Can anyone who cares about cricket honestly say they care about the Champions League? Sure the sponsors probably do, so too do the teams which mostly comprise players stuck in the nether region between being not good enough for International Cricket and too good for the domestic stuff, and of course the fans of the teams that are participating.
But otherwise does any else? The tournament appears mainly to be a Frankenstein’s Monster of a tournament, a horrible mix of the IPL, the World Twenty20 and the frenzied brands that are the Twenty20 contests in every Test playing nation. It;s main problem, like many of these tournaments, is that it a contest without narrative, without history. Whatever you say about the World Cup-it has both a purpose and a history which helps give it meaning.
Thus the tournament lacks any real semblance of a notional contest. It merely comes across as a glitzy, big buck faux-IPL, where every spectator who has dieted on first class Cricket for much of the season must gorge themselves on a plethora of wickets and boundaries and continue to be encouraged to scream from the top of their lungs: “That’s a DLF maximum!”
In the absence of a compelling narrative amongst the team you have to pick through the bones and branding of the tournament to find a story worth following. And if you look hard enough, you find one which might just keeps you involved until the very end.
On the face of it, the match against the Cape Cobras and New South Wales had plenty going for it as a contest between two of the better domestic sides in the world, though ultimately any contest was fairly one-sided as the Cobras ran out victorious.
However their victory was notable not so much for the performance but the presence of two men whose talents still ought to be occupying a far higher stage than this, Owais Shah and Herschelle Gibbs. Regardless what you think of both, and few players are as polemic for their supporters as this pair, on talent alone they would both still be regulars for their country. Instead both have been consigned to the international scrapheap and are forced to showcase talents elsewhere.
Indeed it seems odd to think of both as underachieving. Both performed great deeds during their long careers, Gibbs more so certainly, and played for their countries at all levels, Gibbs with highly respectable results, Shah less so.
Yet in truth both will probably be remembered for the wrong reasons. Gibbs despite being a man capable of dismantling any attack when in the mood-Australia Newlands 2006 for instance-and one of only two men to hit 6 6’s in an over in international Cricket will unfortunately probably still go down in history mainly as the man who dropped Steve Waugh-and with him-the World Cup in 1999.
And Shah, despite being the author of one of the most composed Test debuts in English history-India in 2006 and one of the finest limited overs’ innings seen lately-98 off 89 balls in the Champions Trophy, will always be remembered as the edgy batsman who never was at home in Test Cricket or being England’s biggest run-out candidate since Nasser Hussain,
As both have discovered to their cost, there is a thin line between zero and hero and both have blurred the line all too often during their careers, with the chances to right the wrongs of their latter years receding with every passing summer.
Thus it will be interesting to see how the pair fare throughout the tournament. On talent alone they can both play decisive roles for their side in a tournament whose matches are often decided by special performances from an individual for their side. Though more importantly it will be to see if these two underachievers can finally achieve something notable as both their careers head into their twilight.
It would hardly be the stuff of legend, nor compensate for the relative failings of both at a higher level, but in a tournament hardly lacking for a storyline or two, watching two underachievers on the path to achieve something more than simply another footnote in their career is surely something worth watching.
Pitched Up: Full and Straight 