KEY POINTS:
The Sri Lankan board's decision to allow its players to choose between the Indian Premier League and the tour to England next year should not be taken as a sign the apocalypse is upon us - but the Four Horsemen are saddling up.
The circumstances around Sri Lanka's
decision, which seems to fly in the face of cricketing common sense, are unique.
They were a late replacement to tour England after the Zimbabwe cancellation and therefore are not bound by the Future Tours Programme (FTP). Also, their players have been in long-standing contract negotiations with Sri Lankan Cricket which have yet to be resolved.
That means, in effect, the players are not bound by the wishes of the board and are unlikely to be sympathetic to their wishes.
Nevertheless, there are worrying aspects, none more so than the silence of IPL boss Lalat Modi.
This is the man, remember, that assured world international cricket would remain the priority. This is the man who trumpeted a so-called Non-Objection Certificate, or 'non'-document as it should be more accurately described.
Surely the stage is set for Modi to blare "no Sri Lankan player that pulls out of the England tour will be eligible for the IPL within the same time frame", or is the spectre of restraint of trade, or the ire of his franchisees, too great a burden?
New International Cricket Council (ICC) president Haroon Lorgat has wasted no time giving his thoughts.
"My folks always told me to be careful because money is the root of all evil. The root of this issue is the sums of money involved - it is far more attractive financially to play in the IPL," Lorgat said yesterday.
"It is up to Sri Lanka to sort out the situation. To satisfy players financially by relying on their payments from IPL is not sustainable. Players have short careers and they want immediate rewards but we have to educate them about the development of the game. All of us, players included, must be responsible during this time of enormous opportunity."
So there you have it. It's up to the players to act responsibly. It's a lovely thought and one the Herald on Sunday almost begged Daniel Vettori to think about before he decided that the best preparation for captaining a coveted test tour of England was a few games of IPL to loosen up the joints.
While not resiling from that, the fact remains that the players do not create the environment they operate in, the ICC and its member countries do.
The players do not put together the FTP; they do not schedule the ICC tournaments; they do not even create cash-rich Twenty20 extravaganzas.
So before the head of the ICC begins lecturing players on having the good of the game at the forefront of their minds and to put aside financial considerations when steering this holier-than-thou course, perhaps they should heed their own advice first.
And don't think an IPL window is the panacea either. Does that mean you create a window for the ECB, West Indies and Allen Stanford's uneasy alliance? Should the Australasian T20 tournament, when it is up and running, get the same consideration?
Will we have a situation where test cricket is sandwiched in between windows for what are essentially domestic competitions?
Is that the sound of thundering hooves in the distance?
IF YOU think stepping down as the coach of a national team less than a year out from the World Cup is strange, then that's nothing compared to the lack of explanation given for it.
The White Ferns have been left without a coach after Steve Jenkins pulled the pin on Friday.
Jenkins claimed he needed a break after three years in the job and 16 years coaching at an elite level, while New Zealand Cricket said they would not comment as it was a matter between the coach and the national body.
The Herald on Sunday, however, understands the resignation was the result of an irretrievable breakdown in the working relationship between Jenkins and Catherine Campbell.
Campbell has been involved with the White Ferns since 1989, as a player and now manager. She is also a full-time employee of New Zealand Cricket in charge of women's cricket and her influence on the women's game is said to be all-pervading.
