The Orange

Time to get out those old “Bring Back Buck” posters and make a little change – Bring Bond Back!

Watching part of the game today, it was obvious that we lacked as strike weapon.

The reality is that while cricket is a game of runs, you still need to take 20 wickets to win a test.  So regardless of anything else, the ability to take a wicket trumps anything else.

So while we are struggling to bowl India out, our best strike weapon – and arguably one of our best two ever – sits on his bum counting his rupees.

Keep in mind that Bond’s Indian adventures were approved by NZC.

Not only are the BCCI now happy to tell us when we can start games, they also appear key to select the playing team AND the commentators.

Yep, the $25 million is great.

But I’d rather we had our top team out them giving us the best possible chance of bowling the Indians out.

Bring Back Bond!

It hasn’t taken long for the Indian cricketers to make their mark in NZ.

I read somewhere that around 80% of cricket revenue is generated from Indian.  Indeed, the current tour of NZ is going to generate NZC around $25 million for around 20 days of cricket.

Now, if I was a proper journalist who worried about integrity and transparency and accuracy, I’d provide some references for you.   If you’re interested, try Google.

What interested me was that the Indians have already started to throw their weight around.

The episode on Friday night was pathetic in the extreme – a NZ player with past links (not current) to the rebel Indian league prevented two Indian players (including Sachin Tendulkar) from playing in a completely meaningless T20 game.

[I heard on Radio Sport that's how it should be written.]

The shocking treatment of Shane Bond and the even worse behaviour of NZ’s cricket administrators to stand up to it shows how much power the Indian board (BCCI) has over other countries.

Bond apparently was told he could still play for the rebel league provided he was available for his NZ contract.  Or more accurately, he could still be injured for the rebel league instead of NZ cricket commitments.

The NZC allegedly reneged leaving us without our best bowler since Hadlee.

The politics is India’s problem, not ours.  NZ should be able to select its own players according to our own rules and constitution.

Sadly, it seems we will happily roll over and assume the submissive position so long as the coin is handed over.

It’s not cricket is it?