Riding the Tiger

To counter the "900 lb gorilla in the room", the ECB and Sir Allen Stanford have announced a series of 5 games between England and a Stanford All-Stars XI.

A deal will mean that if England win, each of the XI will receive US$1 million, the rest of the squad share US$1 million, and the management team splits another US$1 million. The remaining US$7 million will be shared between the ECB and the West Indies Cricket Board, regardless of the outcome of the match itself.

Also announced was a 5 year deal worth almost $50 million for

five annual quadrangular events to be held in England from next year. England and West Indies will always be involved in these.

So far, so good.

And then there is the Champions League

The inaugural Champions League tournament, involving the domestic Twenty20 finalists from England, Australia, South Africa and the IPL, will take place over a 10-day period in late September and early October with US$5 million on offer for the winners.

And, to top it all off, there are the "Test bonuses"

The England board has increased the win bonuses on offer to the players to £2million in a bid to keep them happy in the light of the money on offer from the Indian Premier League.

From an English player point of view, life has never been so rosy.

Or has it?

For starters, the Stanford prize is heavily skewed in favor of the playing XI. The bench warmers only get to share a million dollars amongst themselves. Look forward to major issues with team selection here.

And since there is no provision whatsoever for the non Twenty20 specialists ( step forward the Test and ODI players), expect more selection problems here. ( "Yeah Colly, thanks for not making me a part of the Stanford bonanza. This, after you got an MBE for making 7 piddly runs, courtesy my good offices").

And the selection headaches wont stop here.

With $5 million riding on the "Champions League", how many of the counties will be willing ( or able) to release their best Twenty20 players for the Stanford extravaganza?

And how many of them will be willing to risk injuries to their players ( with $20 million at stake, wont Kevin P want a piece of the pie even if he is nursing a bad hammy, which in turn keeps him out of Hampshire's Championship run?).

And then there is the 2 million Pound reward sitting on top of everything, for Test performances.Will the ECB choose to risk Test victories for the Twenty20 prize ( the ultimate sellout by a body that holds Test cricket sacrosanct) or will Test cricketers get more money ( in a bid to level the differences in remuneration) or can the ECB be content with the guaranteed $3.5 million it will get every year for the next 5 years?

And then there is the ICL - a go to tournament for all disgruntled Pom cricketers.

And how will the ECB handle the Kolpak issue, especially if the Kolpak players are the top performers in the domestic Twenty20 Championships? Will the process to integrate them into the mainstream be speeded up?And then, what about Ashley Giles' complaint?

And what about Television? Sky has the TV rights until 2009, ESPN has forked a fortune for beaming County cricket to Asia. Who gets the TV rights for the Stanford extravaganza and what will be the revenue sharing model?

Also, what about that Holy Grail of English Cricket - the Ashes? The current England itinerary looks like this

June - 5 ODIs v/s New Zealand
July/August - South Africa tour of England ( 4 Tests, 5 ODIs, 1T20)
September - ICC Champions Trophy (Pakistan)
November - Stanford T20
November/December - Tour of India ( 2 Tests, 7 ODIs)
Jan/April 2009 - Tour of West Indies (4 Tests, 5 ODIs)
June 2009 - ICC T20 World Championship
June/September 2009 - The Ashes (+7 ODIs)
November/Dec 2009 - Tour of South Africa ( 4 Test, 5 ODIs)

Somewhere in this time frame, the ECB will need to fit in the quadrangular tournament and also the second installment of the Stanford T20 ( probably to be played in Antigua, again ( with the black graphite coated bats in use, I doubt if Lords will be very welcoming) ).

How fit ( physically and match wise) will the English team be ( for both the Ashes and the Stanford Quadrangular?) or will the players be allowed to pick and choose tours between now and the time of the Ashes?

How is the ECB going to reconcile all the issues and the contradictions that it is going to face in the next 5 years, courtesy the big money flowing in?

Interesting times.