<img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/dec/Khalid1.jpg" align="left" border="0" />Is there more than meets the eye in the seemingly commendable decision of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to sponsor the ongoing Australia-Pakistan Spirit of Cricket Test series on so-called 'neutral' territory here in England? On the face of it, the initiative is motivated by noble concern for the game: namely helping a fellow (and leading) ICC member-nation survive in the mainstream of international cricket when it has been, unfortunately, reduced to the status of a pariah because of its law and order situation which inhibits the playing of any form of international cricket in that country. The MCC has been at pains to promote the series as one driven by purely altruistic considerations with all accruing pecuniary benefits, as well as 'home' team playing advantages such as choice of ball being used ('Duke', rather than the Australian 'Kookaburra') magnanimously going to Pakistan. End of domination All that's very well and it would be churlish to cast aspersion on the intent of the august MCC that was, until recently, the centre of the cricketing universe, the arbiter of the rules of the game and all that makes the gentleman's game good and noble. However, given its track record, the growing scepticism regarding the real motive behind the admirable initiative of the MCC, (which has surrendered its pristine supremacy in world cricket to the ICC), is understandable. Run for aeons as a tightly-controlled Old Boys Club by England, Australia and New Zealand in manner that was bound to have deleterious effect on its well-being in an age of burgeoning globalisation, it was inevitable for the game's power base to either expand or shift. Change it did in a manner that made it democratic and representative of the game's increasing popularity the world over, notably with no regard for colour of skin. That the original lords and masters who controlled the game's destiny are unhappy with the changed equation was reflected on Wednesday in the departing speech of outgoing ICC president David Morgan. Partisan stance Calling for "independent directors" of the ICC, Morgan, who was nominated to the top post by the England and Wales Cricket Board and considered "famously non-controversial" in his public declarations, said: "For decades the ICC has been hamstrung by the partisan stance of its individual member countries, with the upshot that it keeps being blamed for decisions ufffd or non-decisions ufffd over which it has little control. "There are few individual voices and while consensus can sometimes be reached it is also true that the Asian bloc usually sticks together while the old guard of white nations is rarely out of step with each other." White nations? If that's not playing the race card, I'd like to know what is. The proposal of appointing "independent directors" is a Trojan Horse, a ruse to re-establish the suzerainty of the erstwhile "white nations" (in Morgan's words) who ruled the roost in world cricket despite being in a microscopic minority in the cricket-playing world. The disingenuous suggestion, born out of disenchantment stemming from loss of power, should be opposed tooth and nail by the veryu00a0 "Asian bloc" which Morgan decries. My cynical brain makes me wonder: Is the MCC's Spirit of Cricket benevolence to Pakistan a devious device to win over that nation, (in manner reminiscent of that employed by the ruling British vis- -vis the Indian maharajahs and nawabs), in order to split the Asian solidarity which, whether the likes of Morgan agree or not, maintains a semblance of checks and balances in the working of the game's supreme body.

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Is there more than meets the eye in the seemingly commendable decision of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to sponsor the ongoing Australia-Pakistan Spirit of Cricket Test series on so-called 'neutral' territory here in England?

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