MCC lecture: Ian Botham wants ‘too powerful’ IPL to be scrapped
6 Sept 2014 3:43 AM IST
Delivering the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s, where he was once a ground-staff boy before going on to star at the ‘home of cricket’ for both Somerset and England, Botham also expressed his fears about the IPL’s effect on corruption within the world game. ‘I’m worried about IPL, in fact, I feel it shouldn’t be there at all as it is changing the priorities of world cricket. Players are slaves to it. Administrators bow to it. How on earth did the IPL own the best players in the world for two months a year and not pay a penny to the boards who brought these players into the game?, the 58-year-old former England captain said.
‘I know this has been modified to a degree, but it is still an imbalance. The IPL is too powerful for the long-term good of the game. Corruption is enough of a problem in itself, but the IPL compounds that problem given it provides the perfect opportunity for betting and therefore fixing,’ he said.
‘Expose big names’
Botham, one of cricket’s greatest allrounders, added: ‘We have seen a few players exposed, but does throwing the odd second XI player into jail solve it? To kill the serpent, you must cut off its head. ICC’s anti-corruption unit must pursue the root of the problem and if necessary expose the big names.’
Botham was speaking a day after England’s nine-wicket thrashing by India at Edgbaston condemned them to a fifth straight one-day series loss under captain Alastair Cook. Although Botham, who labelled England’s performance ‘a joke’ in his Daily Mirror column, made no specific reference to the one-day side, he questioned whether England central contracts, which weren’t around in his heyday, had made players too comfortable.
‘Central contracts are brilliant, but it has now become so essential to the England player that the sharpness goes. A long contract is a cosy contract. To play international sport, above all else, above even freshness and rest, you must have desire. Hunger is still the most important attribute for any sportsman,’ Botham said.
‘I know this has been modified to a degree, but it is still an imbalance. The IPL is too powerful for the long-term good of the game. Corruption is enough of a problem in itself, but the IPL compounds that problem given it provides the perfect opportunity for betting and therefore fixing,’ he said.
‘Expose big names’
Botham, one of cricket’s greatest allrounders, added: ‘We have seen a few players exposed, but does throwing the odd second XI player into jail solve it? To kill the serpent, you must cut off its head. ICC’s anti-corruption unit must pursue the root of the problem and if necessary expose the big names.’
Botham was speaking a day after England’s nine-wicket thrashing by India at Edgbaston condemned them to a fifth straight one-day series loss under captain Alastair Cook. Although Botham, who labelled England’s performance ‘a joke’ in his Daily Mirror column, made no specific reference to the one-day side, he questioned whether England central contracts, which weren’t around in his heyday, had made players too comfortable.
‘Central contracts are brilliant, but it has now become so essential to the England player that the sharpness goes. A long contract is a cosy contract. To play international sport, above all else, above even freshness and rest, you must have desire. Hunger is still the most important attribute for any sportsman,’ Botham said.
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