England gives cricket the boot

With just the final left to play, it's still hard to believe that the ICC Champions Trophy is taking place in England.

Empty stands and complete lack of buzz as a result of a flawed tournament format is something the International Cricket Council may not have envisaged when it decided to allot the tournament to England.

Awareness about the tournament is so low that when people are asked about it, their first reaction is a bemused one. 'Cricket! That's not really my sport. Don't understand the sport,' they say.

Says another local, "I am sure people will like it more if they can understand the rules."

For a moment, I was left thinking I was in America and not England, the home of cricket.

Lord's, the Mecca of cricket, has probably had its day in the sun. Today, not many Englishmen seem bothered about the game and its history. Andrew Flintoff can inspire them in a momentary lapse, but that is the most the current blue-eyed boy of English cricket can do.

The sport that catches the fancy of the English masses is football.

The newspapers only add to that claim, as cricket is given very little space on the pages that are literally littered with everything that's football and the just-concluded Ryder Cup golf.

Two reasons can safely be cited for this lack of interest: one, the timing of the Champions Trophy was not correct. The football season has just started and the stars of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and other clubs are obviously a bigger draw in England.

The other: the matches are only being aired by Sky, which is a pay channel. 

In India that would only serve to drive the crowds to the grounds. This is one-day cricket we are talking about, aren't we? Apparently, it is this version of the game that still attracts the crowds elsewhere.

Before leaving for England I had told my editors I would send a round-up of the latest cricket headlines from the English newspapers. Alas, I haven't kept my word. Am stuck; there are no headlines to send!

In India, one can be sure that even the roadside paanwallah will have his radio and table television switched on, following every ball of an international cricket match.

Having seen the response this Champions Trophy, billed by the ICC as the second biggest one-day tournament after the World Cup, has generated, I think one can safely conclude that cricket's base has shifted to India. In fact, it's time the ICC considers moving its headquarters to the cricket-crazy country.

One would have thought that England's impressive victory over Australia in the semi-finals would have, for a change, managed to elevate cricket to the front pages of the English newspapers. After all, it was England's first victory over their traditional rivals in almost five-and-a-half years. But no; the heroics of Michael Vaughan and his men could only find mention in the sports pages.

It really makes one feel the decision to hold the tournament in England was a huge mistake. There was only one full house so far; it was for the India-Pakistan game. Another full house is also assured for the final at the Oval on September 25. But that's not what the ICC was looking at for a tournament spanning over a fortnight.

These, certainly, are sad times for what once used to be England's number one sport!