Sold to the Highest Bidder

[12th Man]

Sri Lanka cricket seems to be the latest casualty in the journey towards a fully fleged Banana Republic that the country is following. Cricket the only thing other than tea ( destroyed by mismanagement many decades ago) that the Island has any serious world recognition for has, seemingly, been sold to the IPL.
A ten year "total" commitment for what seems to be an astronomical sum of money in present terms has destroyed a potential test match tour of England during an Ashes season. A golden opportunity has presented itself albiet at the cost of political judgemets passed on Zimbabwe, for Sri Lanka to play two test matches as a precusor or a warm up if you like to the Ashes test series in the summer of 2009. Sure we will be playing in the spring and if british weather stays true to form it will be cold and wet and the tracks will probably be underprepared etc.
However I firmly believe that Lanka has a chance of taking on the MCC at home in conditions favouring the opposition and beating them. We can silence all critics who say that we are useless on tour and consist of "flat track bully" batsman. With Mendis and hopefully Prassana in the team backed by Murali and a fully fit Malinga he certainly will have the bowlers to get England out. The batting too if players like Paranavitharana, Waranapura and a few others from the A team get picked with backing from Sanga and Mahela will be formidable.
All this has been "flushed" away for a bundle of money. Does a Minister who has little or no understanding of the game and its history vis-a-vis our "baby steps" in test cricket and all the sacrifices made by past players and the suffering endured by the fans have a right to base his judgement simply on what he values most ? ie money ! What's more this amount of money may seem astronomical right now and a small percentage to the perpertrator (if that is the case) will prolong his political career into the next generation but look at the commitment. To commit our cricket schedules for TEN YEARS to give priority to IPL fixtures over others is foolish to say the least and unlikely to be acceptable to the ICC to boot.
This is nothing but politics being played by uneducated high school children whose modus operandi is thuggery and one-upman-ship at the most childish level. A precendent is being created that will make Sri Lanka Cricket the laughing stock of the world and expose the perpetrators as fit only to deal in Bananas in a country that has gone to the dogs.

[Andy Mellon]

Its certainly an interesting move from the Sri Lankans. It seems to me that they change their positioning with respect to the BCCI and more conventional (for want of a better word) views as often as the winds change.

I am also always wary about such vast sums of money being passed onto such a business as Sri Lankan Cricket and it being utilised for the benefit of the cricketers and cricket itself in Sri Lanka.

It does seem that cricket is up for sale at the moment.

[darksideofthemoon]

It's not going to stop at Sri Lanka. Pakistan and Bangladesh could be next?