Tony Greig wants an end to India 'domination' of ICC

[Gunner_Mania]

Not sure about that, IPL in England is broadcast on free channels, whilst all other cricket (incl the Ashes and World Cup) they have to pay subscription through satellite, not sure about Australia, IPL is also free in South Africa. I was in UK last year where Mandira Bedi was presenting IPL on a local channel. but there was no tv coverage of Eng v Bangla game, and no one was aware of it who was showing it.

There was TV covergae of Eng v Bangla, its just you probably didnt notice it. It was on sky. Anyways even with IPL on ITV4, the discussion always comes back to English players or something to do with county or around how x player would fare this year in the upcoming India - Eng or SL-Eng series.

[saket123]

The white man has never been comfortable with non-whites dominating ANY field.. so it's no surprise. I am sure Tony Greg also thinks slavery was justified.

[jairamesh]

Can the topic be changed to "Tony Greig needs his head examined."

Tony Greig and entire English Establishment needs a reality check along with their pet boy Michael Holding. They just can not come to fathom that India is better than England in cricket, at running the game, shift of ICC HQ from London to Dubai (tbh it should be in Mumbai or Delhi), has unprecedented financial clout, India calls all the shots, all other boards bend over back to BCCI for favors (incl ECB ex lover Cricket Australia)....and it's been a humiliating 15 years! since England beat India in a test series. On a separate not for all my resentment of the english cricket's dinosaur "figureheads", I have great affinity for the recent (ex and current) generation of players (ala...Alec Stewart, Vaughn, Trescothick, Cork, Pietersen, Flintoff, Nasser, Strauss, Swann etc.)

[King Tendulkar]

I tell you right now IPL is very popular in England amongs cricket fans, especially young. They really like it and watch it. They know all the team names etc etc. Even the tamils at my club love it, the ****ing traitors hate SL and think they are indian and all support chennai. And i mean really support chennai:hysterical: I keep telling them they are traitors to their country and should support lanka and that they have nothing to do with chennai team and stop pretending to be indian we dont want you:hysterical: Seriously SL tamils in uk are bonkers over Chennai. Even the dopey pakis all watch it and go on about it. Clearly pak webistes dont reflect all as so many paksi go on about it and like it. I am shcoked at level of interest at my club over IPL. So much for english only loving tests. All the gora kids are going on about IPL and watch it. Its actually sadly quite popular, which seems to be reflected in viewing figures. Yes non cricket fans aint watching it at all but cricket fans are watching it, seems to be good time pass for many when nothing else on box!

[phaedrus]

Greig, a rebel without a cause

The former England captain Tony Greig’s biting barbs at the BCCI are not to be ignored simply because he was a pivotal Kerry Packer figure who went wherever the lure and smell of money carried him. Chastised as the ‘organ grinder’s monkey’ during the infamous Packer Circus experiment, Greig built up a curious history as a rebel without a cause, including in the commentary boxes of the short lived Indian Cricket League. For a man with such a history he seems to have forgotten the more pertinent lessons from the history of the game, especially when it was controlled and run by what was known as the Imperial Cricket Conference even in the incipient modern age. The man from South Africa who adapted Sussex seems to have forgotten that England and Australia had veto power in the ICC, much as the USA and the UK had at the United Nations. Anyone with a smidgen of liking for democracy, as espoused early in the US after the War of Independence some 235 years ago, would feel appalled at such insouciance as to wish to preside over the destiny of others. Members of the Indian cricket board (always known as BCCI) were mere hangers on at these imperial meetings at which the welfare and the future of the game was discussed at what used to be termed garden tea parties at Lord’s. The wheel of fortune has come half a circle now just a decade and a half after the ICC became democratic enough to elect an Indian (Jagmohan Dalmiya) as its chief. Now, the cricket economy is so dependent on the Indian middle class making the ideal target audience for television that they wake up early in paradise these days to play cricket at the uncivilized hour of 9.00 a.m. in the Caribbean. How much that wheel has turned! Time was when the BCCI used to fork out guarantee money to the West Indies that was twice as much as it would receive for touring the Caribbean. Indian officials said such sacrifices had to be made to keep West Indies cricket alive because the welfare of cricket in the Caribbean was vital for world cricket. Such was the burden of history on the then far from prosperous Indian cricket board. The Greig argument that the Indian Premier League will kill all cricket is somewhat fallacious. While it’s true that BCCI has strung together the game’s most valuable league, it is entirely up to international cricketers to take it or leave it. No one in India grieves if a Michael Clarke or a Mitchell Johnson chooses to keep off the IPL in order to serve Australian cricket full time. The IPL promises a financial security world cricket could not offer enough of for players who were uncertain of their futures despite the lucrative annual contract that all boards offer to the pick of their cricketers these days. Why then slate a system that is actually doing something for players, including about 100 non-Indians? It’s curious that when the colour of money is Indian, some like Greig must feel squeamish. What did prosperous boards do for Indian cricket when they were at their peak, except invite India occasionally, almost like an afterthought. From about 1980 to the new millennium, India toured Australia on an average of once in five years. Now that most big television bucks are tied to the Indian market, everyone wants India to be generous and have everyone over to keep their treasuries filled. Maybe, Greig has forgotten all this, or he simply does not remember the history of the game. To say BCCI must act wisely with the interests of world cricket at heart is one thing. To say Indian dominance will destroy cricket is quite another. What will the game do if only the T-20 format survives – will they play more of it or simply shut it down and go into penury? Maybe, Greig might recognize the answers if only he can see beyond the personal bucks paid to the gobs on sticks in commentary boxes.

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