Tony Becca

A few months ago, cricket was going on nicely. There was Test cricket, there was one-day 50-over cricket and there was Twenty20 cricket. There was something for everyone and everyone was happy, or so it appeared.

Out of the blue, however, came the Indian Cricket League (ICL), then came the Indian Premier League (IPL) and all of a sudden with money, and plenty of it flying around, cricket, despite the assurances of the weak-kneed International Cricket Council (ICC), cricket is in a spin.

Fear

The fear in the ICC is that the ICL will destroy the game and so the ICC banned it. The fear in the cricket world is that the IPL will destroy Test cricket and, with the IPL being a part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the ICC gave it its blessing and told the world not to worry, the IPL will conform and will protect Test cricket.

The ICC said that all the countries have to do is not to issue a "no objections certificate" to any player they do not want to lose and based on its (the IPL) promise, the IPL will not employ them.

While that sounds good, however, that is wishful thinking and it is wishful thinking especially as far as the West Indies are concerned.

The West Indies territories are poor, the West Indies board is broke (or almost broke) the people of the West Indies have always backed the players and with the players earning so much money from the ICL and the IPL, the West Indies Cricket Board will never ever attempt to prevent them from earning that amount of money by issuing a 'no objections certificate'.

It is as simple as that.

That means, therefore, that as far as the West Indies are concerned, it is up to the players to make a decision. And with, for example, US$800,000 coming from the IPL and US$30,000 coming from the West Indies, the choice seems obvious.

The difference is so much that there is not one West Indian, I am pretty sure of that, who would chastise any one of the players for going to India.

That is why no one has yet even expressed a word of disappointment that with all the questions going the rounds about whether or not they will be playing against Australia, not one of Christopher Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan has said anything to put some light on the matter and that is why it is almost a safe bet they will not be in the West Indies team for the first or the second Test.

Dates for play

The West Indies aside, despite what the ICC says, in spite of what the IPL may have agreed to, another reason why Test cricket is in a spin is because of what is happening right now.

Australia were due to tour Pakistan. They pulled out because of the violence in Pakistan. Pakistan asked Sri Lanka to tour. Sri Lanka apparently have said yes.

The IPL is concerned about the dates for the tour because a number of players from both teams are employed by their franchises and the way things are going it could get nasty.

According to Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), although no dates have been set, the tour is on and they will set the dates independent of the IPL. According to Duleep Mendis, chief executive officer of the Sri Lankan Council, nothing has been discussed re the tour.

According to a player who preferred to be anonymous, there is no truth that players from both sides who are employed to the franchises have told their respective boards to ensure that the dates for the tour do not clash with the IPL tournament.

And according to a report, both boards, after consultation with the IPL and despite hot conditions in Pakistan at that time, have agreed to play some time between June 1 and June 24 - before the Asian Cup which is in July - before the Sri Lanka/India series in August and before the Champions Trophy in September in Pakistan.

What is really interesting, however, is that the IPL told the franchises that all the players would be available for the tournament between April 18 and June 1, and even more so is that the franchises are now saying that before the auction they were told clearly who would have been available and that they bought players based on that.

In all the talk about countries having first call on the players, I have always wondered why would a man, a franchise, spend so much to buy a player and then give him up for half of the season - and towards the end of the season at that.

It just never made sense to me. That is why I believe that with so much money at stake, the only way Test cricket can survive, the only way that those who love and enjoy Test cricket will be able to see the best players playing for their country, is for all concerned to sit and plan a programme of activities so that one does not clash with the other, so that the best players can play both Test cricket and Twenty20, plus the one-day 50-over version of the game without losing out on the bonanza or losing out on the opportunity to test and to parade their skills.