There is an interesting trend that seems to be creeping in around the cricketing world. Private investors are getting interested in pouring their money into the game, convinced that there will be more to take out, and the ruling authorities don't seem too happy to see someone looking in to grab a bite out of their plate. Here's an update on what seems to be developing into a fairly significant tussle, along with some other interesting developments in the cricketing world.

 West Indies suddenly becomes the Million Dollar Baby

Allan Stanford, Texan Billionaire and amongst the most valuable of cricket lovers, announced that he is investing 100 million dollars in West Indian cricket. The announcements from Stanford following this have said the sort of things that cricket lovers around the world will like to hear – the money will be spent in developing cricket in the West Indies right from the grassroots, the money will be spent in developing infrastructure for the game and the most narcotic, nitrous-oxide-dreams-inducing statement of them all – that in four to five years, West Indies will be a force no less potent than Lloyd’s invincible from the 70’s and the 80’s.

Alan Stanford’s plan offers the West Indies Cricket Board a fairly hefty share of the moolah. In the billionaire’s own words, “What we have offered to them (WICB) is a financial windfall - basically the opportunity to earn - with no risk, no investment — US$59 million over five years.”

   Now every such dream is bound to face obstacles, and predictably, the first of them has come from the ‘guardians of the game’ themselves – the ICC. The ruling body has been, news reports say, ‘cautious’ about Stanford’s new venture with a statement that clarifies that the benefits of the investments should come to the 'other stakeholders of the game'. It doesn’t take too much reading between the lines to understand that the ICC is clearly looking to ‘wet its beak’, to borrow a mafia lingo. At any rate, this is not a very reassuring statement because these ‘stakeholders’, we suspect, are exactly the same entities who eventually turned the 2007 World Cup into practically a suit-and-tie boardroom event and drove the fun right out of it.

  If the ICC does not throw a spanner in the works, and if the programme goes on as planned, it will involve a grand 21 nation 20-20 tournament involving even the likes of Cuba. This will be the second Stanford 20-20 tournament after the first met with resounding success last year, and will run from the 25^th of January to the 24^th of February next year. Stanford’s plans also involve roping in the likes of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. And with Stanford and the big bucks involved, you can be assured that these will be competitive, fighting and financially well-supported teams and not just a bunch of expats pursuing a hobby.

A great shot in the arm for the game just about sums it up.

BCCI vs. Kapil: Round # 1

The second major episode over the past couple of days seems to confirm the pattern going around the world here between private investors and the game’s ruling bodies. While the ICC has been ‘cautious’ in its reactions to the Stanford 20/20, the BCCI has been quite clear that they do not like other parties looking to grab a share of the big cash cake that is Indian Cricket.

 It started with the BCCI sending out circulars to everyone concerned ‘blacklisting’ the ICL (Indian Cricket League), and sounded a clear warning that no one involved in any capacity with the BCCI should associate themselves with the independent cricket series.

This brought under the scanner Kapil Dev, who is both; the Chairman of the BCCI controlled National Cricket Academy, and the Chairman of the ICL’s Executive Board. The former Indian all rounder – the ‘former’ is perhaps misplaced, given the wide spectrum of activities he is still involved in – was quick to chose his side. "I have already sent my reply to them. They can remove me from the NCA if they want to”, he said, arguing that the ICL is contributing to the game of cricket and giving youngsters an opportunity to play the game.

Another aspect to this is a threat by the BCCI to cut off the pensions they pay to former cricketers who associate with the ICL. This seems to be rather foolish, considering the money the ICL will offer them is bound to exceed the BCCI’s pension by more than just a couple of digits.

Twenty20 World Cup: Early entries and exits

 In some other interesting but not-so-pleasing developments, the Indian batting line up’s holy trinity Dravid, Ganguly and Sachin have opted out of the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

 While that does take out some star value out of the tournament, the bigger worry is how seriously other big name players will take the contest. The good news on that front is that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been included in Pakistan’s list of 30 probables for the tournament, and at the time of writing, seem interested in turning up for the games.

 The scorecard

The much discussed, the much criticized and the much doubted move of making team bad boy Chris Gayle the ODI captain has paid off in style as the West Indies defeated England 2-1 in the 3 match ODI series in England.

Having lost the first match by 79 runs being all out for 146 chasing 225, it looked like things for the Windies would slip by the same route as the dismal Test series and a zillion other series’ in recent history. But the best part about having the more lively, the more enthusiastic Gayle as captain was the spirit and passion that sparked in the squad, and they came back to win the next two games comfortably by 61 and 93 runs respectively, leaving Botham musing on the fact that the current English ODI team would even “lose to Eskimos.” If Alan Stanford keeps going, it probably won’t be too long before we see Eskimos play Cricket.

 Sussex, in the meantime, hung on by one solitary wicket to deny the Indians a good opening start to their tour. Chasing 265 to win in the fourth innings, Sussex were down to 172 for 9 when the Indians showed their age old skill in failing to get the tail enders out.  Earlier in the game, the Indians followed up a solid 388 for 7 (declared) with a habitual collapse for 184. Sussex scored 300 in the first innings, and finished the game at 190 for 9.