The Point, sited next to the 1895 pavilion

England’s second much-more-of-a-Test-than-it-used-to-be against Bangladesh has also been the first look most of us have had at the new Old Trafford conference centre, The Point.  The naming of the new building has made it easy for the press to poke fun at Lancashire – what’s the Point, missing the Point, Point of no return…I could go on but I won’t.  Instead I’m going to ask, Pointedly, what do we make of it all?

Lancashire claim that The Point is “the cutting edge of hospitality”.  If hospitality simply means a bunch of suits enjoying a day of drinking at a sporting event that they pay only partial attention to, and then not at all after 2pm, then I have to take issue with this.

But it doesn’t, it’s much more than just a huge box full of some smaller boxes for drinking alcohol in.  Never before has a large red box at a cricket ground had it’s own website, it’s own twitter profile and a dedicated webcam publishing grainy images of it.  I’ll leave you to insert your own Ryan Sidebottom joke here.

To save you the bother of actually reading the website to see what’s on offer, here’s a summary in the style of those sketches on Mock the Week where Hugh Dennis translates a speech:

• Moveable interior walls…for when the chaps from nPower get a bit too rowdy
• Large power supplies – 125Amp 3-phase available…those Blackberrys don’t charge themselves you know
• Over fifty hanging points…for extra lighting, but can also be used during stock-market crashes
• Electronic blackout blinds…Jonathan Trott just came in to bat
• Lift access for passengers…for those who can no longer walk unaided
• Green features including: rainwater harvesting…after 2pm the execs will be too far gone to notice the difference
• Two LCD projectors for projection onto end walls…exclusively reserved for Lalit Modi and county chief executives

All of this £12m tomfoolery comes at a cost to the aesthetic balance of Old Trafford.  As the Manchester Evening News put it

A bright red wedge of contemporary architecture that stands in stark contrast to its surroundings.

Siting The Point right next to the grand old pavilion (1895) is Lancashire’s way of saying “stuff the history, show us the cash”.  They are planning to complete the effect by building a second one on the other side.

Needless to say, reaction has been mixed.  To find a true cross-section of opinion, I have been carrying out exhaustive research over an extended period (trans: I found some tweets by the England players). First, here’s @Swannyg66:

The new old Trafford stand is quite frankly worse than eating sprouts dipped in marmite. Washed down with turps.

And here’s @JimmyAnderson9:

Most of the talk in the dressing room today was of the new stand/box at old trafford. A big thumbs down from most of the lads but I like it!

who followed up with:

We have decided this morning that the reason swanny doesn’t like the new stand is because it is taking a lot of attention away from him.

I think it would look good in the right context, but until the rest of the ground is renovated in a similar modern style, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Footnotes

[1] – Cover image for this post sourced from Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 license

So far this story is attracting minimal interest from the UK media. First, the location of Theo Walcott’s summer holidays are far more important than the potential destruction of our summer sport. Second, anything to do with the IPL is unclean, contaminated by the combined stains of cheerleaders, movie stars and nighttime parties.

At the moment coverage is only of the regurgitation variety, and in no way proffers anything that might possibly be quoted out of context and construed as allegedly voicing an opinion (not that of the publishers, obviously).

Fortunately bloggers like me can’t afford lawyers, hate lily-livered words like alleged, and enjoy being sued for libel because it makes us feel important.

The basis of the whole wrangle is that Clarke has accused Modi of plotting with the counties to hijack English cricket. Modi says that he merely outlined IPL business theory over an impromptu lunch.

The counties had previously responded to the accusations against them with a denial, saying they were on a fact finding mission.

The key to decoding all of this is the interpretation of the importance of lunch.

County executives always have lunch when they are about to make important decisions. That post-lunch lethargy effect deadens the brain and is essential to the decision making process.

When Clarke read in Stewart Regan’s email that the meeting with Modi was at lunchtime, he instantly recognised the significance of the timing.

Modi is relying on the BCCI being ignorant of this culture as he tries to wriggle himself free of the mess.

The timing of the meeting also undermines the counties’ fact-finding claim. County fact finding is always done before lunch so that the post-lunch lethargy effect can subsequently wipe their memories clean.

Correct responses to a question about franchise revenue distribution in this situation would include

20% hand-carved ham and poached eggs with a rich lemon-butter sauce per annum

or possibly

a breakdown of revenues commensurate with a selection of cheeses, savoury biscuits and fine French pâté

or even

gin and tonic in the 1st quarter, growing to fine port before the end of the financial year

Clarke himself followed this protocol. On finding the Regan email in his inbox, he devoted the rest of the morning to analysing it and making a few calls to check some facts. He followed this with Chicken Caesar Salad and an expensive bottle of white at his favourite eatery and then sat down to compose his email to the BCCI in the afternoon.

So it’s easy to understand why Modi and the BCCI differ on their interpretation of all this.

Modi is hoping to convince BCCI of Giles Clarke’s personal vendetta against him by referring to a 2008 meeting where the ECB chief used his left hand to eat the naan bread offered to him by the IPL Chairman & Overlord (suspended).  This was around the time that Clarke was enjoying a series of lunches with Allen Stanford that ranged in rating from “jolly nice” to “jolly good”.

The rest of Modi’s defence against the BCCI Show/Cause onslaught is constructed upon those twin pillars of the school playground dispute – “I know you are but what am I?” and “Giles Clarke smells of poo”.

Combine that with a talent for “yeah but no but” that would shame Vicky Pollard, and you have a fearsome defense that the BCCI will do well to break down.  He even uses subheadings.

Modi is responding to Show/Cause with Shock & Awe, while Giles Clarke has progressed no further than Show & Tell.

Meanwhile there have also been reports of illegal payments being made between Deccan Chargers and their players that broke IPL wage cap regulations.  Investigators are checking to see if the team really does employ a dancing girl named Andrew Symonds, as was listed on tax documents.

Footnotes

[1] – Cover image for this post was sourced from Wikimedia
[2] – A full copy of Lalit Modi’s reply to the BCCI can be found here

Since then, it has been reported that plans for a breakaway were already being formulated, and involved…surprise, surprise, Lalit Modi.

Executives from three of the counties (Lancashire, Yorkshire & Warwickshire) had met with Modi in March to discuss the possibility of an extension of the IPL in England, a move that would have been in open defiance of the ECB. Clarke has reported this to the BCCI, who have issued a second set of charges for Modi to answer.

Suddenly this story changes from Giles Clarke and some of the counties bickering to a pus-filled, maggot ridden rift within English cricket. Civil war cannot be far away if it isn’t here already.

The proposed structure would have seen the existing IPL franchises having first refusal on English equivalents, with the counties receiving financial inducements in exchange for their support and for stirring support amongst county players.

In return, the new franchises, Indian owned, would receive 80% of the returns. It’s a fairly old and highly unsubtle tactic. Pay the locals off so that they stand aside while you rape and pillage your way through their land.

There are a number of factors to consider with this:

• This plan would involve the Test Match Grounds (TMGs) – Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Warwickshire, Glamorgan, Hampshire, Surrey, MCC/Lord’s and Nottinghamshire.
• The remaining nine counties – Somerset, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire – were not included.
• This deal would have involved the IPL and the counties only. The BCCI and ECB would have been bypassed entirely.
• The organisers would be prepared to create a full rebellion amongst players and create their own cricket “structure” (i.e. a new cricket board)
• Even MCC could end up being implicated in this.

It’s well known that a number of the counties are struggling financially. Equally obvious is that the ECB doesn’t have much of a clue what to do about it, beyond endlessly tinkering with the domestic competitions so that nobody knows what they are actually competing for this season.

So it’s no real surprise that the counties are considering going behind the ECB’s back.

Now the ECB are desperately trying to put out the fire started by their own incompetence. By hosing Modi they hope to create a fire break that will bring their errant charges back into line, having nowhere else to go.

The ECB is a very traditionalist administrator. It will sanction progress, but only so long as it does not disturb the county-based status quo that has existed for over a century. The idea of allowing some of the counties to die for the greater cause is entirely unthinkable, about as unlikely as an MCC member deciding to switch to a different morning paper.

They are really little more than a representation of the 18 counties, as all decisions regarding competitions have to be ratified by a majority of the members. This makes radical change very difficult, as each member looks to protect it’s own interests.

From the point of view of the rebel counties, an ECB based solution to the financial morass is increasingly problematic. The ECB will insist that all 18 counties be included in any new competition, as with the existing T20 Cup. For the Test Match Grounds, their weaker cousins are dead weight in financial terms, and they stand to gain much more by going it alone.

The fact that they would be willing to allow 80% of gross revenues to be taken out of English cricket shows how desperate they are. This is by far the most worrying aspect of the plan, and shows an incredible lack of long term thinking on the part of the counties involved.

For the non-TMG counties, this would almost certainly mean oblivion, unless they were to choose to allow themselves to be devoured into nine regional super-franchises. That pretty much equates to oblivion anyway, as they would cease to be independent. To use an overly-worn cliché, turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.

Even if the ECB successfully manages to derail this mutiny, unless they can devise a suitable solution another attempt can only be a matter of time. Money will overcome any hesitancy on the part of the rebels.

All of which suggests that the landscape of English cricket is about to be torn apart. A new grand masterplan looks about as likely as a Monty Panesar double ton, and without one the status quo is doomed.

The emails that have sparked this crisis are as clear as day. In the summary of the meeting with Modi, shared amongst the TMGs, the figures are explained with an array of exclamaton marks. The county execs are thoroughly aroused.

There is also a to-do list of hurdles that need to be overcome, including examining the Sky TV contract, finding a way to deal with the ECB, and fending off the other 9 counties.

Now that the cat is out of the bag and busily devouring pigeons, the “rebels” have issued a furious denial, calling it a “fact finding mission”. Do me a favour.

The fact that the emails were forwarded by Stewart Regan (Yorkshire) to Clarke would appear to back this claim up, but it could be that:

• this was necessary for legal purposes
• they were trying to cover their backs in the event of a leak
• this really was the act of a whistleblower
• it was an accident

Consider also this quote, by Regan, which demonstrates exactly what he has in mind:

I thought I would sketch out the main thrust of the meeting to give you a feel for the size of the prize and some of the issues facing us going forward. As you can see there is a huge upside if we can navigate our way through this.

What will be Giles Clarke’s next move? Will he have the courage to ban a county from cricket as he has threatened to do? More likely, he will be pinning his hopes on Modi’s downfall and renewed co-operation with the BCCI paving the way for a solution to be devised.

He will also be desperately trying to protect his power base. His term of office runs out in March 2011 And he faces an uphill battle with half of the counties now set in opposition against him.

Unless he can come up with something good, he will have to rely on the support of the smaller counties if he wants a third term. This is another reason why he has to attack Modi. If the TMGs go it alone, he would lose all remaining support, and probably wouldn’t even make it as far as next March. So he has to be seen to be taking a hard line against the plot.

Possible solutions?

1. The ECB must find a workable solution for the county cricket competitions. The T20 Cup is no IPL, but now that the TMGs have seen the pot of gold on offer, they must find a way to increase it’s success by a factor of about 20. But there are complaints that too much cricket is being played already, and talk of the county championship being streamlined. This is now inevitable.
2. It is imperative that Giles Clarke finds a way to work with the BCCI to ensure that the counties can be guaranteed regular participation in the Champions League. Aside from the on-field benefits, the financial rewards could go some way to assuaging the counties, especially if England’s representation could be increased from two teams. It is due to Clarke’s hardballing of Modi that this hasn’t already been put into place, but the offer apparently remains open.
3. The ECB must accept that the TMGs operate on a different level to the other counties. This has in part been brought about by their own introduction of the bidding process for international matches. Even more problematic, they must convince the other counties as well. If they can do this, a workable solution involving a tiered T20 competition could be possible.

When you consider the various different interests and conflicts involved, and the rewards that are at stake, it is hard to see how this can be resolved without major casualties.

If the TMGs win and Clarke goes, several of the smaller counties could be doomed through their being excluded from the orgy. If Clarke wins, English cricket will continue to bumble along and get left behind the rest of the world, which could result in several counties being doomed due to insufficient finances.

Painful times are looming on the horizon.

Footnotes

[1] to read the full text of the emails, as published by Cricinfo, click here

Whilst the nation is busy worrying about the reign of a grumpy Scotsman, as well as the rain over a small South American nation, Giles has been busy trying to stamp out open mutiny amongst the county ranks.

It’s no secret that the Test Match Grounds (Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Surrey, MCC, Glamorgan and Hampshire) are talking amongst themselves about ways to bolster their finances.  In the wake of the new bidding process for test matches, replacing the closed-shop allocations of old, these counties have spent lavishly on improvements to their facilities and are now worried about how they might actually pay for it all.

One of the suggestions that has been doing the rounds like a hungry mongrel at dinnertime is the introduction of Twenty20 franchises in the style of the IPL.  Hampshire have already announced their “alliance” (some would say illicit affair) with Rajasthan Royals, whilst Warwickshire had been considering a similar deal with Kings XI Punjab before Modigate.  There was also the MCC’s ill-fated plan to bid for an IPL franchise – presumably they had run out of manilla envelopes.

Clarke’s response to all this has been swift (for him) and stern.  He has banned these counties from meeting together without representation from the other 9, and has threatened to get very cross indeed if they go ahead with further franchise arrangements.

Most impressively, he has agreed to set up a working party to improve cricket’s finances, which shows that he really is taking this jolly seriously.

As you may know, I like to make foolhardy predictions, so here is another for you: this isn’t likely to deter the counties, and it would be no surprise to see an attempt at a Premier-League-type breakaway before too long.

Exciting and turbulent times lie ahead.  Let’s just hope that Clarke & Chums don’t accidentally throw English cricket into reverse.

As Eddie Izzard would have said, “I was dead at the time”.

The BCCI is behaving like an especially useless parent when it tries to suggest that it is not it’s job to oversee the IPL. Here’s BCCI president Shashank Manohar chuntering at a press conference after the all-important meeting of the governing council:

There are huge companies that are run by people and those people, once a decision is approved, don’t go and look at the document whether it is properly executed or not.

Really?  Do the world’s biggest multi-nationals really just say “right, Dave, you take charge of building a ladder to the moon” and then just forget all about it?  If only there were some official process whereby financial accounts could be checked thoroughly to ensure that they are in order.

Behind all of this inane wittering lies the age-old excuse of incompentent numpties everywhere – “not my responsibility”.  This from the President of Indian cricket.  It’s quite twisted to think that the BCCI’s defence is that it was too busy neglecting it’s responsibilities to notice what was going on.

Whilst the BCCI is busily standing Lalit Modi on the naughty step with one hand, the other hand is behind it’s back with fingers crossed, hoping no-one notices certain rather obvious “allegations”.  The main one of these “allegations” is that they were far too busy dancing naked in large piles of cash to worry about which detergent had been used to wash it.

“I see IPL becoming bigger than the US National Football League and the English Premier League” – Lalit K. Modi

When Lalit Modi uttered these words in January after concluding a broadcasting deal with YouTube, little did he realise that he would bring this ambition to fruition within three months.  Unfortunately for Modi, he appears to have emulated football’s Premier League in all the wrong ways.

At the same time as we are learning just how much money Portsmouth FC owe to various organisations large and small (£120 million and counting^[1]), and we continue to hear about the shady ownership and conflicts of interest at the stone-cold heart of English football, a series of revelations and allegations about Modi’s exploits are being splashed across the media as Indian tax authorities start sifting through IPL finances.

Many of the allegations cover Modi’s use of his position for personal gain and to provide favourable opportunities for family members.  The Premier League’s Richard Scudamore has never been accused of this, nor does he enjoy being seen in public using two Blackberries at the same time.

The former manager, chairman and chief executive of Portsmouth are all being prosecuted by English tax authorities on charges of cheating the public revenue, but these are the activites of a single club and it’s succession of shady, even phantom, owners and execs, not the entire league.

If reports are to be believed, Modi has a personal stake in a number of the franchises.  Even if true, it will doubtless be hard to prove.

It seems more likely than it did a couple of days ago that Modi will stand his ground until such time as he is forced out by the BCCI.  He has already been the catalyst for the resignation of a government minister and will not be prepared, it seems, to go queitly.  As MoneyWeek noted in a profile as recently as March,

Lalit Modi has always possessed a Houdini-esque ability to get out of trouble. Not many people can talk their way out of a two-year prison sentence in South Carolina. Modi managed it.^[2]

On the other hand, there are many powerful figures within Indian politics, business and cricket who would be more than happy to see Lalit take the fall if it means keeping themselves out of the picture.  Plenty of other people have had their noses put out of joint by Modi’s overt commerciality (read: greed) and will also be happy to see his downfall.

Michael Henderson, writing in the Daily Telegraph last year, likened Modi to

a modern Charlemagne, with a little touch of Frederick the Great, the Prussian king AJP Taylor called “a barbarian of genius^“[3]

Those who assume that this was a compliment might be missing the point.  Both ripped Europe apart and weren’t too fussy about ancient traditions or who they trampled in the process.  Whether future generations will refer to “Lalit der Große” remains to be seen.

There is already a hint of self-interested glee about the English media’s reporting of the story, but if the tax authorities uncover serious evidence of financial wrong-doing, the ramifications could potentially affect cricket globally.  Consider that estimates suggest that India generates 80% of all global cricket income and it’s not hard to see how, even if a sizeable sum of that money is spent on ensuring that Andrew Flintoff’s knee is well rested.

And we thought the Stanford affair was embarrassing…

Footnotes

[1] – Source :: Guardian
[2] – Source :: Money Week
[3] – Source :: Daily Telegraph

Allegations against Modi of financial and betting irregularities^[2], whilst unproven (according to the small Lawyer in my brain, other parts of my brain say “hell, we all thought it long ago”), appear to have been the final nail in the coffin after he previously caused a storm by revealing links to Indian goverment minister Shashi Tharoor and the new Koshi IPL franchise.  BCCI sources were quoted^[3] as being prepared to force Modi out if he is not willing to resign his position:

Modi’s exit is a foregone conclusion. The BCCI members are extremely unhappy in the manner in which he brought about this controversy.  Never in the history of BCCI has the Income Tax sleuths raided the offices. It has not only tarnished the image of the Board but has also sullied the IPL brand.

What does this mean for the Indian Premier League?  From an English viewpoint it is easy to imagine the end of the IPL, but that would be a naive conclusion to jump to.  Whilst Modi has been instrumental in it’s rapid growth, and is the very visible frontman, the BCCI will want to defend it’s main cash-cow for all it is worth.

A new chairman could mean changes in the way the IPL is presented to the world, and the likes of the ECB and English counties will hope for a softening of the IPL’s dismissive attitude towards the rest of the world’s domestic cricket.  Whether or not this is the case or just wishful thinking remains to be seen.

Additionally we will have to await the results of the Indian authorities investigation.  A confirmation from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will have the BCCI desparately hoping that the allegations against Modi, including that he had a personal stake in some of the IPL teams, are false:

I can assure you that all aspects of IPL will be probed, inclusive of the sources of funding, how these funds were routed and invested

So it likely get a lot worse for both Modi and the BCCI, who are also having to deal with the fallout from the bomb blasts in Bangalore.  The PCA has alleged that players were pressured into playing the match⁴, which was due to start shortly after the two devices exploded.

Power politics

All of this appears on the surface to be a crack-down on corruption, but actually it is part of a wider political power-play.  Many of the main players involved also hold public office in India – former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar, for instance, is now an agriculture minister.

This isn’t a political blog, and so I won’t delve too deeply into that aspect of the affair, but it is not hard to imagine Modi being hung out to dry while the rest cover their backs.  So when we start hearing all about how naughty Lalit has been, and the press start naming the whole thing “Modi-gate” or something equally as dim, remember that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.  As Prempanicker points out on his blog^[5]:

Corruption is good, from a realpolitik point of view; proof of corruption is even better since it gives governments a means to mould otherwise intractable clay to their own purposes.

There won’t be many around the world, and especially in England, where Modi represents all that is anathema to cricket’s traditions, who will be shedding tears.  Modi does still have supporters within the BCCI, but that seems unlikely to save him.

Footnotes

[1] :: Source – IBN Live
[2] :: Source – Daily Telegraph
[3] :: Source – Times of India
[4] :: Source – Times of India
[5] :: Source – PremPanicker

The LDA has engaged with two professional cricket clubs and the national governing body of the sport to explore opportunities for professional cricket (particularly Twenty20 cricket) to be played in the legacy stadium post 2012 and proposes to identify areas within the legacy park, where cricket nets and recreational cricket can be played.

Naturally, the ECB and surrounding counties say they know nothing about it.  They aren’t in favour of the idea anyway, as they fear it will upset the current equilibrium of first class grounds around the country.

With the Olympic stadium to seat anywhere up to about 80,000 during the games, with an unspecified reduction afterwards, it is possible that the Test match ground’s capacities, including Lord’s 30,000, could be dwarfed.  Nobody wants the competition so they are trying to down the idea before it’s even taken off, so to speak.

The plan for cricket at the Olympic stadium first came about, as far as I can tell, in 2005.  William Buckland, an influential business consultant, put a great deal of effort into lobbying politicians and administrators to do just so.  That the ECB still claim that the idea is completely new to them shows just how much attention they were paying.

But, the idea is a sensible one when you consider the changing face of cricket, something that English cricket will have to do sooner rather than later.  Twenty20 is now the main bread-winner for most cricketing countries ahead of Test cricket.  The IPL is, apparantly, one of the fastest growing businesses in the world.

If the ECB wants to get it’s grubby hands on a slice of this pie, it needs to have a modern sporting infrastructure at its disposal.  Instead it has Old Trafford, about as modern as Alf Garnett.  It’s latest “international standard” stadium holds a mere 15,000 people.

The snobbish attitude of many English cricket movers-and-shakers is that cricket-IPL-style doesn’t bleed red and should therefore be shot just in case.  I’ll refer you back to Andy Nash of Somerset and his smelling salts remark for evidence of that.

So when the London Development Agency makes it’s decision on the future of the Olympic Stadium, don’t expect to see Giles Clarke anywhere near the photocall.

Andy Nash is the chairman of Clarke’s former paymasters Somerset, and he spent a week at the Champions League Twenty20.  His conclusion?  England are miles behind India:

If you compare the match we played against the Deccan Chargers the spectator experience was like an Elvis Presley concert…I think back to Twenty20 finals day at Edgbaston and it was like watching Des O’Connor. It was very flat and very uninspiring [source]

So far, so obvious.  But then he says something which nearly made me fall off my chair:

We have been slow to move but we are trying to move a juggernaut which is the England and Wales cricket set-up. A lot of members are still on smelling salts that we are playing with a white ball.

The thing that surprises me is that not once did he call on the ECB to supply more smelling salts.  He actually seems to get it.  This is the same Andy Nash who tried to tell us that the ECB weren’t to blame for the decision to jump into bed with Stanford backfiring on them.

In addition to reviewing their approach to the business side of Twenty20, Somerset will be trying to sign Graeme Smith and Cameron White to add quality to their T20 squad for next year.  They will be aiming to make it back to the CLT20 again and better their efforts this time around.

This doesn’t mean that we should expect cheerleaders and fireworks at all of the county T20 games next season, but it does highlight the benefit of a competition like the Champions League.

Suddenly the counties have a direct incentive to want to keep up with the rest of the world.  It might not please the Pipe & Slippers Brigade, but it could just lead to a raising of standards in county cricket.

Younus Khan has resigned the Pakistan captaincy again

A new match fixing row is the last thing that cricket needs.  Especially when the allegations made are so patently ridiculous as to not merit the attention they are being given.  It has even caused an international captain to resign.

During the Champions Trophy, India were left relying on Pakistan to beat Australia to keep them in the competition.  Pakistan lost, India went out.  So then, in India, a newspaper publishes a story claiming that Pakistan threw the game to spite India.  The only evidence for this was that Pakistan lost, so it wasn’t much of a story.  The ICC were quick to rubbish it, and a retraction was soon printed.

So why have the Pakistan government felt the need to question senior members of their cricket setup, including captain Younus Khan?  The fallout has caused Younus to offer his resignation.  From a distance, the rest of the cricket world is watching and wondering “what are you doing?”.

Rather than actually considering the facts in the cold light of day, they have decided to be seen to be taking action over a nothing story and as a result have created a controversy where there wasn’t one.  Now they stand to lose a captain who was doing a good job, having won the World Twenty20 and reached the semi-final of the Champions Trophy.

But, questions are also being asked of Khan, who has a Keegan-like reputation for resigning the Pakistan captaincy.  StaniArmy suggest that he is too hot-headed to lead anyway, and should expect this type of attention and criticism as part of the job.

As with the West Indies, it is a shame to see a Test nation undergoing such continual strife, especially when you consider the talented team that they can boast.  If ever they manage to put an end to the infighting, the rest of the world ought to watch out.