England whinge about India tour itineray

[SpaceMonkey]

That'll save us a draw

Instead of a loss?

 

[Jono]

We'll see

 

[Majin]

Agree with those who think the biggest issue is the 7 ODI games, dire. England/India should be a 4 test series at least.

 

[Arjun]

Whether the CCI is a better ground than the Wankhede I don't know, but it's not a front-line stadium and never has been.

The CCI is a far better ground than Wankhede. The pitch and outfield are not as volatile as the 'Hede, and for a fan, this is a far better place. The seating is better, the facilities are better, and for serious fans, there's a museum to visit; one of the best in the country. That they have lost matches to Wankhede is quite unfortunate; a reputed cricket journalist once said it's because of one man's excess ambition.

 

[superkingdave]

yer...only care about the fact that there are only 2 tests, should stay over christmas as well, need something to watch on tv.
DGAF about the venues

Anyway 3 Tests 5 ODI's would have been my best option (or 5 tests no ODI's....) why couldn't that happen? From what i hear even if ECB had agreed to stay over the Xmas period there still would have been 7 ODI's. Just chop 2 ODi's and go a bit later ffs

 

[jeevan]

The previous tour of England and the forthcoming see them play ODIs at Indore, Jamshedpur and Guwahati. So much for "spreading" the game.

 

[Arjun]

I wonder why the BCCI chose Guwahati, Rajkot and Kanpur. All three of them are problem-ridden venues. Luckily they didn't choose Dharmashala or Goa.

 

[Burgey]

Provided the facilities are good at the grounds and the playing surfaces are fine, what's the problem? As so many have siad, the ODI:test ratio is the bad part.
It's a big country with a huge population, spread the cricketing love!!!

 

[silentstriker]

BCCI response:

The BCCI has responded to the England board's statement, in which they expressed "disappointment" at the proposed itinerary for the tour of India, by saying that the venues were decided according to a rotation policy.

"We would like to remind the ECB that our venues are always decided on the basis of a rotation policy," Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, told Cricketnirvana.com. "The itinerary for the England tour has been finalised on the basis of this rotation policy."

The main concern surrounds the grounds for the seven-match one-day series. Instead of playing at stadiums like Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, England are scheduled to visit Rajkot, Indore, Kanpur, Jamshedpur, Cuttack, Guwahati and Delhi.

A statement from the ECB said that "despite representations, the itinerary didn't offer the thousands of supporters who follow the England team abroad, the opportunity to experience more of the great cricket grounds of India."

Shah, however, questioned the ECB's decision to complain. "We do not quite understand how and why the ECB has chosen to air its grievances over this policy in the media," Shah said. "Whenever the Indian team has toured England, some of the venues have not been up to the mark in terms of facilities for Indian players and supporters. However, we have complied and gone ahead and played, for it is the host board's prerogative to fix the itinerary."

England will play seven ODIs, two Tests and three warm-up matches during their tour which begins on November 6 and ends on December 23.

 

[Dissector]

Seems a pretty sensible response. I really don't know what the ECB thinks they are up to. This isn't some new policy and the BCCI isn't going to change it. Whining about it in public just makes the ECB look pathetic.

 

[Dissector]

I would like to add that I am not a big fan of the BCCI and I suspect, most of the Indian posters on the board aren't either. However the ignorance,paranoia and rage directed at the BCCI here is truly ridiculous. It seems every other day someone or the other is whining about the BCCI and the "Asian block" for the most absurd reasons. Just knock it off.

 

[Jono]

I would like to add that I am not a big fan of the BCCI and I suspect, most of the Indian posters on the board aren't either. However the ignorance,paranoia and rage directed at the BCCI here is truly ridiculous. It seems every other day someone or the other is whining about the BCCI and the "Asian block" for the most absurd reasons. Just knock it off.

Other than the 'just knock it off' (I feel they're entitled to bitch about the Asian takeover, and we're entitled to roll our eyes ) I agree with this.

Most Indian (and Pakistani and Sri Lankan) supporters aren't proud of our cricket boards' antics, but when we believe they haven't actually done anything wrong, I'll gladly defend them.

This was just another excuse for the anti-Asian cricket power sentiment to be expressed on this board again. No I'm not saying if you're concerned about the BCCI's power you're in anyway racist or xenophobic, but I do suggest thinking about whether you would be complaining if the shoe was on the other foot, like it was a few decades ago.

 

[Goughy]

but I do suggest thinking about whether you would be complaining if the shoe was on the other foot, like it was a few decades ago.

Im interested in this concept. Ive seen it thown around often but Im not convinced (Im willing to be).

England have always been forced (by its own admin) to be overly fair to certain nations. It certainly didn't exercise political thuggery as the post suggests.

 

[Jono]

My post only suggests political thuggery if the person reading the post believes every move by the BCCI is political thuggery.

However to suggest the England and Australian boards never exploited their power in earlier years would be incorrect IMO.

 

[Dissector]

Incidentally, it occurred to me that with the IPL, the rotation policy makes even more sense. The big cities, for the forseeable future, will get to see the top international stars in a limited overs format every year. And they generally get the test matches as well. It seems only fair to give most of the ODI's to the smaller places.

The fact is that India is a vast country. Even if we restrict ourselves just to the urban middle class we are talking about 150-200 million people. That's a lot of people distributed over a lot of cities.

 

[James]

The BBCI can complain next time they tour England if England take ODIs to the likes of Bristol and Cardiff

Agree with everything Niranjan Shah said in the above media releaes.

 

[Barney Rubble]

I completely understand why India have done what they've done here, but I also completely understand why England are complaining.

What I don't understand is why anyone would pain England as the bad guys as this situation. If India came to England and played two Tests at Southampton and Cardiff, followed by ODIs at Bristol, Guildford, Chester-le-Street, Taunton, New Road, Grace Road and Chelmsford, the BCCI would be furious. So would Cricket Australia, or any other national cricket organisation.

Just another portent of the eventual East-West split in world cricket, unfortunately.

 

[Dissector]

The analogy doesn't work because India is very different from England; a much bigger country with more potential venues. I don't think it would be in the interest of the ECB to have ODI's in smaller venues because you probably wouldn't get decent audiences. But hey I could be wrong and if the ECB thought that having ODI's in smaller venues was best for English cricket I would have absolutely no problem with it so long as they met basic cricket requrements.

That's the way it is: the Indian venues are chosen for the benefit of Indian cricket and the English venues are chosen for the benefit of English cricket. I don't see what the problem is.

 

[silentstriker]

Just another portent of the eventual East-West split in world cricket, unfortunately.

Not happening.

 

[Sanz]

This issue has been coming up pretty much every time the English teams visit India. Only way to resolve the issue is to stop playing cricket with India. It seems that the country is not good enough for them to visit.