CARS
I've been driving in my car
It's not quite a Jaguar
I bought it in Primrose Hill
From a bloke from Brazil
It was made in fifty-nine
In a factory by the Tyne

Hands up, who thought it was an April Fool when word broke of the news that the supposedly cash strapped Cricket Ireland organization had gone and purchased two brand new Teslas in the region of 100k euros? Madness - both the decision and the band behind the song lyrics.
Talk about not reading the room.

Their detachment from the reality faced by many families struggling at the minute with the cost of living is quite extraordinary. It couldn't also be true of rumoured significant double-digit pay increases - well ahead of inflation?

Of course the timing of it could not have been worse for CI. Hot on the heels of finally confirming that they had declined the chance to host World Champions Australia, and further internationals against South Africa and Zimbabwe were in danger of the chop.

I am thankful though that it appears that the Test will indeed be salvaged – winning over either a portion of the white-ball series against Zimbabwe or the ‘home’ games in the UAE against South Africa.

As always there are extenuating circumstances with external forces once again lurching them into financial difficulty. Whatever the opposite of the Midas touch is, then they certainly have it when it comes to finances. The Sadim Touch according to Google.

“Wazza, I’ve had a great idea how we can save money?”
“Great – what is it?”
“You know how we spend over 100,000 on leasing cars? Why don’t we buy a few, and actually with depreciation, tax, residual asset values and all, we will actually be better off.”
“Better still, we could get those Musk cars – real bargain at only 100,000 euros for two. Not quite buy one, get one free, but it’s a steal.”
“One for you and of course the business case for a financial accountant needing one is much more compelling than say a coach travelling all over Ireland..”

We used to chuckle at the spending madness of the Zimbabwe Board who almost 20 years ago allegedly spent a huge whack of their ICC funding on BMW’s and Mercedes.
Is that we have become?

Why do so many of the employees need lease cars or Teslas. If there is a compelling business case for some of them, why not get more reasonably priced cars? Or am I missing something?
I’m not certain under whose remit it should come to scrutinize exactly where the money is being spent and if it represents value for the expenditure, but it needs a major rethink.

THE BLAME GAME
It’s been great to see the enthusiasm as well as the quality of writing in recent weeks by Nathan Johns of the Irish Times. Very much the new kid on the block, he has been a breath of fresh air.

The older guard have seen their own enthusiasm worn down in recent times with the traditional print media in great danger of going the same way as the dinosaurs.

I will admit to having a chuckle when word filtered back from the latest board meeting that once again CricketEurope had come in for criticism with much blowing and blethering as to the source of leaks. They should perhaps look closely at one of their own senior managers who can’t help but talk out of school? 

One of the saddest things I ever got sent was an email to staff just as CI were launching post Covid. Its focus was on leaks and warning staff in a passive aggressive manner about what would happen if any were caught out.

I must admit I was very tempted to publish it but didn’t want to poke the bear….

LAST MINUTE DOT COM
The delay in the publication of international fixtures wasn’t explained until it was too late. The knock-on effect to domestic league and cup programmes left the cricketing natives very disgruntled. Why couldn’t they publish the Pakistan games that had been arranged last December – a Pakistan media friend told me about them in January.

The fixtures eventually came out six weeks before the first game is due on May 10th. That’s not much time to market and sell out an albeit very small capacity venue. Indeed they could well opt to do what they have in previous years and go for a very low number of tickets on sale.

TESTING TIMES
The sad thing about the recent terrible PR is the fact that it has masked what has been a fairly positive start to the year on the field. A memorable win in the Test – didn’t they do well? Excellent all-round display with so many of the team contributing. And it did the heart good to see just how much it meant to the players and supporters alike.

Coming on the heels of a very impressive tour by the Women and the Wolves in action after a two-year exile, there should have been a real feel-good factor, but that has quickly evaporated.

I do hope that the recent publicity causes a major reset in Cricket Ireland.

I won’t hold my breath though.