These proposals have now gone through.
Reading below the line on a Vic Marks blog I came across this post, which is eloquent and sums my feelings up. Outside of India cricket is a dying game. Do the ecb, ca, and bcci realise this and are making their money now?
Re KP et al:
I don't see this as "short-term public outcry". For me, this week has simply been the culmination of a decade-long process of dislocation between England's cricket team and its supporters. I'm afraid that for me that process is now complete. Neatly, it began with the sell-off to Sky and ended with this.
I feel no residual loyalty to England's cricket team whatsoever. I feel like I'm being asked to support a corporate entity, not a sporting XI. The way in which this affair has been handled simply reinforced that feeling. The prospect of the ICC being run by the big three boards simply confirms that things will get worse. The unerring trend of the mainstream print and broadcast media to reflect the views of the ECB before they even consider fans just compounds the offence.
Between now and next year's World Cup England will play only seven Tests, all of them at home. Not only that, but the schedule is a repeat of 2011 (only with one more Test for India and one fewer for Sri Lanka). Not only that, but the Test schedule for the first summer after the World Cup is a full repeat of the summer just passed. Why the bloody hell should I stay interested in this sport, even as a self-confessed "Test cricket tragic"? What are the grounds for optimism, when the FTP is already being mucked up so that England, Australia and India can play themselves more frequently, usually in ODIs, and that process has just been effectively hastened and rubberstamped by a bunch of visionless, venal cowards?
Damn right I'm upset about not being able to watch Pietersen play for England any more. But in the end it's a symptom of a much larger malaise which I now believe to be terminal. These are the dark ages. You're welcome to them.
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Topic: Cricket's cartel (Read 3282 times)