Bhajji's ban and Barry Richards playing for money

dcsiva — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:12:00 GMT

Ottayan writes about Harbhajan's five match ban, suggesting that the punishment is "paltry." Apparently, any further infringement will trigger a lifetime ban:

"The player (Harbhajan) admitted his guilt in the concerned matter. He prayed for leniency and assured the committee that there would not be any misconduct on his part in the future.

"The committee decided to ban Harbhajan Singh for five one-day internationals (starting today i.e. May 14) and further observed that any further instance of misconduct will invoke a life-ban," said Sharad Pawar, President, BCCI and Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.

And Dileep Premachandran notes Brian Lara's theory player indiscipline:

It all reminds me of something Brian Lara said in an interview back in 2006. When I asked him about allegations of indiscipline that have bedevilled West Indian sides in recent times, he said: "I don’t think you’d see an indisciplined team if you have a disciplined board. If you have a disciplined board, they would know exactly what they want from their players. You need to see the whole spiral, where it starts from. You can’t just pinpoint the players and say: You guys are indisciplined."

And The Guardian is running some cricket articles from thirty years ago. See this one on that great batsman, Barry Richards, talking about playing for money:

In his first season at Hampshire he was paid £1,300, more than any of his teammates, which created tensions with the senior English players who had already been with the county for 10 or 15 years. Now they accept he has a talent which he is selling to make a living.

They find it more difficult to accept that there are days when he will not be interested in scoring runs even though he is receiving two-and-a-half times their salary. Richards himself is the first to admit he finds it difficult to motivate himself, having achieved all he can outside of Test cricket. His captain, Richard Gilliat, is in a good position to judge: "Undoubtedly there have been instances where if he was on £1 a run he would have made a big score whereas he made a reasonable score. But the biggest incentive is to show him the averages in June and see three or four overseas players up above him."

West Indian victory

dcsiva — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:24:00 GMT

Brian Carpenter celebrates a West Indian victory. Vaneisa Baksh connects cricket and culture. CaribbeanCricket points the way to Atherton on Lara.

Tendulkar will miss the third Test, but don't worry he'll be ready for the IPL. Q celebrates the ICL. Patrick Kidd likes the ICL and Twenty20, but thinks that draws are exciting.

King Cricket looks at the best fast bowling team in the world at the moment. And Rogers defects to Victoria.

Cover Points : Brian Lara

Bhajji's ban and Barry Richards playing for money

West Indian victory