South African sun heats up IPL

Horace Smith, founder of the gunsmith Smith & Wesson, once said: ‘Inconsistency is the only thing in which men are consistent.”

Lalit Modi, the Board of Control for Cricket in India vice-president, has proved his point in recent days as he has sought to play the England and Wales Cricket Board and its South African counterpart against one another as possible hosts for the travelling circus of the Indian Premier League.

After taking the dramatic decision to take the IPL abroad after talks with the government over security broke down, his public hints to a hungry global news media about its likely destination have prompted speculation to swing wildly back and forth.

When England Cricket Board (ECB) chairperson Giles Clarke celebrated in Sydney with the World Cup-winning women’s team on Sunday, England were being talked of as favourites. By the time he landed in London on Thursday morning and headed to Lord’s for a reception in their honour, Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola was organising a press conference to declare victory.

In an effort to counter the growing perception that the ECB had been left standing by the South Africans’ proactive moves to court the BCCI, Clarke said that in just 48 hours a draft schedule had been drawn up and many of the logistical issues ironed out. ‘We don’t see security as a problem. Likewise, we won’t be short of hotels or transport,” he said.

Clarke added that culture secretary Andy Burnham, at Lord’s for the reception, had pledged support and insisted security and policing issues were not a factor. But a few hours later, when Modi had unveiled the decision in South Africa, Collier admitted there were logistical and security problems.

The ECB was keen to argue that this was not a ‘beauty parade” and there was no question of South Africa having ‘beaten” England to the prize of hosting the IPL. ‘If they wanted us to host it, we believe we would be in a position to do so. We don’t see this as a competitive situation,” said Clarke.

In the end one of the key deciding factors was the most mundane one — the British weather. While it can also be unpredictable in South Africa in April, the average temperature is 10 degrees higher and the odds of rain-free days are lower. But there were other factors at play.

Clarke said he had spoken to Sky, with which the ECB has a £300-million rights deal, and insisted that there were no ‘significant barriers from the broadcasting area” despite the IPL rights residing with its rival, Setanta, and the event clashing with a West Indies Test. When lawyers suggested that players might be clobbered for Britain’s top rate, that might also have weighed on the BCCI’s mind, given the fact the IPL is almost wholly based around the star power of the world’s best players.

When the dust settles there will also be questions about the future of the IPL itself. The consensus was that it was the future of cricket. That certainty has been shaken and its year abroad will shape its future. ‘When you put yourself in their shoes, the one thing for them is that it’s got to be successful,” said Clarke.

The tournament will feature 59 matches from April 18, with the final to be played on May 24. Matches will start at 11.30am and 3.30pm to allow for live prime-time coverage in India. —