A right Royal idea: Hampshire and Rajasthan link-up the future of cricket?

Exactly how significant the deal announced this weekend between the Rajasthan Royals, Hampshire, the Cape Cobras and Trinidad and Tobago could become is barely within the realms of comprehension.

The IPL is barely three years on since its hasty inception as a reaction from the BCCI- India’s board of control- to the controversial ICL and yet it has already become the most significant financial presence in the game.

The popularity of the tournament, which returns to India in April after a security enforced sojourn in South Africa last year, has simultaneously tilted cricket’s power balance irreversibly the direction of Twenty20 cricket and the sub-continental powerhouse.

What has been less clear however is how far towards club and franchise teams have taken over from International competition. The sight of largely empty stadia for Test matches has been a familiar one for many years (with the exception of matches involving England) and the increasing popularity of domestic T20 tournaments across the globe has highlighted this forthcoming battleground and the Royal’s announcement has formalised it.

The Royals, who are also expected to announce a link with an Australian state side, will now have a finger in the pie of England’s expanded T20 cup, the highly successful Australian ‘big bash,’ and the South African pro20 as well as the West Indian inter-island tournament.

Sean Morris, the Royals’ chief executive, said the deal “will enable us to take advantage of the changing landscape in cricket, not least in terms of marketing and player development.”

It is anticipated that the Royals, who won the inaugural tournament in 2008, will quickly formulate a talent sharing system whereby several of their highest profile players and coaches, who include the likes of Shane Watson and Shane Warne.

The Australian duo have both played for Hampshire and the Royals and Warne, who is captain and coach of the team, has supposedly played a key role in negotiations. It is also thought that Victoria, Warne’s former state team, will become the Australian link to the Royals.

Morris and co. will however want more to come of the move than simply the free movement of players between their sides. T20 competitions have become ubiquitously popular and though the English and South African tournaments were the more pioneering enterprises, cricket boards across the globe are increasingly mirroring the IPL.

This year the Australian ‘Big Bash,’ encouraged its state teams to bring in international stars such as Dwayne Bravo, Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan in order to improve its stature. Traditionally, Australian states have been extremely reluctant to employ overseas players but with the prospect of full stadiums, increased TV money and the riches of the Champions League for the top two sides, they are quickly reassessing their stance.

No other ‘global franchise,’ truly exists to draw comparisons from, but if other IPL teams make similar links in the near future there is the prospect of the IPL becoming a more globalised event with, say, four instalments throughout the year in Starting in England during our summer and progressing through Australia in the Autumn, South Africa early in the new year and climaxing in India during the IPL’s current April/May window.

Each leg of the tour would be fairly brief; encompassing little longer than three weeks and in time there could also be the possibility of rotating one of the annual windows to allow countries such as Sri Lanka, New Zealand or Bangladesh to host the tournament.

The franchises, with their teams spread across the globe would have a core group of stars who would be complimented by a majority of cricketers from the host nation in order to ensure local support.

Traditionalists will of course be horrified by the prospect of the IPL growing but with short, fixed windows available the national boards will be able to create a new international schedule free from clashes.

With the current system there is every chance that cricketers, particularly those reaching the end of their careers and those from countries who cannot afford to pay wages comparable with the IPL, will prefer to take multiple, short term contracts in the increasing number of domestic club competitions.

A consistent schedule and a limit to the number of paymasters a top international player is answering to might appease the national cricket boards and the ICC, who might finally be able to effectively implement some form of Test world championship.

The response of other teams and governing bodies across the globe to the Rajasthan move will tell us whether or not they view it as a threat or a great leap forward but for now all we can do is wait.

Oohhhhh Team Sky!

Dave Brailsford (right) at the Team Sky launch

Dave Brailsford doesn’t do things by halves. A British winner of the Tour de France within five years might sound far-fetched but that is the mission statement Team Sky have set themselves ahead of their first season in Pro Tour cycling.

Brailsford is the man responsible for masterminding Great Britain’s domination of track cycling over the last decade and believes he can replicate the success in the traditionally European world of road racing.

But in recent years British interest in the sport, and in the Tour in particular, has increased significantly thanks initially to London’s successful hosting of the Tour prologue in 2007 and then through the success of Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins.

Amateur participation is also booming throughout the country and ostensibly it is Sky’s desire to support this drive which has prompted their venture into professional cycling. What other incentives the UK’s dominant sports broadcaster might have for splashing its name across what it hopes will become the dominant force in the peloton is unclear, but will be a fascinating sub-plot to follow over the next few years.

For the time being however, all eyes will be on the team itself and judging by the rhetoric emanating from the camp it is clear that Sky do not intend on easing their way through this debut season.

Whilst their budget remains an issue of immense speculation, there are few who doubt it stretches beyond the realms of any other pro team in history.

Much of team GB’s success has been attributed to the miniature details and the obsessive manner in which Brailsford and his team, which includes former GB head coach Shane Sutton, prepare their riders.  And this is a policy which Brailsford believes will reap rewards on the road. “We will look at everything,” he said, “we will look for marginal gains and if we get that right, we will find some new approaches, some new methodology.”

As with GB, Sky are concentrating on a ‘rider centric,’ programme where the emphasis will be on the riders themselves making the major decisions as opposed to simply obeying the orders of the management. “We want the rider’s to perform to the best of their ability… we will give them the best environment to do the best they can.”

How the remainder of the peloton will react to the new boys on the block will depend largely on how successful they are. There have been rumblings of discontent from other teams regarding the aggressive recruitment tactics employed to secure the signings of Bradley Wiggins and Ben Swift, the two most likely British tour winners in the current squad.

Both riders were under contract at Garmin and Katusha respectively and Sky’s aggressive pursuit of Wiggins in particular brought cries of disillusionment from those concerned Sky will be able to simply buy their way to success.

Brailsford however believes Sky can be about much more than crossing the line in first place, something they achieved twice in their first pro tour event, the Tour Down Under, earlier this month.

The issue of doping and cycling go hand in hand and one of the pre-requisites for the squad assembled by Brailsford and his team was that no riders should have any association with drugs.

The image of the team is all important and is another area where minute attention has been given. Everything from the state of the art interactive website to the squad’s sleek team jerseys has clearly been carefully thought through and the decision of the team to enforce a rule ensuring each rider is kitted out in regulation team clothing at all times reflects their commitment to the cause.

And then there is the bus. Of all the formula 1 style innovations the team will benefit from, it is the painstakingly modified Volvo 9700 coach which will be perhaps the most noticeable display of Sky’s wealth. Never before have riders been able to relax, discuss tactics, have a massage, watch Sky on their own personal screen and, in Bradley Wiggins’ case, tweet about the days riding, in more luxurious surroundings. Even the team cars are Jaguars.

Of course, with all this expense, Sky’s bosses will expect returns. Since his transfer was confirmed in December, the Wiggins for yellow bandwagon has rolled into gear, fuelled inevitably by anyone connected with Sky Sports.

In reality however, matching his performance last year will be a remarkable achievement, let alone surpassing it. Alberto Contador might have a severely weakened Astana team to work with at this year’s tour but he remains miles ahead of the pack with Saxo Bank rider Andy Schleck the only likely pretender to his crown.

Away from le Tour, much is expected of Edvald Boasson Hagen. The Norwegian won the Tour of Britain last year and also picked up two stage victories in the Giro de Italia. He is currently ranked third in the ICU rankings and is expected to star in the spring classics.

Wiggins however refuses to set a ceiling and having only discovered his potential in the mountains half way through last season, many believe there is more to come from him. As he himself maintains “we’ll have the best equipment and the best team… no stone is going to be left unturned. If I’m not good enough physically, that’s something else, but we won’t make mistakes that shouldn’t happen.”

It would take a brave pundit to write Dave Brailsford, that’s for sure.

Rugby toughens it’s stance on gougers

The news that Stade Francais prop David Attoub will serve a 70 week ban for eye gouging should be greeted with joy throughout the Rugby community. There have been a number of high profile incidents of the sport’s most deplorable offence over the past few months but this ban, imposed by the European Rugby Cup, amounts to the second longest ban ever handed out in the European game.

Attoub, joins his Stade team-mate Julien Dupuy on the sidelines after the French scrum-half was banned last month for another gouging incident in the same game.

Stephen Ferris, the Ulster back-row forward who was on the receiving end of both players’ misdemeanours, described Attoub’s attack as “extremely painful.”

He said “the finger in my right eye was forced downward in a poking and gouging motion; it was someone trying to drive a finger as hard as he could into my eye socket and I could not prevent it.”

The decision to impose such a lengthy ban upon Attoub is a relief as there has been a growing consensus amongst medical professionals and those involved in the game that a serious injury could occur if nothing was done to dissuade acts of thuggish impudence.

Gouging is an unacceptable, cowardly form of intimidation which should carry punishments of the kind Attoub has been hit with as standard. There is instance whatsoever where a rugby player should have to worry about suffering blindness whilst playing the game, as could well have happened to Ferris in this instance.

There was indignation amongst many observers last summer when the South African Schalke Berger was shown only a yellow card for gouging Tommy Bowe during the second Lions test match and even more when his retrospective ban amounted to a measly eight weeks.

And with Rugby facing an image crisis following the Harlequins bloodgate scandal last season it is refreshing to see administrators attempting to crush any further public humiliation for the game.

Attoub, who was criticised for his apparent evasiveness by the Judicial Officer Jeff Blackett, will appeal his ban but the ERC should be actively encouraged to avoid any such leniency and allow his sentence to stand as an example to players throughout Rugby.