Going down badly against Sri Lanka after expectations had been raised is so thoroughly typical of the Black Caps that I am almost not bothered by that last pool match. Almost. What actually makes the game bearable is having the poor sportsmanship and umpiring around N McCullum catch to bitch about. Nothing makes a bitter loss more palatable than a good spoonful of indignation.
Here’s the video of the catch:
View it and review it all you want. I have already. It is clear that he scooped up the ball a fraction from the ground. If you see anything else, you’re just really wanted to disbelieve it. Also – it was a fuckin’ awesome catch!
The fact that it was not given out is a tragedy for cricket. It was a true example of athleticism that deserves to be rewarded. But it is the awesomeness of it, the fact that he was able to grab it so close from the ground, that allowed the 3rd umpire, Amiesh Saheba, to question it. Such is the way with the modern world; excellence is swamped under persnicketiness.
What really bothers me about all this is that despite the fact that everyone knows it was out (I would like to believe that Saheba realises that on the balance of probabilities it was out, even if he gave Jayawardene the benefit of the doubt), Jayawardene no less than anyone else, no one really seems to be prepared to admit that. A fair catch wasn’t given – we can accept that, it happens all the time in cricket. A batsman refuses to walk and instead gambles the umpire will make a mistake. Fair enough really; it’s what I’d do in the circumstances. But let’s please tell it like it is.
I don’t think much of Ricky Ponting, but I can fully respect his statement after the Aus match against Pakistan: “There were no doubts about the nick, I knew I hit it, but as always I wait for the umpire to give me out. That’s the way I’ve always played the game.”
So the little contract scare with the IPL players is history. They all signed their contracts and everything is as it should be.
I still have a few things to say about this issue, however, that I didn’t get to when the issue was still warm.
Firstly, let me point you to a post on Paul Holden’s Sideline Slogger. Holden takes issue with Jonathon Millmow’s article that I linked to in my previous post. To oversimplify the positions of these two commentators, Millmow thinks the IPL players are abandoning loyalty for their country for money and Holden thinks that sport is just a job.
Millmow is wrong. All the players signed their NZ Cricket contracts. Not one of them chose money over country.
But Holden is wrong too. Cricket is not just a job. If it was, then none of them would have signed their NZC contracts.
But even if it was just a job, we don’t have to just accept that players choosing to play IPL rather than international cricket is likely to become the way of things. Anyone in New Zealand who is more interested in test cricket than domestic Indian 20-20 can feel rightly pissed that money is threatening to drag players away, and we have a right to express that opinion. And we don’t have to respect the players for putting so much stake in their IPL salaries, particularly after they pocketed their full salaries for playing in last year’s tournament.
Obviously the players have the right to go play the IPL if they want to. We can’t stop them. But we don’t have to like it and we shouldn’t be expected to send these guys off with a friendly slap on the back. You are allowed to be disappointed in people who change jobs or take job opportunities when you want them to stay in their old jobs.
There is far too much respect given to money in this age and too much respect given to people who have it. And I’m offended by the suggestions that we should respect these players because of the huge amounts of money they have turned down, as if the contact with these enormous sums of money makes them better people.
Let me make it clear however that I am not complaining about the players. I respect highly that they chose to sign their NZC contracts and to make playing for New Zealand their priority. I don’t respect particularly that they agonised over the money, but they signed their contracts so I can’t fault them.
Now compare the players and their choice to forego the IPL cash with Bill English and his choice to rort the MP allowances scheme. (It is an extremely tenuous comparison I know, but it was English and his greed that got me angry with people with loads of money who want loads more of it and got me writing this post today. Even if the comparison is tenuous, both cases are about money and choices, with the cricket players making the right choice and English making the wrong choice.) Now think of how much you disrespect Bill English for his choice, even though he hasn’t broken any rules. How would you really feel if the players had chosen the money?
“Country first, cash second” claim the headlines after the NZ IPL contractees deigned to sign their NZ Cricket contracts. The headlines naturally simplify the issue greatly, but mange to be extremely generous to the players.
The story is that the six Black Caps who are contracted to IPL franchises weren’t keen to sign their NZC contracts until they were assured that their international obligations weren’t going to get in the way of them turning out for their franchises. They were given until last Friday to sign, which they all did in the end.
Let’s name these six:
Brendon McCullum
Daniel Vettori
Ross Taylor
Jesse Ryder
Kyle Mills
Jacob Oram
That all six IPL players who were offered national contracts were holding out on signing, it was clearly a joint decision, probably organised by the Players’ Association.
Before Friday I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. In contract disputes, “employees” generally have only one bargaining chip, withdrawing their services. So you shouldn’t take such threats too seriously. The threats have to be made of course, but they are more a bargaining position than a real likelihood. My feeling was that the delay in signing was just a message to NZC that they should give more concern to the players’ positions.
However, the statements coming from the players since signing have got me very concerned. Reports are that the players’ have got pretty much all they could have hoped for. The test series with Australia has been shortened by a whole test so that the tour will finish by 31 March, allowing the IPL players to be available for half the IPL tournament. That is a massive win for the players and a serious blow to the summer’s cricket. And yet the players continue to threaten to pull away from international cricket in favour of the IPL and talk about the decision to play the Aussie series to be a big decision. We’re also being told that Vettori had to convince some of the others to sign. Could they actually have seriously been considering not signing their NZC contracts? Was it more than just bluster?
And on top of that, we are being asked to applaud these players for their magnanimity, despite them having sabotaged the Aussie series and threatening to sabotage future tours. Well maybe some people will. The best I can say is that I am not as disappointed in them as I might have been.
And please everyone, stop talking about families. I have a family and it doesn’t cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Jonathan Millmow has had his say in today’s paper, expressing his disappointment and covering a few other issues.
Amongst all the talk of the sacrifices made by the IPL Black Caps and their loyalty and priorities, consider these aspects:
We’re missing out on a test against Australia this summer. That’s not solely the fault of these players, but is certainly due to the IPL. That’s a big sacrifice NZ cricket fans are being forced to make – there is a huge difference between a 3-test series and a 2-test series. NZC may also be making a huge sacrifice here, assuming tests still make money. It also means less match fees, which is a sacrifice for the non-IPL-contracted test players.
The IPL is for current players or retired players, not for uncommitted players. As I understand it, every player in the IPL needs a non-objection certificate from the player’s home board. So choosing money over country wouldn’t have been that straightforward anyway.
Could Heath Mills be the toughest man in cricket? I haven’t really heard of anyone else standing up to the BCCI, so I am really interested in what comes of Heath Mills insistence that the ICL players will not be forced to step aside to accommodate the Indian test players looking for a bit of practice by playing in the State Championship.
The situation is as follows: as part of the agreement to add more international matches to the tour, and thereby dropping the only scheduled warm up match, six of the Indian players, those selected for the tests but not for the limited over matches, would be allowed to play a game in the State Championship for one of the New Zealand domestic teams. However, the precedent set by withdrawing Tendulkar and Karthik from the exhibition 20-20 in Wellington has raised the problem of the fact that Canterbury, Northern Districts and Auckland all have ICL players who may play in the games that the Indians are supposed to be playing in, risking spreading their ICL cooties to the pure, innocent Indians, either as team mates or opposition. If the ICL players play, then the BCCI must withdraw their players, who will then miss their only decent warm up opportunity.
Obviously the BCCI would prefer that the ICL players be dropped (and the changing rooms fumigated). And not doubt NZC will prefer that option too. But the NZ Cricket Players’ Association is insisting, quite reasonably, that India should not be allowed to dictate who gets selected for NZ domestic teams.
No doubt there will be some contractual procedure for NZC to withdraw the ICL players, to satisfy the BCCI, and probably get the NZCPA to all in line as well. However, it is quite delicious to see the BCCI cause so much trouble for themselves by their own childishness.
