Board stoush shows, yet again, who rules world cricket

The cricket world, including the ICC, always give in to the BCCI bullies. That’s what they are, bullies.

From your response, I assume you now acknowledge that India was within its rights to demand the ODIs be played in the 3rd week of January as per the contractual commitment made by CA under the FTP? I assume the debate now has shifted to how big, bad India bullied poor Australia into complying with its contractual obligations and not agreeing to a reschedule? "No, India in it’s usual arrogant style sought to force Australia into giving up prime cricket time because it was too proud to admit it could have played these games at another time." Can you cite a source for that? That Aus has given up prime cricket time is clear...but on what basis are you suggesting it is because "India is too proud to admit it could have played these games at another time"? Or is it just another bunny you pulled out of a hat? "When push back from Australia came, the bullies resorted to the simple tactic of claiming to be blackmailed. Really? To suggest that is simply childish." Really? Read Belinda Clarke's email and consider what other conclusion you could arrive at? It was really quite clear Australia were trying to use the women's participation as leverage and when you do that, you must be prepared for your bluff to be called. In any case, India has not much to lose here and as far as I am concerned this is an internal matter for Aus. If Aus wants to undermine the interests of their women players to promote the interests of their broadcasters, that is their choice. "Indian cricket is strong at present, both on and off the field however all things go through swings & roundabouts. This bullying tactic will be answered in due course, of that I’m sure. CA officials have long memories and they won’t forget the BCCI’s intransigence. " Spare me the moralising. Aus has a long history of bullying the smaller cricketing nations. While England played the Kiwis often when they were small and not very good, Aus refused to until 1972. Australia has not toured Pakistan since 1998, much before the security issues in the country - even India have toured Pakistan more recently! The Bangladesh Test tour that got cancelled last year because it was not "economically viable" for CA is another prime example. Until the turn of the century, it was herculean for India to get a tour of Australia until the Indian market grew and CA could rake in the moolah through Indian tours. Given this long history of selfishness - turnabout is fair play, I say! In this instance, BCCI refused to budge, yes. Maybe they could have...but why should they? What is so wrong with asking a major professionally run sporting board to comply with its contractual obligation? While I think a large part of it is actual scheduling conflicts preventing a reschedule to dates and times of CA's preference, it also begs the question that if FTP commitments made by Boards are neither binding nor final and must be continuously renegotiated, what is the purpose of painstakingly drawing up these schedules? "By the way, as a clear expert on Indian cricket and it’s scheduling, please tell me WHY India could not play these games, when Australia suggested, in late January? In other words, what competing priority stopped the BCCI from agreeing to those dates?" It appears you have not read the articles cited. Aus is not suggesting late January. See below quote from the SMH: "CA had sought to shift the series to later in the year but the Board of Control for Cricket in India has refused this request, and has insisted it begin several days earlier." From ESPNCricinfo: "According to a senior BCCI official, India had committed to hosting Australia in January 2020 with January 12, 15 and 17 being chalked out as the dates for the three-match ODI series, though CA, it is understood, had checked with BCCI whether that ODI series could be played in India in March instead. However, South Africa will arrive in India to play an ODI series in March immediately after their home series against Australia. The BCCI also told CA that Indian players would need to be given at least a 15-day gap before playing the IPL, and hence the Australia series could not be rearranged." From insidesport.co : "Australia wanted to staple their traditional ODI fixtures with the Test Series, insisting India to defer the three games to sometime later in the year." Australia wants these ODI's rescheduled to later in the year - around March which India cannot do because of other international commitments. Given the amount of cricket India plays and the fact that India's international players need sufficient breaks in between, I suspect a rescheduling is more or less out of the question. A cancellation is always an option available with CA though. If Aus is so insistent on staying home in Jan and so determined to show NZ the proper "respect", why can they not cancel this ODI series and compensate BCCI for the losses? Especially since it is a meaningless ODI series. That they are not doing so would mean they don't want to shell out the $$, I presume? Additionally, they also want to then paint BCCI as the bad guy for making them accept this schedule (which they willingly signed in the first place)….do I have it right? It might just be me but it sure sounds like wanting to have your cake and eat it too! Anyway, we are going around the same circles. I am the last person to say BCCI is a saint and it is unquestionable that they have flexed their $$$ muscle on the international scene at inopportune times. However, I believe CA is just as bad, if not worse. In this instance, they made a mistake with the scheduling and instead of owning it up, they are fighting a media campaign to paint BCCI as the bad guy here. If the aim is to pressure BCCI to do something, it won't work. A media campaign in far-away Aus over an issue which is far from black-and-white won't bother them an iota especially given they are administered under a Supreme Court appointed CoA presently. If the aim is the appease the Aus public and broadcasters, they might succeed - they sure seem to have convinced you! Unless you have something new to say on this topic with some source to back up your claim, the subject is closed as far as I am concerned and I will not be responding further. Have a good day!

maybe Watto to captain as a farewell a la Alex Blackwell and the GG's XI this year? Leave Hando back here to boost the stars?

We can consider not including any of their guns - Mandhana, Kaur and Yadav - in the proposed Australia v the World women's test in Canberra in the leadup to the World T20 next year.

Play who there Tomothy. Everyone wants a slice of The very large Indian cricket pie.

Fair - I like that. Not sure if you could tell but I was taking the p155 only because that was the bizarre ODI attack Australian took to SA in that forgettable series in 2016.

No, India in it's usual arrogant style sought to force Australia into giving up prime cricket time because it was too proud to admit it could have played these games at another time. Australia tried to suggest other times, which is exactly what these articles all say, but India dug it's heels in and refused to budge. That's called bullying. When push back from Australia came, the bullies resorted to the simple tactic of claiming to be blackmailed. Really? To suggest that is simply childish. Indian cricket is strong at present, both on and off the field however all things go through swings & roundabouts. This bullying tactic will be answered in due course, of that I'm sure. CA officials have long memories and they won't forget the BCCI's intransigence. By the way, as a clear expert on Indian cricket and it's scheduling, please tell me WHY India could not play these games, when Australia suggested, in late January? In other words, what competing priority stopped the BCCI from agreeing to those dates?

India calling the shots in World Cricket is something we will all just have to get used to. 1 billion plus passionate supporters is telling. Numbers matter.

This seems like a convenient re-writing of the sequence of events. See all the articles I listed (including the Sydney Morning Herald) - CA go to BCCI saying "can we reschedule to March"...BCCI says "not possible, in fact we want it earlier in January". To twist this to say that the dispute arose because BCCI insisted on a 1 week preponement is laughably obtuse. Especially given that I'm not sure a preponement was demanded in the first place. Here is the FTP schedule The India-Aus ODI series is scheduled for the 3rd and 4th week of January as per FTP and sure enough, 12th, 15th and 17th - the dates on which the BCCI is demanding the ODIs are in the third week of January - refer this calendar. Forgive me if I don't buy the frivolous argument that BCCI enforcing a contract is somehow a "disrespect" to Aus and NZ There are 5 weeks = 35 days reserved in FTP for the Aus-NZ series to accommodate 18 days of cricket. I figure CA-NZC could make this work if they didn't have other priorities (Big Bash). Also, read again the articles I have listed. The big issue aside from the NZC series, especially for CA and the broadcasters is the fact that key players will be missing from the Big Bash. If you argument it right and all CA wants is to reschedule back to last week of January, why would this be an argument at all given the Big Bash continues until mid-February and the key players will be missing for a week during the Big Bash regardless of whether it is a week before or after? Unless you are very biased and eager to buy the CA narrative, it is clear that the debate here is not over preponement of a week. It is over the fact that Aus wants to "protect" its home summer and not tour in January - the article itself is clear on that. If that was the aim, CA were shambolically lackadaisical in their scheduling and pointing fingers and whining in the media about a "big brother" isn't going to change that.

The BCCI IS the bad guy in this, Sports Fan. CA might be many things but it is not stupid when it comes to scheduling, especially for an Australian summer which is when it makes the bulk of its money. CA saw a very small time window to get the Australian ODI team to India in LATE January. India then decided it couldn't/wouldn't agree to that and clearly refused to negotiate any other dates except in the timeframe Australia had already set aside for a NZ ODI tour. Australia tried to offer other dates but the response was zero negotiation, so when India wanted players to come and support their domestic cricket, Australia said "lets wait and see". India called this blackmailing but where does the BCCI stand with the gross disrespect it showed to both Australia and New Zealand, by failing to try and compromise? At the least they must provide an explanation and an apology to NZ for treating their series with Australia as a nuisance and treating them as though they are a second class cricket nation.

Probably go with white ball specialist like Coulter-Nile, Tye, Kane Richardson and Zampa. Little chance of test call ups but still a respectable line up with some experience. Maybe also risk Agar and Barendorff for some games.

Will be crap if they cancel the NZ series for another India v Australia ODI series - there have been plenty recently already.

An attack of Mennie, Boland and Worrall?

Apologies if it seems I'm blaming you. I'm just commenting on the PR blitz in several Aus media sources CA seems to have undertaken which seems keen to paint BCCI as the bad guy in this. The SMH was painting the BCCI as the bad guy even before As for your contention that it was BCCI forcing the reschedule which caused the issue, I think that is wrong. CA does not want to play the ODIs in Jan and wants to reschedule them to March which is not possible for the BCCI to accommodate because India plays SA in March. Both Sydney Morning Herald and ESPNCricinfo report this to be the case not to mention several Indian news outlets. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/india-power-play-means-no-odi-cricket-in-australia-next-summer-20190412-p51dgw.html http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26608960/consider-women-t20-participation-odi-issue-resolved-ca https://www.news18.com/cricketnext/news/india-to-host-australia-for-three-odis-in-january-2020-2100105.html https://www.insidesport.co/australian-media-outrageous-as-india-forces-kangaroos-to-follow-ftp/ In any event, I am sure a mutually acceptable solution could have been found had CA not resorted to blackmailing tactics. In my experience, people rarely take well to threats...a request works much better.

Its getting laughable all these attempts to focus only on money, using the women as a bargaining chip is a sign of desperation. The other thing is all the resignations made no difference Sutherlands man is still in charge. They want the Indians because they provide money, there are plenty of other teams to play if they want. The Australian media back to the crawling best swallowing everything hook line and sinker.

CA never had a problem ruining the South African or New Zealand summer, why should the BCCI care about theirs. I don't really mind the summer ending with the new year test. The BBL and ODI are all hit and giggle so happy to switch to the tennis

The 2023 world cup is in india we could use this as a development tour, make handscomb captain and carey vice captain and take a heap of inexperienced players and allow the likes of Maxwell, Warner, Starc and Finch to play the big bash. Potential team Darcy Short Jake Weatherald Ben McDermott Peter Handscomb (c) Alex Carey (vc/wk) Josh Philippe Ashton Turner Chris Green Lloyd Pope Joel Paris Riley Merideth If any other young guns start next season well they should consider them as well.

David, this is one side of the picture. CA agreed to the Jan ODI series as part of FTP and now want to reschedule that. As I understand it, CA wants BCCI to reschedule the series to March which the BCCI does not agree to because India plays SA in March. It begs the question why CA agreed to this series in Jan in the first place. Did they not know it was in the middle of a home summer, in the middle of the Big Bash and that NZ would be touring? In other words, did they lose their calendar? After making a multi-board binding commitment, trying to wriggle out of it to appease the broadcasters and scuttle the interests of the women players to do this is not a good look for CA. Nor this is PR blitz which tried to pin this on the BCCI

Rule the world cricket? Influence? Please. If China would have played cricket they would have been far more influential. It is doing of so called big 3 to "influence " the very game itself. Expand the international cricket, let more nation come in, we have seen Afghanistan. Then you will see what happens.