Is cricket right on the money?

If cricket needed another red light warning for the game to tread warily it came with the simple announcement of the IPLrsquos entry into the English gameIt was explained that the GMR groupmdashcoowners of the IPLrsquos Delhi Capitalsmdashwas bidding to acquire the Hampshire County Cricket Club With bidding soon to begin on the purchase of a large share of teams in The Hundred this was never going to be the last splurge from an IPL conglomerateNone of this is surprising as the County teams are desperate for money and the IPL owners are extremely rich However itrsquos worth recalling that back in the mid1990rsquos Kerry Packer the former boss of World Series Cricket uttered the immortal words ldquoDonrsquot let a media company run your sportrdquoThe trend of successful companies having a greater say in the running of the game is increasing rapidly as IPL owners already own large stakes in T20 teams playing in the UAE USA South Africa and the Caribbean The shrewd owners are also starting to sign toprated players to longer contracts and that should be a warning to cricket administrationsThe better players could become beholden to an IPL owner rather than their own cricket Board That is when conflict of interest becomes a divisive issueThis isnrsquot a surprise as the game in most countries desperately needs money and the IPL owners are financially flushLack of longterm blueprintCricket administrators must accept the blame for not producing a longterm blueprint for the game a couple of decades ago That way they could at least have had a viable plan for the game to deal with this issue That is unless cricket administrators world wide are convinced the future is purely the T20 game run by rich franchisesAlso ReadParis Olympics 2024 Sparring treadmill run 5 sessions of Sauna How Sehrawat lost 46 kg in 10 hoursThe weaknesses in this theory are more than just ldquois this good for cricketrdquoMost successful business people donrsquot achieve their prominent positions by being philanthropistsWill sufficient funds be channelled back into the game or will a large proportion end up as shareholder bonuses awarded by rich business conglomerates Do shrewd business people necessarily make good cricket team owners Will the business people want to have a large say in the onfield product Are the many unpaid people who serve the game still going to willingly provide their servicesWhile large financial incentives are inviting to all parties itrsquos my experience that business people either donrsquot understand or donrsquot care about the important difference between laws and rulesBusiness people are prone to manipulate matters their own way regardless The master statistician Irving Rosenwater stated years ago ldquocricket has laws which are not meant to be brokenrdquoWhen the administrators warmly welcomed the T20 craze they had no idea how much power they were acceding to the players The better players now have both wealth and choice which is ironic when you consider that for many years they had neitherFormer successful Australian opening batsman Arthur Morris summed up the legacy best when in retirement he was asked what he gained from cricket His succinct answer was ldquopovertyrdquoNo use of player knowledgeOne of the biggest failings in cricket administration is the lack of utilisation of former top playersrsquo knowledge of the game at the highest level In Australia this has been a blatant omission in cricket administrationCricket administration is a difficult and challenging job with many wide ranging aspects so difficult itrsquos impossible to satisfy every fanrsquos wishes However the job is made even more difficult by the game not having a visible plan for the future which includes financial security mixed with playing satisfactionCricketrsquos future needs to be a partnership planned by a combination of players and administratorsIrsquom no financial or company expert but itrsquoll be a sad day if a young player is not able to experience the challenges of long form cricket If a player chooses not to play long form cricket thatrsquos their prerogative but it would be really sad if that choice is not available