It is clear that Sir Ian Botham, the legendary England cricketer, who is today one of the foremost cricket experts in the world, does not like the Indian Premier League or the IPL. Botham used much of his time while delivering a powerful MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at the Lord’s to remonstrate against IPL, calling “too powerful”, accusing IPL of not being in the interest of the game and saying that he firmly believed that the IPL shouldn’t really exist.
Botham accused IPL of fostering unsavory activities such as betting and match fixing, providing “perfect opportunity for betting and therefore fixing”. He demanded that ICC, international cricket’s governing body should investigate much more seriously than it has so far and come out with the big names behind betting and match fixing.
Not one to mince his words, Botham says: “I’m worried about the 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? 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.”
Talking in further detain about corruption in cricket, Botham said: “We have seen a few players exposed, but does throwing the odd second XI player in jail solve it? To kill the serpent, you must cut off its head. The ICC Anti-Corruption Unit must pursue the root of the problem and if necessary expose the big names.”
Then turning his eagle eye to the sad condition of English cricket, Botham asked whether “the presence of central contracts had made England’s players too cozy” Botham said, “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.”
He also demanded the British Prime Minister David Cameron to do much more than he has so far to promote cricket in schools in the country. Speaking about the facilities and time given to sports in general, and cricket in particular, in schools in England, Botham was angry, saying it made him “insane” to see “how little is being done” and that he called upon Prime Minister Cameron to live up to his promise made to him about making change happen.
“Why aren’t the Government focusing on sport as a necessity in the school curriculum?” said Botham. “This subject drives me insane. I feel it is my duty to point out the problems that face sport in schools, and specifically cricket.
“The problem is now that schools are too big and there is no personal touch with the teachers. And as schools get bigger, one of the things you lose are your playing fields. Come on David Cameron – when I came to Downing Street to meet you, you made all the right noises and promised to come back to me with your ideas. I’m still waiting.”
The past speakers at the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture have been Rahul Dravid and Kumar Sangakkara, who were much more diplomatic and statesmanlike than Ian Botham. But Botham is an understandably bitter man because of the sad state English cricket finds itself in and because of the way Test cricket is fast losing popularity all over the world because of the preponderance of IPL and Twenty20. So, perhaps this was the plain speak that English cricket and cricket in general so badly needed.
