The buzz in world cricket is now on Zimbabwe with some nations primarily led by the ECB leading a vote towards getting them stripped out of their ICC elite panel membership and cutting the much needed funding for the growth of their cricket if there is any such thing.

From the administrators of the game, sports journalists to players like Atherton and Gower, the call for the crucial support of India and the rest of Asia for this referendum has primarily been the voice in the media with the spotlight on India having to look beyond being selfish on money and power and do this for the sake of humanity and morality.

So what morality are they talking about seriously? Yes the current political regime is bad and there is a genocide coupled with large scale corruption that has left an already fragile nation in tatters. But then if morality is the word today, why should any nation then have any cricket or moral political ties with England itself, who as the sidekicks of another associate nation, the United states of Apathy, have done no less in their exploits in Afghanistan and critically Iraq with the flimsiest of excuses and with no shame or impunity.

Where does this morality stand for the millions and millions of people slaughtered in Iraq, where an everyday law abiding, educated tax paying citizen have to live with a mere 30 minutes of water supply and electricity in a day and rationed fuel! How come nothing is done when several developing nations around the world are crippled under the huge price rise of fuel largely due to the exploits and plunder of these nations in the middle east to create instability. How come there is no move to strip the US of its associate status or funding under moral grounds for their gross human rights violations in Gauntanamo bay? Sounds like a clear case of the have’s and have not’s.

If morality then is only a question of what affects their citizens especially their expatiates living in nations like Zimbabwe, it sounds hollow to rake this as a reason for other member nations to look beyond power or money and act on morality. Morality my foot! Morality is only another form of politics!

While it may be debatable and wise to consider not having Zimbabwe as part of the elite panel of cricketing nations, I am still wondering if it makes sense whatsoever to cut their funding. The fact of the matter is these administrators are employed to solve these issues and it is obvious that they did nothing in the last 8 years when arguably the situation was not this bad. Other than cutting funding, what alternative financial solutions did they come up with in terms of funds regulation and distribution.

There is a definite need for a significantly higher contribution in funding to be distributed to the smaller cricketing associate nations and that is not happening. Take the classic case of Ireland in the world cup where the issues they faced on administration was an absolute shocker. When Ireland qualified for the next round which they were not expected to, there were hardly any funds to support their extended stay. You can read more about this on the Sledgers and sandbaggers blog.

The point here is there is too much dependency on nations from Asia to supply the money and it is ridiculous that the other nations don’t care about trying to change their policies to generate some funds. If nations like England are going to forever pick and choose which tours to undertake and skip in the name of political backing or morality and escape the ICC loophole of a whopping fine for skipping a tour in case of a political directive, where are these smaller nations going to make any money and where is there going to be any interest in the general local public which is critical for the growth of the game in the region. There is already a talk on the English players on not wanting to participate in the Champions trophy in Pakistan. Reminds me of an old Prodigy song called “fire starter”.

If these nations are really bothered about the wellness of cricket or whatever morality they want to talk about, let them tour and help cricket. Let them tour and generate money and local interest. No amount of Shakespearean style classical quotes on morality and high ground is going to change anything.

By the way, did you know that Mugabe was actually bestowed an honorary knighthood by the queen of England some time back!