COMMENT: Has ICC become bold or bald without Hair?
IT’S official. ICC is split on racial lines. And the whites are down the hill looking up. All 7 non-white cricket boards voted to boot out Hair against the 3 white cricket boards who wanted him to stay.
Has the ICC become bold — or bald without Hair, as the wag would say — or is it that the Browns and the Blacks are combining to dilute the Whites? If so is the ICC becoming the acronym for International Coloreds Council?
How ironic it would be if there were to be a sign hanging outside the ICC offices in Dubai: ‘Whites Not Allowed’ or ‘Whites sit in the dark room across the hall.’
It would be amusing for visitors like Barry Richards or Ali Bacher, South African cricketers of the apartheid era.
Leading up to the ICC meeting had been the saber dangling by the Indians who believe the ICC undersold the rights of the ICC tournaments last time and that and that the one billion dollars are well short of what the Indian board themselves is willing to offer for the rights. It was withdrawn only because they had left their complaint too late. But the message has been sent no doubt and it has definitely upped the buying rate for the bidders.
ICC never thought there would be a day when one of its own members would be bidding for the rights, and that too a member from the former colonies. They must be kicking themselves for letting go of the veto power when ICC was Imperial Cricket Council with 4 white members out of seven. They have deflected the pressure for now but the battle lines have been drawn.
The irony of colour continues with the fact that the second semi final was between South Africa and West Indies, an unimaginable contest two decades back.
The final on Sunday has its own ironic connotations with an all white team playing an all black. I am surprised no one has recorded the fact that this is a repeat of the first World Cup final and the first time that the ICC Championship final is being contested by the holders.
What is most amazing is that, if the triangular contests are not included, this is the first time since that day at Lord’s in 1975 that Australia and West Indies are playing out a final of an ICC event. They haven’t played each other in a final for 31 years!
Two of the players who played that final — Clive Lloyd and Greg Chappell – have been coach or advisor with a side in this year’s Champions Trophy from which Lloyd, captain of the West Indies in 1975, will be in the dressing room just as he was three decades ago. Maybe Sir Vivian Richards will have flown in or Ian Chappell, the Australian captain against Lloyd, is doing commentary. That will be quite appropriate.
What however does not appear appropriate has been the two years ban for Shoaib Akhtar and the comments of Intikhab Alam following its imposition.
Shane Warne was banned for a year by the Australian Cricket Board for a similar offence; ironic again that he was also withdrawn on the eve of Australia’s first match in the 2007 World Cup.
Asif has been given a year because he grew up in a village near Sheikhupura and can’t understand or read the English language, which is what the former top management of the PCB perhaps labeled as the official language of cricket for obvious reasons.
When critics of the foreign trainers and doctors cried themselves horse that there will be a communication gap between these hired hands and the players, they were told it makes no difference. So if PCB now claims that Asif has been given a lesser sentence because it was difficult for him to decipher the labeling, will the past management of the PCB please apologise.
By the way has someone held an intellectual conversation with Shoaib Akhtar in English? Since the time he has been selected it has been known, and Tauqir Zia went out of his way to support it, that he understands only his language and that is one that is found in racing bikes and scuba diving among sharks and some very ecstatic activities. So why the inference that he should have known what he was doing?
Believe me, if he did he would have played twice the number of Tests he has missed and taken more wickets. I think the PCB have used the opportunity to get rid of him.
It has been heard that they were warned earlier by the coach, physio and trainer for taking these steroids, intentional or unintentional. If true, did they submit written reports about this to the PCB? If not they should resign for shielding these players from the Board. If they did, why were these players allowed by the PCB to be picked?
Why wasn’t a system in place whereby the players were tested during every series when they were under suspicion? And it’s hurtful that Woolmer influenced these tests just when he (and obviously his troupe of assistants) are nearing their contract’s end? Why were there no Tests conducted when he desperately needed them to make it to 2007?
But what has hurt is Intikhab’s justification of the two year slam-out.
Inti has been known for being a gentleman and he is in many ways. For him to say Shoaib’s Slam dunk is defensible because he takes in alcohol and has an active sex life is hitting below the belt (excuse the pun).
As a member of the tribunal he should have left it to Dr Shahid Hamid to speak for the three. Second, he has exposed a wicked design to ‘get back at Shoaib’ for not listening to the management at home and on tour. Third, did he ever make these comments in public when he was a member of the side (and sometime captain of one) that had half the team members burning the midnight oil of the wrong kind?
In one of the tours on which Inti was captain, one of the players flew back midway during a series but we never heard Inti making a speech in public on moral grounds. And then he was manager and coach of the Pakistan side of the 1980s. I didn’t hear any public revelations of cricketers under him who broke the moral law.
In fact he was the defender of the team’s virtues when Qasim Umar complained that players were taking charas with them. Can he honestly put his hand on the Quran and say he was not aware that anyone was taking banned drugs then? Under his nose? Can he answer that without perjury if Shoaib takes him to court for defamation?
My only point here is that Intikhab has only damaged himself by these comments. He is a man of integrity and stooping so low as to comment on personal aspects which have no bearing on the judgment is to show vindictiveness that I know he does not haven for anyone.Intikhab is one of our most respected cricketers, albeit a weak administrator when he was in charge of the team. He should have left it at that.
What will strike Karachi next?
STANDING at the reception of a large private hospital in Clifton, one overheard a dialogue between a young educated woman and the cool counter-clerk that revealed that even this well-equipped hospital was running short of test kits that could determine whether a person was struck by the dreaded dengue fever. She had brought her chowkidar to ascertain whether or not he had this dengue fever, which has hit Karachi in a manner that has made citizens ask many questions.
Even this hospital was giving its blood tests (complete picture) reports in five days instead of the normal 24 hours. In a way, a very tiny indicator of the issues that the dengue fever has brought alive. One major question that Karachiites should be asking is “what next?” How much can they endure? I am saying this in view of the frustrations and humiliation (to say the least) that Karachi has been exposed to this year, now inching towards its culmination.
Look at the fact that the electricity crisis surfaced very early this year and lasted through Ramazan, and even now there isn’t much good news for this weary city. The KESC had made it clear that power shortage would be acute and hard-hitting until October. And that is how it has been.
I do not want to overdo the water crisis, but water shortage has remained a faithful theme when a list of deprivations and mismanagement in town is drawn up. In fact, I know cynical and skeptical citizens contend that it is stereotyped to talk of water shortages – and having said this, they drink more of the mineral water!
Then the monsoon rains this year – coupled with the underpasses, bypasses, and overhead bridges – gave to many parts of the city one of its most unforgettable monsoons ever. That’s a nightmare some residential and commercial areas will never forget. Once again the unpreparedness of the city for a crisis was underlined, and there is no point in recalling monsoon mayhem here.
Except that this dengue fever that we battle today, (despite what Islamabad’s bureaucrats have to say) is generally believed to be an outcome of or linked to the inability of the city to deal with the drainage issues arising out of the heavy rains.
One does not wish to focus unduly on roads that have, in the name of development, been dug up, and forgotten, all over the city – or the poor quality of work done – and the presumably substandard road building material used. But the streets and roads being platforms and stages for violent and sudden crime definitely need to be referred to. In fact, street crime, with all kinds of men wielding weapons and targeting citizens for their cellphones, cars and other valuables, has been a frightening experience. And this has been stretched to such an extent that we had the Prime Minister, Mr Shaukat Aziz, rushing to Karachi to discuss with. He had to direct the local administration to bring down the street crime within 15 days (ending Oct 31). Until the time of writing this column, there is no word in public of what that deadline has meant to citizens, generally speaking.
But the issue that has been the public concern is the dengue fever, and its scare, and the incessant reports of how the authorities at various levels have (almost by trial and error) tried to cope with it. One citizen who believes that Karachi gets relief from the torment of summer, which continued until September almost, has failed to get this respite from ordeals, never ending.
As if this wasn’t enough, look at the seasonal virus that has also hit the city, according to the General Secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi chapter, Dr Qaiser Sajjad (also an ENT specialist). This one is the difficult to pronounce and spell – and is called Rhinopharyngitis. It hits the nose and the throat, and the doctor says that the symptoms of this virus are similar to that of the dengue fever. In the case of Rhinopharyngitis, the general symptoms include fever, which sometimes turns into very high grade fever, nasal obstruction, headaches, body aches, runny nose, sore throat and other flue-like symptoms.
Dr Qaiser Sajjad has said that “50 to 60 per cent of the patients with high grade fever at this point of time are most probably suffering from this virus, and not the dengue virus.” He hopes that once the weather changes further and slides into winter, this virus will disappear.
And indeed, sooner or later also will vanish the dengue fever threat and reality – both. But besides asking once again that “what will hit Karachi next?” the question that agitates the mind is whether any lessons have been learnt from the dengue reality. Have the people in authority learnt lessons?
These would relate to not just issues that involve keeping the city clean and ensuring that the sewerage and rain water don’t mix, don’t stagnate in the next monsoon, but also our hospitals will be geared to take on this sort of a medical challenge. And that the city government will be better and quicker in organising the fumigation and spraying campaigns, which many people refuse to believe was carried out in most localities. So they used assorted sprays insides their houses, remarked one anxious housewife.
One also hopes that in the lessons learnt will also be those that relate to the willingness and the efficiency to share promptly the relevant information, in public interest, of course, rather than make the citizens think that officialdom is downplaying the size of the issue.
Even this daily carried reports that the health department was not sharing information and not disclosing the number of cases of people struck by VHF or dengue fever. And, on the other hand, having large billboards on busy roads with congested text in small font size focusing on the dengue fever is merely a ceremonial exercise.
The dengue fever is a grim growing issue in Karachi and most of the patients with VHF or dengue fever are in this very city. The City Council on Thursday urged the city government to launch a ‘massive media drive’ to create awareness with the help of authentic data pertaining to the hemorrhagic fever and dengue.
But let us return to the question that we began with: “what is going to hit us next in this city?” As a friend of mine remarked in lighter (?) vein: “To survive in Karachi, you have to do tight rope walking!”
Water release in Sutlej dry bed
THE Punjab Irrigation Department has released some water in the dry bed of Sutlej after a long time to the pleasant surprise of scores of farmers settled along the river and the locals who have stopped visiting the Empress Bridge there for picnic.
According to Irrigation Department officials, 29,000 cusecs of water were released from the Balloki-Sulemanki (BS) link canal. About 20,000 cusecs reached Sulemanki headworks, from where all its canals were closed down. They added that the water amount at the Islam headworks was reported to be about 16,000 cusecs, which further reduced to 9,000 to 10,000 cusecs at the Empress Bridge near Bahawalpur. The water level downstream near Khairpur-Tamewali was reported to be knee-deep.
The object of the release of water was to benefit the farming community and the public as due to the continued dried-up river bed the level of underground water of tubewell, wells, and hand-pumps had dropped to such an extent that the people were forced to do new boring for their water plants. This incurred heavy expenditure during the past years. With the release of water in the riverbed, the underground water table was expected to rise about 10 to 20 feet.
This will also help improve the quality of sub-soil water for drinking as currently there are complaints of arsenic being mixed with the underground water in most parts of the district.
Meanwhile, the cultivators and the public circles have demanded of the Punjab government to continue the supply of water in river Sutlej for at least six months so that agriculture prosperity could be brought to the
Seraiki belt in addition to making the sub-soil water fit for human consumption.
CHOLISTANI artisans, artists and craftsmen will participate in the Lok Virsa Mela to be held in Islamabad from Nov 4 to 19.
Dawn has learnt that a contingent of 50 prominent artists belonging to different categories will attend the Lok Virsa Mela. They will perform to project the culture, customs and civilization of the vast Cholistan desert.
Welcoming their participation in the mela, noted radio and TV singer Jameel Parvana (of Ahmedpur East) said that with their performance in the Islamabad Mela, the Cholistani artists will join the national stream of art and culture. He said that they will be able to introduce Cholistani culture, handicrafts and art at the national level. This will also provide financial help to the local artists, he concluded.