Why Morkel's secrecy comment is disturbing

South Africa's Albie Morkel made an illuminating comment about communicating with his IPL team-mates: "We've been given specific instructions by our boards not to reveal all our secrets."

More disturbing however, was his reference to the way he was supposed to play in the IPL: "We cannot show off all our secret weapons and there's not much we can do about it." This indicates that officials are involving themselves in the way the game is played.u00a0

Worrying
I find that worrying on two counts. Firstly, Morkel's latter comment hints that Board officials are asking players to give out less than their best on the field. Aren't players suspended for performing at less than their best in return for payment from crooks? That is an extremely dangerous path for an administrator to tread.

u00a0And secondly, most officials weren't very proficient cricketers and consequently aren't best qualified to give advice on how to play the game. Certainly most players I've heard on the subject hold that opinion.

Years ago I was bemoaning the ineptitude of the cricket Board when former great Australian leg-spinner Bill "Tiger" O'Reilly interrupted me; "Ian, are you surprised?"

He then proceeded to tell a story. "Do you remember the days as kids in the park where two guys tossed a coin and the winner would have first choice of player?"

"Yes," I replied.

"And those two guys," said Tiger, "would take turns in choosing until both sides had eleven players." I nodded.

"Well, there was always six guys left over after the selection process," continued Tiger and again I nodded.

"Ian, those six were the coat minders," chuckled Tiger, "and they went on to become members of the Australian Cricket Board."u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

A typically pithy observation, Tiger's analogy may sound harsh but it's basically true. And that is why Board officials should concentrate on paying the cricketers promptly, making sure the venues are functional and the team bus is on time and leave the performance on the field to the men who do it best-the players.

Albie Morkel and any other player who is receiving unsolicited advice on how to perform from Board members would be well advised to politely ignore the instructions.u00a0 Especially if the advice includes not pulling out all stops when the game is on the line.