Cricket Lag

Everybody in the cricket world, including those supreme slave-masters, the BCCI, admits that there is too much international cricket. Kevin Pietersen begs for rest; bowlers suffer from more injuries; batsmen have little time to figure out which format they’re playing from one day to the next.

The phenomenon reaches especially ludicrous heights in cricket, because countries must embark on tours of other countries for extended amounts of time (India was in Ireland-England for a good two months, possibly more).

Take, for example, the weird space-time continuum that Sri Lanka will find itself in the next three months: it just played a 5-match ODI series against England. Now, rather than have the Test series after that (as is traditionally done), Sri Lanka just left to Australia, where it will play a few Tests against Australia. After that is done, the team will return to Sri Lanka (where, I presume, England will have stayed since October?) to finish off a Test series in December, only to go back to Australia in January to play a triangular ODI series against India and Australia.

So, England goes to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka goes to Australia, Sri Lanka goes to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka goes to Australia, England go home. Got that?

~ by duckingbeamers on October 27, 2007.