Samit Patel and the IPL

I’m very glad that Samit Patel declined to play in the IPL this year. He says that he needs to focus on Championship cricket to improve his chances of selection to the Test side. It would be easy for him to try to get some of the money on offer in the IPL with the knowledge that he is very unlikely to get a Test place anyway, but I am glad that he has chosen to fight for that slim chance all the same.

Right now his best chance of getting into the Test squad is probably as a second spinner for subcontinental tours. He’s probably still behind Monty Panesar for that spot and may soon be behind Simon Kerrigan, but he can bat better than either of them. It’s probably too late for him to get into this winter’s tours, but a full season next summer could boost his chances for selection against India, where he performed well in the recent ODIs. I’m not sure how much going to the IPL may have jeapordised those chances (it didn’t really hurt Eoin Morgan), but it would have caused him to miss almost half of the Championship. It probably can’t hurt for him to make his priorities clear to the England management though and a good season will ensure that his name is at least mentioned.

Club v Country

It has been confirmed that Australia’s tour of the West Indies next year will clash with the IPL. Having seen the full schedule, I don’t really mind this. The tour starts before the IPL does, so we won’t have the ridiculous scenario where players fly in two days before a Test match. And it should come as no suprise to anyone that I do not care one jot about the success of the IPL. It will probably raise the question again of whether there ought to be a window for the IPL, though. I don’t think there ought to be, of course. We don’t have a window for County Championship matches, which still form the premier domestic league. We don’t have windows for any other T20 competition either and if we did there would not be any time for international cricket. So there shouldn’t be a window for the IPL.

It would, however, still be best for both Test cricket and the IPL if they didn’t clash. The last thing the Windies need is for their crowds to be watching IPL matches on TV instead of watching the Tests at the ground. And the IPL is more of a draw when there are international stars around. The IPL fancies itself a football league, however, and that provides a possible solution. European football leagues have a hiatus when there are international matches to ensure that the players are available. I don’t see why the IPL could not do the same. There aren’t any six week holes in the calendar, but there are gaps throughout the summer especially if the number of useless ODIs are decreased. (And actually I don’t think anyone would care too much if the IPL clashed with an ODI.) The IPL would probably benefit from spreading out it’s matches anyway; crowds were down last year and this would make it more of an event. Next to abolishing the IPL completely, I think this is the best solution.

Another bloody IPL

I almost get tired of ranting about the BCCI. Really, I don’t ask for them to be saints. They’re a cricket board; basic competence and a lack of cartoonish villainy is all I really want. They consistently fail to do either. No boards are free of bureaucratic cock-ups but theirs have been worse than most. In the last year they have failed to get their prime stadium ready for the World Cup and have had a long and seemingly farcical attempt to police the finances of the IPL.

Of course, it’s the IPL where they dismally fail my second request. Whilst dithering about in their investigations and occasionally throwing out a franchise they have still seen fit to make sure that the IPL does not co-operate with the rest of the cricket calendar. This year they have announced their longest ever schedule, almost two full months, and as usual it conflicts with multiple international series. Also as usual it’s the West Indies who look to be suffering the most. This year the IPL will conflict with their hosting of Australia and their tour of England. It’s another blow for a board deep in financial troubles as they will have to convince their players not to follow Chris Gayle in turning their back on the national side. If they fail, as they have done recently, they will then have to convince the public to pay to watch a 2nd XI. Both are uphill battles, but ones the WICB must win to keep their finances from slipping farther into disarray.

To be fair to the BCCI there aren’t any holes in the international calendar so they have to conflict with somebody. The problems with their current approach are two-fold: Firstly, tacking on another two weeks to a tournament for which there already isn’t enough time is either spectacularly stupid or spectacularly arrogant. Either is possible with the BCCI but given their history I’m leaning toward the latter. Secondly, the BCCI consistently chose to conflict with the West Indies home schedule. The WICB are up against it as is, they don’t need to conflict with the IPL every year. And yet they do. If the BCCI were to wait a few weeks and conflict with England’s home series (more than they already do, I mean) there would be fewer problems. English players don’t play in the IPL very much anyway, if they missed the whole tournament it would not be a significant change and certainly a difficult one. (This would still pose a problem for the West Indies next year, as they tour England, but this way the conflict would be shared around more.)

Instead the BCCI don’t seem to care. They know when there are international matches being played, the schedules are not a secret. But they plough ahead anyway, not even oblivious to the damage they cause but often (especially in the case of Lalit Modi) actually dismissive of it. They care only about themselves, their own coffers, their own tournament. Anything which conflicts with it must be moved or disrupted, lest it interfere with the holy IPL. Hopefully the other boards will manage to puncture their bubble before too long. I’m not optimistic.