In a blistering piece in today’s Hindu, the county cricketer turned cricket writer Peter Roebuck provides a radical solution to rescue the game of its current abyss: ban Pakistan from cricket for five if not ten years.
“Pakistan must be banned from international cricket for five years. If Bob Woolmer was murdered by corrupt players they should be ousted for a decade. What has been their contribution since Imran Khan retired? Ball tampering, match-fixing, zealotry, chucking, steroid taking, and tantrum throwing.”
Since there is no April 1 disclaimer, we can only assume that Messieur Roebuck is serious. So, should Pakistan be kicked out? Is Pakistan alone to blame for cricket’s ills? Will a ban automatically correct that? Or is Roebuck living in a fool’s paradise of “the unscrupulous and the shallow.”
Read the full story here: Drastic action need of the hour
Hmmm… enticing thought, but utterly preposterous!
Is Roebuck a RAW agent?
If the same grounds were used by Mr. Roebuck, we ought to be banning Sri Lanka because of the civil war, India for the Naxalite violence, Bangladesh for the political instability, South Africa because of high crime levels, West Indies for the disputes between players and officials, leaving only England, Australia and New Zealand to play cricket till we attend a silent burial in the quiet corner of Lord’s Cricket ground of a game we used to call cricket.
He has assumed that the murder, beyond doubt is the work of bookmakers located in no other place but Pakistan, and for that, Pakistani fans and players must suffer. Since Robert Mugabe is a terrible ruler, obviously the best way to show solidarity with the Zimbabwean people is to deprive them of cricket.
Of course, all we dirty natives need to be taught how to play such gentlemanly games by the prim and propah ways by those great White Gentleman such as Darrell Hair and Shane Warne.
heck, not just pakistan – india too. that would be great. we can follow usa’s old basketball model (until 1992, right?). continuous internal competitions will be ongoing throughout the cricket season (off during monsoons) among our money grabbers – i mean professional players – and we can set aside our amateurs (say under-19 or so) for international competition – tests, odis whatever. that way, even if we lose, it is not like losing face.
– s.b.
p.s.: maybe even usa should revert back to that model in basketball; it is irksome losing to the likes of argentina and then complaining that a) the best players are abstaining or b) the players are not jelling as a team (kind of sounds similar to what we complain about our cricketers too, doesn’t it?)
somebody: you probably said it facetiously, but that is really the need of the hour. We should develop a league similar to European leagues in soccer and most of the cricket should be between those club teams. Let players from all over the world come and take part in that league. With India accounting for more than 70% of world’s cricket market, it makes no sense to continue with this stupid nationality-based team structure. Not only is it boring (same old 5-6 teams, and in some of those places hardly anyone cares about cricket – look at the empty stands in West Indies for example), it is a huge financial drain on India too. Indian money is sustaining world cricket, which means we are unnecessarily filling the coffers of other boards and ICC with our money. ICC has sold the rights for next 2 world cup for a whopping 1.5 billion dollars and 70% of that will come from India. Similarly, we go and play a series in Pakistan and PCB makes millions of dollars by selling those matches back to our vast audience. Why should these guys make money from our market? Isn’t it much better if an Indian entity (say BCCI) owns the league and the money stays within India?
I agree with Roebuck. If it is proved that Woolmer was murdered by Pakistani players, then Pakistan should be banned for 10 years at least. We have had enough of controversies from this one FAILED state.
And sorry, Alok, I don’t feel obligated to defend our “Asian” neighbours from “Imperialistic whites”. I can honestly empathise more with a team where Ravi Bopara and Monty Panesar play than a team chockful of cheats.
To hell with Pakistan. We don’t need them. Save Cricket while you still can.
mohan:
no, i was not being facetious. ok, i concede that maybe i was a little bit, but definitely not 100%. if you have been reading pranav’s silkboard blog, we have been discussing this issue there – come to think of it, you are in those discussions too, aren’t you?
i just got done reading you vs. gb. it is weird how i agree with him on so many other issues, but this cricket thing just gets my goat. he didn’t agree with my comments on his chappell dissection either – i stand by what i wrote (of course!).
i share your anguish re: india bankrolling worldwide cricket.
btw, i was unaware that bcci was just another club, though it probably does have enough clout to ensure there are no serious contenders to upset its monopolous [if i may coin that word!] applecart. thanks for that revelation!
– s.b.
We should also bomb BCCI HQ.
sb: ok, thanks for the clarification. For the revelation, you are welcome! As for GB, I agree with you.