A billion here, a billion there

dcsiva — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:57:00 GMT

Andy Bull interviewed Allen Stanford and lived to tell a tale about intimidation and money...40 odd billion of it:

With money and power come natural charisma. Stanford commands through more than just his cash. He has presence, the kind that stops the pianist on a heavy chord when he comes into the room. He is, for one thing, big. Bigger than Viv. His handshake crushes rocks and his voice makes your guts tremble. Interviewing him, I didn't so much ask him questions as simply listen to him speak. He was intimidating and evangelical, a mix I've since seen in Nigel Benn after he took up preaching. Stanford isn't just buying people, he's selling to them. The man has serious plans and, after an hour in his company, I was sold.

Stanford Financial is worth around $43bn (£21bn). "The key players, Giles Clarke and David Collier, waited at the foot of the steps in obeisance, their hair buffeted by the helicopter's blades," wrote Atherton of Stanford's arrival at Lord's. It's a cute turn of phrase, but what else was he expecting? Something like that scene in 300 where King Leonidas shouts "This is Sparta!" and pushes the messenger into the bottomless pit?

Looks like Peter Moores and the selectors are beginning to feel the pressure of all that money:

Competition for places is expected to be intense, along with the pressure on the selectors who will decide the final squad.
But Moores said only merit will guarantee a player their flight to Antigua.
"The fact that it's worth more money doesn't matter, you still use the same judgement to pick the side," said Moores.

Meanwhile, here's a wonderfully thoughtful piece by Mukul Kesavan on the BCCI's Stalinist tendencies regarding ICL players and officials.

Champions League planning

dcsiva — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:55:00 GMT

Homer covers the possibility of an Twenty20 champions league. As does Miriam, both with not much enthusiasm. The main issue being how to reconcile which team a player should play for if two or more of their teams make it to the league. And of course the ever present ICL problem. Homer on Modi on both:

As Commisioner of the IPL, it is Mr Modi's responsibility to take care of the interests of the IPL ( and the franchises). It therefore follows that Mr Modi will make a strong case for the IPL franchises that are going to be involved in the "Champions League". Hence the first priority over players. ( This is a dichotomy that the English Counties will face also, given the number of Kolpak and overseas players ( two per team per last count) present in the 18 Counties. How they intend to resolve this is yet to be determined).

Whether this is viable and will come to fruition is a whole different story altogether, but Mr Modi would be doing the IPL and the franchises a dis-service if he said anything otherwise ( to the detriment of the IPL franchises).

Then there is the question of the ICL players -the IPL ( and the BCCI) had taken a hardline against the ICL and I don't see why that would change for the Champions League.

King Cricket reviews the state of England's cricket team. First the batting, and then the bowling. Suave's is altogether more succinct about the series as a whole. And here's a great take on batsmen taking guard by Gideon Haigh. And an account of quite possibly India's best cricket writer by Suresh Menon.

Cover Points : champions league

A billion here, a billion there

Champions League planning