A neat con job indeed!

The afternoon was a veritable chore. Taking the tube to Lord’s was easy enough. Equally impressive was the temporary Media Centre which the organisers have put up at the even more impressive MCC Indoor School of cricket. The sprawling Media Centre has dozens of computer terminals, telephone lines, televisions and help desks, but pointedlyno E-mail facilities.

When queried, those manning the front desks immediately referred the question to one of the sponsors. The answer was very illuminative. “You can buy a phone or swipe your card and transmit data through your notebook modem or your own E-Mail connection. But we will not provide E-Mail for transmission. You are free to browse the Internet. But no transmitting!”Apparently they hope to create an atmosphere that enables their telephone company to gain some business. Talk of a neat con job!

Some of the veteran journalists quickly pointed out that England was famous for this. “On our previous tour no facility was provided in the press box for sending reports, not even fax. This time their arm has been twisted so they have put up this Media Centre. But even through this they want to extract as much business as possible.”

When asked how English journalists were managing, pat came a wag’s reply: “They all have permanent telephone lines at every centre, probably from the days of WG Grace.So they care two hoots for the foreign media."Now why on earth, do we fall all over ourselves to accommodate these hacks back home, I wonder.

Amidst all the din over poor accreditation for Indian journalists, poor communication facilities, etc, a media kit was handed out. The box looked impressive alright. But one puzzling inclusion was a pair of coolers. Now that would have been handy if the World Cup was held in India. But England? An umbrella would have been more appropriate!

Meanwhile, the youngsters manning the accreditation distribution centre have been well trained. Any uncomfortable query is deflected with the standard: “I only work here. I do not make the rules. I will refer your query to the manager.”

And the manager? Well, none of the journalists that I met today had ever seen her. The standard reply was: “She is not here. She is extremely busy. But she will try and solve whatever can be managed” or “ She is yet to return from lunch”!