Check out earlier blogs edited into an exclusive ebook at: http://www.searchingforsachin.net/
This week a mixed bag. First a poetic dedication to Sachin, then Brett Lee’s career decision, then a statement from the Australian Cricketers’ Association hot off the press, and conjecture about how the IPL intends to face terrorist threats.
Our poem is a pure-of-heart sample of the devotion Sachin Tendulkar inspires in so many young people in India today …..
Sachin Tendulkarby David Wesley
He is not God
And that tells a lot
There have been, are, great men
And greater to come
Compared, matched, weighed
Each with the other
Some emerge better
Others much and few
Others not less
Only that he lost it to God
And that tells a lot.
(Poem first published earlier this month on ‘Open Window’, a student poetry wall at the University of Madras.)
And on the topic of admiration for Sachin Tendulkar, let’s move to a current story: fast bowler Brett Lee’s decision to retire from Test cricket, ahead of his full statement to be released this Friday. An agonising decision for Lee, no doubt, made no easier by the prospect of security threats to the IPL competition, which he might have hoped would offer at least financial compensation for this disappointment over injuries keeping him from resuming his once-primary place in the Australian Test squad.
Next week I’ll use further excerpts from an interview I conducted with Brett Lee last year, but this week I’ll give you just a teaser…. This is part of what Lee had to say about Sachin:
‘I believe Sachin Tendulkar has had a massive influence not only on Indian cricket but around the world. Anyone who knows anything about cricket has heard of Sachin. India has a population of 1.3 billion, increasing by 20 million per year, and he is known by everyone. He’s virtually a prisoner in his own country – the biggest name known. He and Donald Bradman will always be known as the greatest batsmen. What he’s done – playing so long and achieving so much in cricket – is a credit to him.’
Perhaps Brett Lee’s decision this week is in some small part a considered response to the security risk of travelling with a troupe of national Test cricketers, all accommodated in the one ritzy multi-star hotel, so that he’s decided to adopt a more low-key approach. Not that he, as a blondie, could ‘blend in’ among the 1.3 billion Indian population, but acting as an independent cricketer selling his skills to entertain the Indian fans might be viewed more benignly than acting as a national representative. Who can know the psychology and rationale adopted by terrorist organisations? In any case, he’s stated his unstinting admiration for India’s stalwart innings-maker, and for this he might be protected by the mass of Indians who not only admire Sachin Tendulkar but also Brett Lee’s abilities when he’s in good form, as well as, in turn, respecting Brett Lee’s admiration of Sachin.
The Australian Cricketers’ Association has tonight issued a statement raising some doubt about the prospect of Australian cricketers participating in this year’s IPL in India.
Chief Executive Paul Marsh said the independent security report commissioned by the Player Associations of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa had identified some serious concerns with aspects of the current security situation around the 2010 IPL event
‘It is important to reinforce that players want to play in this year’s IPL,’ he said.
Marsh said that, ‘specifically the concerns relate to the reported direct threat against the event and the status and implementation of the IPL’s security plan’.
‘The process from here is for all Player Associations to meet with their player groups and for all of us to feed back the concerns raised from these meetings to the IPL, coordinated through our peak body, the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA).
‘From here we will await a response from the IPL,” Marsh said.
Until next week – and more from Brett Lee…
Copyright cvwilliams. As is obvious, all credit to
The Times for the pic.
Check out earlier blogs edited into an exclusive ebook at: http://www.searchingforsachin.net/
