ICC Avert One Crisis even as They Sink Further in Another

The ICC has managed to dodge one bullet; even if it means it leaves someone else bleeding. Even as the Champions Trophy has become a migraine for the ICC, they have managed to salvage the ICC World Twenty20 next year. It means one less Test cricket nation; but does any one really care? So much for globalization of the sport!

icc stone faced ap 5iVO1 17022

Sometimes peace is brokered in strange ways. The ICC is unable to save Pakistan or the Champions Trophy with little time that make logistics a serious matter of contention if an alternative venue is to be considered. With Sri Lanka the stand by, the ICC are facing trouble convincing teams to stay put with the ICC’s decision to stand by Pakistan. The suicide bombs have simply made the ICC officials’ life harder.

The ICC will see keeping the ICC World Twenty20 clean from trouble as some success then. The matter that was creating a situation for a blow up was the fact that Zimbabwe was to be a part of the original lists of member nations participating in the second edition of the event. However, with the event set to be hosted by England, it was unlikely given the political scenario, that the Zimbabwe players would be provided visas to enter Great Britain to enter the Twenty20 competition.

The only alternative that the ICC, a move apparently suggested by India, saw was to try and broker peace by negotiating with Zimbabwe to step down from confirming their participation in the tournament in return for staying on as a full member nation (without rights? Is not something wrong there?). It would have meant one less crisis for the ICC to handle by eliminating the presence of the contentious member nation. A harsh move, but given the matter of political fracas between the two nations, there was no way the World Twenty20 would have gone on without a hitch. Zimbabwe have already been relegated from participating in bilateral events with England and though perhaps another nation hosting the country may not have necessitated a similar move, that the event is now being hosted England really left the ICC with little choice.

Scotland will now join Ireland and the Netherlands for next year’s event.

Zimbabwe are no longer playing Tests. Their team, already a minnow in every sense of the world, has been further depleted and tormented by the politicking. The rest of the world, cricket world anyway, continues to run along without sparing a thought. And it seems with the ICC behaving more like it is at the mercy of member nations, cannot be depended upon realistically to find a decent solution to the deplorable condition that Zimbabwe cricket finds itself in. The money laundering and power battles have not helped matters at all and that Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, continues to run matters despite the bevy of allegations against him means that Zimbabwe cricket stands little chance of an overhaul any time soon.

But the ICC has eyes and ears only for the Champions Trophy at the moment as the stake holders continue to pile on the pressure. What a sordid affair it is turning into! Is anyone missing the cricket action on the field?