Pre-Season Thoughts I

Still about two months to go until the start of this year's Cricket season in England. Nevertheless I have already done a basic check on my equipment and made some notes which parts might soon be due for replacement. But I will wait with that for another while, since we often get special offers for new bats, pads, gloves etc. from various companies when the playing season is about to begin. This is one of the benefits one has as a club member.

On a wider scale I have been following India's tour in Australia and find myself annoyed seeing another controversy casting a dark shadow over the game. It appears that the Aussies have some problems with the "time after Shane" and it is clear that a genius bowler like Warne cannot be easily replaced, if he can be replaced at all. So Aussies turn to their second-best skill: teasing and hurling insults at the opposition. And the Indians, having just overcome their performance crisis of the 2007 World Cup, will not take such behaviour without reaction.

Sad really to see two generally great and skilled teams declining into a slagging match rather than playing decent Cricket. And once again an umpire has fallen foul of one particular team. This has to stop, and the ICC needs to come out in support of the independent umpires and match officials. Otherwise the spirit of the game could suffer severely and we could see Cricket turning into the same kind of ridiculous freak show that Football has become in recent years.