditional youthful ones. It remains to be seen whether the Indian public will be willing to pay high costs to watch the games which are bit meaningless with various cities matched against each other. I fully agree with the policy of ACA in not letting the regular player burn out. Moreover it may not interest the regular players much beyond extra cash. It remains to be seen how long this league would last.

Posted by GlobalCricketLover on February 15 2008, 18:35 PM GMT

I am not really sure if we can ever enjoy an IPL match as much as we do while watching an International match. We must not forget what happened during the Australia v/s Rest of the world matches. Though the RoW team was filled with the best of the talent they still couldn't beat australia. The reason turned out to be very simple - the emotional bonding and urge to win as a team was missing in the RoW team as they all belonged to different nations and couldn't get the sense of belonging to this particular team. This is not an outrageous assumption but an honest submission from the RoW captain, Graeme Smith. He acknowledged that he felt much better when he went back to SA cos he saw that there was a common sense of belonging among the SA team members which was lacking in the RoW team members. I guess IPL will suffer (at least a bit) bcos of a similar lack of passion.

Posted by drneilmukherjee on February 15 2008, 18:19 PM GMT

Instead of modelling themselves on the EPL, the IPL folks should look at the UEFA Champions league. Rather than a team from Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata and other exclusively Indian cities there need to be teams from Sydney, Manchester, Kingston, etc as well. And then have a fixed number of local and foreign players in each team. That will give us the 'mixup' that John Buchannan was talking about. International cricket right now is so Australia heavy that lesser teams such as WI, Bangladesh, Kenya dont stand a chance. A high level club tournament might be a solution. Would'nt it be good to see a player from Holland or Ireland play for a team from Sydney or Durban and perfrom well in IPL? That's how stars are created and this is how the sport needs to spread. This is exactly how Africa and even the Arabs got into soccer!

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