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Eventful week for cricket

Roshan Paul

It's been an eventful week in cricket, hasn't it? Hansie Cronje contemplated suicide. Zimbabwe, despite much promise, went down to England without even a whimper. Arjuna Ranatunga announced his retirement. Sri Lanka beat South Africa in a Test for the first time ever. And here in India, the Income Tax Department went to town on cricketers, officials and other types of 'businessmen'.

A lot more has been happening though. Here are snippets of news from various countries that are either yet to break or have been buried in the back pages.

Australia:

As the Australian team enjoys its time off, proceeding an extremely successful year but preceding a grueling 18-month season, the question that seems to be on everyone's lips is "Who will be the next vice-captain?" With Shane Warne's libido having gotten him into trouble, reports from Down Under indicate that the front runners for the job are Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting.

On August 4th, the ACB will meet to select the captain and vice-captain for the historic indoor one-day series against South Africa. Steve Waugh is certain to retain the captaincy but it is increasingly looking like Warne may get the sack. This will come as a big blow to the leg-spinner, who impressed people with his captaincy in Sri Lanka when Waugh was injured and has been touted by the likes of Mark Taylor, Ian Chappell and Waugh himself as a potential captain.

Not that there are too many options. Even though Australia was the first country to play with two separate captains for Tests and one-day games, it looks unlikely that they will go down that road again. That rules out Michael Slater and Justin Langer from the Test team and Michael Bevan from the one-day team. Mark Waugh is as close to retirement as his brother and his tabula is not totally rasa following his 1994 flirtation with bookmakers in Pakistan.

Surprisingly, no one seems to be talking about Glenn McGrath.

So, looking at the main contenders, it will probably boil down to a choice between pure cricket and deeper issues such as public relations. Ponting too has been mentioned in the past as captaincy material but has gotten into trouble for breaches of discipline with regard to drinking and gambling. He is also recovering from injury but in the meantime, lost his spot in the team to Damien Martyn. While it is likely that he will make an immediate comeback, it will be interesting to see how the selectors fit him in.

Adam Gilchrist has captained his state, Western Australia, successfully and his public image is untainted but it might be asking for too much to expect him to add to his responsibilities as wicketkeeper and frontline batsman. One school of thought is that, in these gloomy times, Australia needs a 'clean' and presentable public figure at the helm in case Waugh gets injured, which is he prone to do. Such thinking gives Gilchrist a clear edge over Ponting.

India:

Amidst the tamasha of the Income Tax raids, comes the amusing but nevertheless somber news that the Gujarat Education Ministry has decided to withdraw a chapter on Kapil Dev from an English supplementary textbook for the 10th standard. The chapter dealt with the former captain's childhood and career but has been omitted following Kapil's alleged involvement in match fixing.

Education minister Anandi Ben Patel says that she made the decision "on the basis of what I have seen on television and read in newspapers in the last few days." Such a move is probably most significant in the light of it being the first public image action taken against cricketers due to the controversy of match fixing.

South Africa:

Further developments on the adjourned King Commission are that former South African captain Clive Rice has mentioned that a bookmaker approached him as well. In an email to the secretary of the Commission, Rice outlines the offer and says he rejected it.

This happened pre-1995, which is when Cronje was first approached, and according to Commission secretary John Bacon, it is probable that the terms of reference will be extended to take this offer into account as well.

England:

Despite a heavy winter schedule, which includes travel to Kenya, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, England may be the first country to play a test match against Bangladesh. Though Pakistan has already offered to be the first opponents for the newest entrants into Test cricket, nothing has been confirmed.

Meanwhile negotiations are on between the cricket boards of England and Bangladesh to play a Test in Dhaka in December in between England's visits to Pakistan in November and Sri Lanka in February.

This may not go down too well with the players though for it will eat into their already shortened Christmas break since they will have to play at least one warm-up game before the Test. With relations between the ECB and the players strained, this will lead to further disgruntlement. The ECB, thus, has to weigh its options carefully.

Zimbabwe:

Though the retirements of Neil Johnson and Murray Goodwin have saddened cricket lovers around the world, news from Zimbabwe indicates that Johnson was unlikely to play again anyway.

While Goodwin had bought a house and gotten a Zimbabwean passport on his return to the land of his birth, it seems that Johnson's home is still in South Africa and he had no intention of getting a passport. Reports in Independent Online credit former Zimbabwean captain and coach Dave Houghton as saying, "He never had any intention of putting anything into Zimbabwe cricket, it was a case of what he could get from us."

Houghton went on to say that Johnson's contract would not have been renewed by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) due to continual disputes over money.

The all-rounder, who was instrumental in Zimbabwe's dream run in the '99 World Cup, has a different perspective on things. Having signed on to play for Western Province in South Africa, Johnson said that he doesn't think Zimbabwe is a good place to bring up children and he and his wife didn't see themselves living there.

Johnson, currently sixth in the one-day batting rankings, was also approached by some Australian clubs but chose to stay close to Zimbabwe to keep his options open. If the ZCU is interested, he will make himself available for selection for the 2003 World Cup to be held in South Africa.