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Journalism of Courage
The newly-appointed chief executive of the ICC, Haroon Lorgat, has hinted that the international calendar can be revised to adjust the Indian Premier League. But according to outgoing CEO, Malcolm Speed, there was no rush to carve a window in the Future Tours Program FTP since it is only after assessing the first season of the league that the international cricket schedule will be tampered with.
8220;Even before start of the IPL some people are going ahead and saying we need to carve up the cricket season and change things that have been sustaining the finances of all countries, including the BCCI. No other country is getting benefit out of the IPL other than India,8221; said Speed here today.
Speed drew a long list of points that the ICC will be keeping a watch on during the IPL8217;s opening season. 8220;We will be looking at various things. The quality of cricket that is being played, the quality of facilities, television coverage, the number of people watching it on TV and on the ground,8221; he said.
But it seems that the main cause of concern for the ICC seems to be the fatigue factor of the players. 8220;We will also be looking at the effect it has on the players8217; work load. We are seeing some teams go straight after the IPL to play elsewhere in the world. Teams will be involved in a long season in England and the West Indies immediately after playing the IPL. There will be an effect on their performance. We need to evaluate that,8221; he said.
Besides these things, the one other important aspect of the IPL that the top cricket officials in Dubai will be watching is the game8217;s first brush with the franchise concept. 8220;For the first time the concept of privatisation has been introduced. There are a number of positives from that but we need to be careful. We8217;ve seen the players meeting the demands put forward by their countries and now they are doing the same for the franchises. We have to see how the two are to be balanced,8221; he said.
Speed, who retires this June after more than a decade as a top cricket administrator, also gave a bit of advice to the game8217;s administrators. 8220;I said to the ICC board in the very long paper I wrote in March this year that this current generation of administrators will be judged not by how much money the game makes out of T20 cricket. It will be judged by how well we integrate T20 into other forms of the game. We regard it as a challenge, not a problem,8221; he said.
Speed also stressed that T20 cricket will help ICC develop the game in countries like China and USA 8212; the two countries that are the international body8217;s major targets. 8220;T20 is much easier to promote and understand than the longer formats of the game,8221; he said. But he added that T20 cricket wasn8217;t merely a developmental tool but a full-fledged version of the sport. 8220;T20 is claiming as much newsprint and TV time as other forms of the game,8221; he said.
