Sharad Pawar is batting on a sticky wicket. Fortunately, he brings a wealth of experience to the crease.
Sharad Pawar is batting on a sticky wicket. Fortunately, he brings a wealth of experience to the crease. Steeped in wheeling and dealing, emerging from the game's new driving force, he stands as good a chance as anyone of putting together a satisfactory score.
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| ICC chief Sharad Pawar addressing the media in Singapore yesterday. pic/afp |
Pawar's first task will be to repair the damage caused by the collapse of John Howard's nomination to be his deputy. It is no small thing to turn away a long-standing Prime Minister duly put forward by a senior member. It is no small thing to subject a distinguished politician to such a public humiliation.
Worse, the episode threatens to divide the game along racial lines, a development long feared. Certainly the black nations rejected Howard even as the white countries backed him. It is a regrettable turn of events.
Pawar needs to persuade the antipodeans that the ICC did not snub their man because he might call to account malefactors, India needs to rethink its relationship with the thugs running Zimbabwean cricket.
Assuming he can placate offended parties, Pawar's next task will be to make all concerned put cricket interests before their own. It's not going to be easy. Amongst the senior nations, two are fighting in Afghanistan (12th in the rankings), another is clamping down on dissent after a 25-year civil war ended, two have endured bombing and border disputes, another has been torn apart by a tyrant, another is trying to effect a bloodless revolution, another is wracked by poverty and another does not exist except as a cricketing entity. Amongst the main countries, only New Zealand seems stable, and it thinks mostly about rugby.
The miracle is not that cricket has its problems; the miracle is that the game holds together at all. If these broad challenges are met, the wicket will start to play a bit easier. Pawar's next job will be to implement a stringent review of all financial matters. Over the years, Kenya and USA have been found wanting but they are hardly alone.
Good governance is critical corruption gnaws at the soul.
Thereafter, Pawar will be to focus on helping the ICC to strike the right balance between its three formats. Flexibility counts amongst cricket's greatest strengths and must not become a weakness.
Next, Pawar ought to increase the growing investment in the wider game by encouraging ever more nations to take it up. Seeds have been planted and now require water.
Of course, he will also need to keep an eye on bookmakers and throwers, though these dark areas already attract enough attention.
Above all, he must remember that he is a servant of a game that bestows upon us a Sachin Tendulkar's straight drive and Shane Warne's leg-break ufffd a great game and well worth the trouble.
