So the much-trumpeted "Twenty20 for 20" in Antigua was all over in what seemed like only 20 minutes! Sir Allen Stanford somehow managed to sell this game to about 100 countries around the world (via television) despite the fact it was England playing the West Indies' "Stanford All Stars".
You have to feel for the England supporters who comprised nearly a quarter of the 10,000 spectators, and who, for the umpteenth time, had to watch their country's team humiliated in a crunch game. Bangladesh might have provided a better contest.
I had hoped this would be a one-off event because it was obscene to be playing for so much money when so many people in countries all over the world are starving.
Would the players have turned out for a "Live Aid"-type event in which so much of the money went to a worthy cause instead of into their pockets? I would like to think so, but history tells us no.
Despite earning sufficient money from contracts with their countries to make them wealthy men, the players who came for the one-off World XI v Australia series a few years ago not only had their families' airfares and accommodation paid for by Cricket Australia, but they also received extravagant match fees - and the winner-take-all prizemoney up for grabs.
Don't get me wrong. The players deserve all they can squeeze from the game but, as they do so, their club teams are struggling to survive.
Perhaps players participating in these tournaments, including the IPL and ICL in India, could donate 10 per cent of their fee back to the club sides that developed them. If you are earning $700,000 or $800,000 in a calendar year, $70,000 or $80,000 before tax would hardly be felt.
There would need to be a stipulation that all proceeds are poured into junior, oval and club development. Not one cent could be used to lure a player from one club to another. It is worth thinking about, otherwise the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Most cricket clubs are poor.
I thought this "Twenty20 for 20" promotion in Antigua was a one-off event, but I now know it was the inaugural event of a five-year deal involving Stanford, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
The West Indies players received $US1 million each, the others in the squad and their support staff shared $US1 million and the rest went to the WICB and the ECB as part of an arrangement where those boards get $US17.5 million each over five years.
So not all the money is going to the players. Some will trickle through the cricketing system. Phew!
Cameron White has copped a pasting from all sections of the cricket world, media and public alike. But, while I admit his bowling in India wasn't pretty to watch, at least he was having a go.
That he chooses to hardly bowl himself for Victoria should give you an idea of the pressure he must have been feeling against the best players of spin in the game - as the No. 1 spinner in the Australian Test team.
White has a most unattractive action with flaws so obvious a cricket novice can see them. But ask yourself this question - did White pick himself for Australia? The answer, of course, is no. The Australian selectors did. Could they have chosen someone else?
Jason Krejza is on the tour but, with figures of 0-199 from only 31 overs in the warm-up match, the selectors' confidence was eroded, although, at the time of writing, it seemed he was to replace White for the fourth Test which started in Nagpur yesterday.
Of course, Bryce McGain was also in India until he injured his right shoulder, which has since been operated on, so he was out of the equation.
Despite touring the West Indies earlier in the year and making his Test debut there, left-arm wrist spinner Beau Casson was out of favour for Indian conditions.
Our two boys, Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey, have been, to use Ian Chappell's description, "treading water" recently, so who else could the selectors have chosen other than White? You guessed it. No one. So don't blame White for trying to do his best, even if it didn't appear to be good enough. He was the only option at the time.
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