Brian Lara has announced that he is to come out of retirement to join the Indian Cricket League, the league that has “broken away” from International cricket, and is not recognised by the ICC. Lara, who announced his retirement from all forms of the game after the dismal World Cup, will certainly be one of the ICL’s biggest scalps, but questions must be raised over his motivation. Is it that he misses the game – or is he in it for the money?
Either way, it feels like the final nail in the coffin for a man whose career sadly slipped …read more

One of the real barriers to the effective globalisation of cricket is the disparity in the quality of the teams. Australia have been the best for ages, England, Pakistan and India are close behind, with South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka bringing up the rest of the best. Zimbabwe, the West Indies and Bangladesh are struggling further down.
But therein lies one of the problem – there are only 10 “International” teams and the real disparity is between these 10 test playing nations and all other cricket playing nations. Those unaccredited nations are known as “associates” and include the likes …read more