Srini seconds 10-team World Cup

ICC chairman N Srinivasan dropped in at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today to speak with the media. He spoke to the journalists who gathered around him, but he was coy about some points of the discussion appearing in the media. He did say some decisive things which might give a clue about the composition of the coming World Cup events. One, he justified the proposal to reduce the number of the teams at the World Cup from 14 this time to 10 in 2019.

“If you look at the next World Cup, the top eight will qualify while for the ninth and 10th team, there will be competition between six associates,” he said. “So, the Associates will have a reasonably good chance of playing at the World Cup. The success of the Associates is actually because of the ICC’s development program,” Srinivasan said.

Srinivasan is the supremo of the ICC, the man whose writ runs in international cricket. However, the rumour that the MCC (Melbourne Cricket Ground) would be renamed Mamu Cricket Ground is incorrect.

Kamal leaves in a huff, Srini gives away the trophy

When the time to give away the World Cup trophy came tonight, it was N Srinivasan, the controversial Indian businessman and the ICC chairman, who did the honours. In the past, all sorts of officials and dignitaries have handed the winning captains the World Cup trophy. In the first three World Cups, the trophy was presented by members of the British Royalty. In 1987, the trophy was handed over to the captain by Dhirubhai Ambani, and in 1996, it was presented by Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

But in the recent times, the ICC president has presented the trophy to the winners. In 2011, Sharad Pawar, the then ICC president, presented the trophy to India captain.

Thus, according to the precedent, ICC president Mustafa Kamal of Bangladesh was expected to present the trophy to the winning team’s captain. But Kamal is the same official from Bangladesh who had made some strong comments against umpiring after India’s quarterfinal victory over Bangladesh. Srinivasan, thus, decided that he would present the trophy to the winners.

Raising the pitch

Less than an hour after the trophy was presented to Michael Clarke and the Australian team, the process to remove the drop-in pitch began at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The stadium will be the venue of the more popular footy — Australian Rules Football — league during the Australian winter. The AFL matches begin in the first week of April. Preparations, thus, must be made as soon as possible. Thus, after the ground was cleared of the cricketers and officials, a long machine on wheels — insect-like in appearance — emerged. It was manoeuvred in position over the pitch, and it set to work. Then, slowly and steadily, it raised the drop-in pitch and picked it up in its jaws. Where the pitch was, a long, rectangular depression measuring the length of a pitch remained. That was quick work.