The Unravelling of Project Snow

It is interesting to see the dynamics between the members of of Project Snow during the recent fracas down-under. And the cry about the great game of cricket from this old guard!

For those who do not know about Project Snow - here is a brief history.

Way back a decade ago (1996 to be precise), Dalmiya had held the ICC in a dead-lock. He won the election by a huge margin, but the old gaurd (England and Australia) said he could not have won it since he did not win the votes of the majority of test playing nations. West Indies, Australia, England and Kiwis voting against him. Saffies became neutral after some negotiations, through the offices of Ali Bacher. The issue was who was going to control the riches coming in from the new TV deals as a result of India, the WCup monies etc.

It must be remembered, that the old guard England and Australia found out about the money very late - recall these two countries used to rarely visit India to play and when they did "they were often the most ungracious" and most whingiest teams.

Now they smelt the money and wanted to control it. But Jaggoo was made of sterner stuff. He was man who could remembered the insults he and N.P.K. Salve (cabinet minister and head honcho of BCCI) faced during the World CUp finals India won at the hands of the MCC (who controlled English Cricket in those days). He won elections by turning the Saffies neutral.

In this scenario, the old guard felt that the game would be split - though they were confident that the subcontinent could not make the money without thier teams. However, they started a project called Project Snow to set up series of games amongst themselves with the KIWIS and the Windies thrown in for good measure. Again, it is interesting to see that this has been integrated into the ICC series of test matches (initially) so that these countries could rake the money in from India!. With the advent of the ICC Test Championship and 10 year plans, thing unraveled fast - Australia went alone hogging the time, now England are on it as well. The number of series they seem to be playing in the Subcontinent was unimaginable before.

The advent of the ICL and IPL has thrown a major spanner into the works. IPL has the blessing of ICC (again money control issues), and ICL is independent. In the long run these two will take over and ICC will be a redundant mare waiting to be put down. It was money then, it is money now.

The fracas downunder, has caused every nation to maintain a diplomatic silence - though players and others have been rejoicing and supporting the Indians (a visit to the websites of WICB etc will give you a picture). The Subcontinental teams, and press were fully supportive of the Indians. The Australian team has been at the receiving end of bad publicity and it is reported that some of the Australian team members have been warned by their agents. The English, baring a few, have maintained their silence - normally they would have been very supportive of their cousins from downunder, but MONEY IS THE MOVER and they ditched them in their hour of need. The WINDIES what can one say of them? The KIWIS...perhaps they are waiting for their opportunity.

The other off-shoot of Project Snow - majority of the match referees and umpires coming from these countries are also on notice to behave and be careful. There have been a number of casualties in recent times - Mike Deness, Darell Hair, Bucknor, and Now Mike Proctor (who must be worried that he will get his trousers sued if Bhajji so wants), all from the Project Snow Countries. It is unlikely that the officials from Project Snow Countries will be so gung-ho from no on.

All in all, the countries who have participated in Project Snow are slowly but surely oing to get their come-uppance. These people hated Dalmiya to their last bone and wished for a change in India. But what they got is Pawar (notice how they tried to be diplomatically critical of him), a man who is made of sterner stuff then these guys realize and also who does not forget (like all politicians).