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The way the ICC has been tossing their precious World
Cup trophy all over the Indian countryside does little
credit to them.
It is almost a form of poetic justice that the trophy
priced at $80,000 should be damaged in Kolkata on one
of its numerous publicity appearances—this time at a
shopping mall if you please!
Of course it is so typical that the buck-passing
should have started immediately with the sponsors in
Kolkata claiming it was damaged in Delhi from where it
had been flown the previous day while the Delhi hosts
stated had they received it damaged from London!
One wonders how much it will cost and who will foot
the bill of sending it back to London for repairs as
the jewelers who crafted it are the only ones
authorized to repair any damage done to it. Surely
there should some degree of sanctity attached to such
a glittering prize and its unveiling should have been
reserved for a special event instead of being handed
over to every sponsor in India to gain mileage out of.
The trophy should have been on its way from India to
the West Indies for the opening ceremony in Kingston,
Jamaica on Sunday night. Now one wonders if the prize
that counts will be on display during that ceremony or
if a dummy will be shown instead at the big bash. A
sorry state of affairs indeed!
Of course the ICC has earned a reputation as perhaps
one of the most bungling of all international sporting
bodies. And another of its blunders came to light last
week when it was spotted that they had already given
the names of the teams for the Super 8 on their
official website schedule.
Despite justifying it when questioned by Indian
journalists, claiming it was only “indicative”—one
wonders what the so-called minnow teams feel about
this—the fact that the ICC promptly altered the
schedule late at night—only to revert to the original
hours later—just shows how knee-jerk they are.
Take my word for it, there are bound to be a couple of
upsets in the group stage and maybe a shock or two
among the Super 8 qualifiers. Certainly both Kenya and
Bangladesh look like they could make things tough for
the major sides. Zimbabwe and Bermuda on the other
hand appear quite hopeless.
There is bound to be some great cricket over the 47
days of the event hopefully culminating in a fitting
finale. But it is also certain that there will be
plenty of road-bumps in the organization of the
tournament.
It is simply logistically unfeasible to expect nine
different island nations to function smoothly when
hosting such a mega-sporting event. This is the first
time the World Cup is being staged in the Caribbean.
And no doubt the last as well!
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More Views by Gulu Ezekiel
