Several things should have warned them: the man could not stand test cricket. For any true blue devotee of the game this is no less than blasphemy and the fact that his open contempt of the 5 day game did not cause the bile to rise in the collective English throats is rather amazing.

Stanford was too grandiloquent, too showy and much too flashy with his promise of money. The ECB must have truly battled their real instincts and swallowed some awfully bitter gall when Stanford swooped down on the hallowed green of Lords in his helicopter and waved around actual cold, hard cash in dollar 50 notes. It is still a cause for deep ignominy for English cricket that this utterly vulgar and ostentatious and non – cricket – like – display was allowed by the ECB.

But consider for a while the ECB’s motivation. They saw the reins of international cricket usurped by an ex colony in no uncertain terms, the money, the clout, the influence and most important the power all now seemed to vest in the BCCI who was increasingly seen to crack the whip any way it chose. Add to that the Indian Premier League (IPL) offered exciting and cash rich new pastures for the players to cavort in. Suddenly the ECB was left contemplating its very relevance in world cricket, and found itself hunting desperately for some alternative, a saviour, anyone who would challenge the Indian juggernaut that seemed to have to competition whatsoever.

Stanford played his cards skillfully too. He ensnared the ECB with blandishments such as those of T20 cricket becoming a force to reckon with, which "has the potential to be the most popular team sport in the whole world. take this sport now, as they say in Texas, by the horns." He also managed to paint the IPL as the upstart and the ECB as the mature sane repository of the real game. "No disrespect to the Indians or the IPL, no disrespect whatsoever. They did this too fast, too quick. The ECB's taking a more logical approach. They have a better structure," Stanford got his way with a little wheedling and a lot of flattery.

Now though the dreams of the ECB have evaporated like so much English mist in Indian sunshine with the dishonorable and flagrantly dishonest conduct of Stanford, and it seems like the ECB is pretty much back to square one, egg firmly on face, and India, the BCCI and the IPL still ruling the cricketing roost.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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