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Yes. Also meant Malcolm Nash went down in history too

Alice In Blunderland wrote:

> The man was pure class.

What would happen if the Windies were to uncover a player of his quality today? Would he forge a career playing test matches, or would he be lured away by tonnes of cash to play in the IPL or ICL?

The money being offered to these retired or semi-retired players by the ICL is huge. These amounts are being superseded by the money offered by the ICC officially sanctioned IPL.

With all this money being generated from Indian television companies and more money available next year, how will this effect not only the county game but more importantly test cricket in general?

Alice In Blunderland wrote:

> I do not see it having that much of an impact- the powers that
> be have been smart enough to support IPL which means there will
> be good relations between them, the IPL only runs for seven
> weeks a year between May and June leaving a huge chunk of the
> season available between then and September.

Although there has been no formal agreement between the ICC and the IPL. The IPL are planning a Champoins League competition in September. This will be an annual event involving the winners of the 20/20 competitions from the various countries.

At present the IPL have placed a maximum cap on the money offered to players, but next year this cap will be removed and their teams can offer what ever amount they can afford to entice the top players.

> The thing that has pissed me off about this the most is that
> for years players from all round the world have been moaning
> about the amount of meaningless one day cricket being played
> which most including myself agreed with, yet they are all now
> going for 7 weeks to play meaningless cricket just so they can
> pick up insane money for doing so. In the future I hope this
> is remembered and pointed to when they start whining about the
> ICC schedule.

20/20 cricket does have it's critics. However the money men (Indian TV executives) have tapped into the huge appeal of 20/20 cricket on the sub-continent and will pump vast amounts of money into this format in order to bring it to their viewers.

20/20 cricket is just the mickey mouse format of the game. It does nothing to improve the players technique - especially the bowlers. Not conceding 12 an over is considered "good" bowling! But at the end of the day it means absolutely nothing - perhaps only in players bank accounts though.

There was a chap of the IPL on the radio yesterday and he was asked whether his organisation intended to 'kill off' test cricket and he responded by saying "well, not in the short term anyway".

Test cricket must be the premier competition. However, with dwindling audiences - especially in the sub-continent - the ICC should be wary of embracing the IPL too closely.