I Missed Gunther, Oh No!

The time I decide not to watch an IPL match because I’m not that interested now in Deccan or Rajasthan, I find out that Andre Nel has been in the ITV 4 studio, damn!

But lots of people are tuning in, ITV 4 has a bit of a viewership coup on it’s hands.  It is now topping half a million on a Sunday afternoon.

Remind me again – just why is our domestic competition not available even as a highlights package on free to air?

IPL v England; Head to Head TV ratings.

The lure of fee to air TV!  As many people in Britain are watching the IPL as watched the Bangladesh v England tests.

Test Cricket as a Vulnerable* Species

Keith Bradshaw says his bit on his fears for the future of test cricket.  Does this mean that the MCC is going to go all out to lobby for the future of Test and first class cricket in a meaningful and effective way?  Or is he just positioning the MCC prior to the pink ball tests as a being a major player within the sport for media and marketing purposes only.

A spot of  assertive lobbying for the Championship and first class cricket in England to the ECB might be useful too?  Should one hold one’s breath?  Only if they see it as a useful stepping stone to world re-domination.  Suspect that could be a no then.  Especially as they seem to be spearheading current thinking to play early season Championship cricket outside of Britain.

*IUCN Red List conservation status: a vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve.

The IPL Reaches for the Infinite

So no football teams then, as was suspected.  Modi finally got around to announcing the two new franchises for the IPL.  They will be based at  The southern city of Kochi and Pune near Mumbai.

Next season onwards the IPL will feature 10 teams – which means a total of 94 games, up from the current 60, in a home-and-away format.  There will be no escaping the IPL; it is going to be truly never ending!  Let’s hope climate change does not alter India’s monsoon season or it will be all year round soon.  But perhaps that is where the USA will come to the fore in Modi’s future cunning plans?

IPL; New Franchises, UK Football Clubs? What?!

All pre auction hype you would hope.  What is a top football club in Modi speak, given that ITV 4 is a top rated TV channel?  Lalit was hinting that a top Premier League football club was interested in buying an IPL franchise.   Top – in position in the league,  top – in finance terms?  Mr Modi likes lots of money.  From the way he was speaking plenty took it to mean Premiership anyway.

But football clubs don’t buy anything.  They may have links with other clubs – I’m told Arsenal has links with Middlesex, but not financial ones.  So is this meant to be a British based city franchise?  The owners of a certain premiership club may be interested in adding an IPL franchise to their portfolio?  Or an investor based franchise?  Could it mean Manchester City’s Dubai, or Manchester United’s American owners are interested in a Dubai or US based franchises to cash in on expat interest and advertising marketing possibilities?

None of the above I should imagine.   Getting attention is what Modi is excellent at.  Even the MCC were in the running for a bit, could not resist the hype, want to be seen as ‘out there’, got a bit of press attention.

We will find out on March the 8^th *2010.  This will probably be quite dull in comparison to the speculation.

Watching Durham warming up is much more interesting.

*Cricinfo puts it as Sunday