Good morning!
In 1962, the Russians covertly started moving nuclear missiles onto the island of Cuba – and within range of major American cities on their Eastern shoreline. It triggered a 12-day crisis between Washington and Moscow, where both sides came close to launching warheads on multiple occasions.
It’s the closest we’ve come to ending human civilisation, and only that apocalyptic fear drove both nations to continue discussions until a resolution was found.
The Cuban Missile Crisis ended when Russia agreed to withdraw their missiles from Cuba AND America agreed to withdraw their missiles in Turkey & Italy (which bordered Russia at the time).
Crucially though, only the Cuban withdrawal was made public knowledge at the time, and the Russians were lambasted for bending over backwards and giving USA everything it wanted without a fight.
I bring this up, because I wonder if we’re witnessing cricket’s version of the crisis unfolding in front of us. On the face of it, Pakistan’s withdrawal of the India game boycott has smeared egg all over their face. As I wrote last week, the ICC’s threats are not viable in the face of PAK’s leverage – the boycott could cripple international cricket for years.
So, why would PAK just walk away from that?
There are some puzzle pieces worth looking at. The PCB chairman is also a key minister in the government. The PAK PM’s office was indirectly involved in this conversation. Representatives from Bangladesh, UAE and Sri Lanka were involved in these discussions (and were publicly credited for the decision reversal).
Clearly, there is a bigger game afoot. Pakistan have used this leverage to backdoor…something. They’ve turned their public cricketing leverage into a secret geopolitical gain amongst nations in India’s neighbourhood and supposed sphere of influence.
India & the ICC have won the battle. But, who’s winning the war?
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🏏 Cricket Roundup: How do we make associate cricket more intriguing, SKY’s resurgence, & AFG-W on Rashid’s ‘support.’
SCO beat ITA by 73 runs, ZIM beat OMA by 8 wickets, & SA beat CAN by 57 runs.
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🇮🇹🏴 | 🚨 Tarutr Malhotra on how we can make associate games more interesting for neutrals. Sreshth Shah on George Munsey’s heroics for SCO, & Sreshth Shah again on ITA’s positivity after the loss.
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🇿🇼🇴🇲 | Madushka Balasuriya on ZIM’s three pace attack playing perfectly.
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🇿🇦🇨🇦 | Firdose Moonda on SA ticking off the right boxes, while Telford Vice writes about CAN looking better than the scoreline suggests.
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🔒 Jarrod Kimber/Shayan Khan have statistical insights from the three games.
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Nathan Johns on IRE’s surprising spin resurgence.
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Smit Patel on how USA’s Monank Patel has re-invented his game since 2024.
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Sriram Veera on how SKY has re-discovered his form.
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Firdose Moonda gets the AFG-W perspective on Rashid Khan’s half-hearted support for their right to play cricket.
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Olly Tapp on the coaching difference between imagery (“good visualisation”) and manifestation (“BS visualisation”) for players.
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Omkar Walunj on the new data dashboard he’s created for T20 cricket. It’s really good, if in the early stages (it tends to crash a lot).
🗞️ Quick News: PAK will play IND, IND and Sierra Leone announce central contracts, & a huge PSL franchise sale.
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PAK will play the IND game now, under the condition that BAN won’t be punished for pulling out of this year’s tournament (though we know what the ICC promises are worth).
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A couple of stories I missed from the weekend that are still relevant; Andrew Fidel Fernando on the imbalanced state of power in cricket, & Sharda Ugra on how the patchwork quilt of South Asian cricket is being torn apart.
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The BCCI have announced their annual central contracts list for Men & Women – there is not shortage of confusion or nepotism involved. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone (!) have announced 36 semi-pro central contracts as well.
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The PSL’s (re)sale of the Multan Sultans has gone well. The franchise was bought for PKR 2.5 billion (~$896.8 thousand) and will be moved to Rawalpindi.
📺 A/V: Previewing the IND-W tour of AUS.
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“What India Need To Do To Beat Australia”
📽️ Cricket by JB preview the India Women multi-format tour of Australia that kicks off this Sunday, and ask if India can win down under. [YouTube]
That’s it for today!
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