 It was only the other day, while at a discussion, that one of my colleagues was making a comparison. He said, “My God it is like a bakery without bread”. At that moment I did not see any similarities, but now in the present context of cricket, the statement has much relevance.
One recent evening I was watching an Indian Premier League match where Chris Gayle was making mince meat out of an opposing attack. One of the unfortunate bowlers was Dwyane Bravo, who also hails from the same set of islands where they unite to play the rest of the World as the West Indies. Ironically when I switched the channel, I found the real West Indian team comprising a bunch of lesser mortals playing Pakistan and trying to save the second Test in the Caribbean.
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| Lasith Malinga relaxing just before the World Cup final in Mumbai |
At once the Bakery theory came to my mind. At one end of the world, the West Indies are striving to win their first Test series in two years – while also trying to beat one of the major contenders in the world league after some time in a series. At the other end of the world, two top performers in the world cricket arena from that set of islands -- Chris Gayle and Dwyane Bravo -- are hired hands for some Indian franchise that has dished out a cameo carnival for a few dollars more.
The original equation comes to pass at this point. In a cricketing circus where the franchise owners would pay anything to hit the correct notes where people pay to watch matches or switch on their televisions to make that time slot a prime-time property, Chris Gayle and Dwyane Bravo are top actors. Back at home in the West Indies a concoction of eleven cricketers -- of whom the majority would not even get a mention at a cricketers auction of the IPL -- are wearing the national crest.
Where is world cricket heading? Are they building bakeries without bread?
Even in England Freddie Flintoff opened the can of worms by not signing a contract with the ECB, but was available for carnival cricket, but his injuries saw to that his twisted angle in cricket did not go too far and he thus went into the oblivion.
Coming back home even we in Sri Lanka have felt the pinch of the Bakery Theory. The days of Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas who once bamboozled the oppositions to bring Sri Lanka that string of victories in the last two decades are gone. Now they are retired. Yet, the only bowler who could put scare into any opposing striker at the other end of the pitch -- Lasith Malinga -- also has turned “Jackal”. Now he’s more a Mumbai’s hero than Sri Lanka’s spearhead carrying the Lion flag and running over the old Colonial ruler.
That is not the only drawback. This morning I learned that Dilhara Fernando -- the next best after Malinga (at least the selectors and the a few past captains thinks so) -- is carrying an injury. Oh good lord! What is the quality cricket that Fernando played within the last thinkable time frame? He plays one match in England (and bowls very well) and then puts an injury scare on the tour selectors.
There is a very plausible explanation. Dilhara was with the Mumbai Indians from the very beginning of the IPL. Yet he did not play a single game.
Then at the same time at practices the Mumbai management is not going to over exploit their race horse Lasith Malinga. He is hot property. Then to get the Mumbai batsmen to face the bouncy fast stuff one of the major net bowlers would be Dilhara Fernando, an international bowler with ten years of national exposure. Dilhara did what he was contracted for in dollar currency for the Mumbai Indians at the nets and now when it comes to the national cause, he is injured.
The same goes with Nuwan Pradeep. Though drafted to the Deccan Chargers, he had not played a single representative game at senior national level. Yet Pradeep became one of the Lankan players to be drafted above so many other players who had done their fair share of national duty. Why? Pradeep had the reputation of being one of the best fast bowlers in the Lankan larder who could regularly deliver at 150+ and also had a kind of a slinging action. Good investment for the franchise. For a very small fee you get a bowler who operates at 150+ -- another good net bowler who could do the behind-the-curtain work. Now he too is injured, when he is needed for national duty.
Of Sri Lanka’s top guns with high international credentials, Mahela Jayawardena, Kumar Sangakkara and T.M. Dilshan were the only Lankan batsmen hired by the franchises. The only bowler who got a star-class entry was Lasith Malinga while Kochi Tuskers’ other big investment -- Muttiah Muralitharan could not hold on to his place as one of the three none Indian expats in the Kochi Xl.
Besides the top four, Suraj Randiv was seen a few times, Nuwan Kulasekera got blasted in his only outing and then there were more full stops than commas in Thisara Perera’s outings for the Kochi Tuskers.
So what good did the IPL do to the Lankan cricket, besides the player money, the board charge of ten percent over that and the benefits enjoyed by the player managers?Nevertheless, the biggest loss for the Lankan cricket was the loss of Malinga for Test cricket.
Even the Malinga case could have been handled better. Long before the English tour and the IPL re-auction came into focus, the Lankans were playing India in Sri Lanka and Malinga was making indications about him quitting Test cricket, though he was a contracted player. So if he could not go the entire length with the national team in his main obligation because of injury, in reciprocation he also should have been given only part permission to take part in the IPL circus. What is the guarantee that Malinga will not break down while he is playing for the Mumbai Indians?
The Bakery Theory is bound get worse in the future. There would be more circus performers in the world and the Test matches would only comprise the aging and the lesser beings of international cricket. The rest of the big names would want to preserve their energy to play the IPL, the SLPL and the Big Bash etc.
Finally there would be no bread in the Test Cricket bakery. |
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