The IPL And The Rise of New Zealand

Several articles in the English media before the start of New Zealand's tour of England lamented the lack of preparation that five key members of the New Zealand Test team, Captain Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Corey Anderson would face because they were playing in the IPL and wouldn't join the Test team till the eve of the First Test.  Then there were another series of articles after the First Test in which the New Zealanders were praised as an innovative team and McCullum in particular as a pioneer who has fashioned an all out aggressive style that brings some of the excitement of the limited over format to the staid old Test format.  However no mention has been made of what I think is one of the key factors in the rapid rise of New Zealand cricket, which is the IPL.

Anyone who has read ex-New Zealand player and ex-India coach John Wright's delightful book "Indian Summers" will remember how it starts.  John Wright begins by giving us a glimpse of his life immediately after cricket.  He is working at Fletchers Challenge in one of their building supplies branches, something like the New Zealand version of Home Depot for construction folks.  His angst at suddenly going from being a world famous cricketer to almost a nobody was palpable.  He relates an incident where one day an elderly lady asked him for a dozen pozi screws and him leading her to the general vicinity in the most likely aisle of the store though he had no idea what pozi screws were.  She then says "I know your face from somewhere,"  soon working out who he is "You're John Wright the, cricketer aren't you?"  Then tellingly she asks with concern "What are you doing here? Are you running short of money?"

So there you have it! The second highest run scorer in New Zealand Test history, an ex-captain no less, reduced to working his way up the ladder (pun intended) to middle management at a building supply company warehouse, competing with guys at least 10 years or more younger than him, and all looking enviously at him, thinking, what the hell is he doing here?

That was the reality for most New Zealand cricket players, actually all cricket players in any country except England prior to Kerry Packer and later India's triumph in the 1983 World Cup and the subsequent globalization of the game and selling of TV rights under Jagmohan Dalmiya when he led the ICC.  This resulted in players at least from Australia and India joining their English counterparts to become relatively well paid professionals, and in India especially well paid commercial spokesmen.  Though players form the est of the world still struggled.

Since the advent of the IPL this all has changed.  People like Brendon McCullum are multi-millionaires in DOLLAR terms.  Their financial future is secure.  They don't have to contemplate a life of selling pozi screws or driving taxi cabs or being policemen or teachers  (as other New Zealand players have done) after their time in the game is up.  This financial freedom truly liberates the mind.  Brendon McCullum is probably born with an aggressive streak, an attitude that some may characterize as devil-may-care, but chances are good that had he not the peace of mind knowing that his and his family's future was secure having earned some serious Rupees playing in the IPL, he may not have been able to play the brand of cricket he does.  And even if he were able to put all the insecurities aside and play that way, he sure as hell wouldn't have been able to convince the rest of his team to follow him in that style if they too were also not similarly secured by their IPL stints.  

Of course the IPL also encourages innovative cricket including outrageous shot making and calculated risk taking on the field itself and that too has helped McCullum and his boys with honing their aggressive skills.  The final factor is that the IPL has ensured that New Zealand players no longer feel inferior in any way to their English, Indian or Australian counterparts, some of whom they probably have developed close mateship with via their IPL teams.

So, in all the deserved praise for the way the New Zealanders under McCullum have gone from the dour dull-dogs of cricket to the exciting show-dogs of cricket, one should not forget the role of a tournament that some in the old country, still a bit jealously, deride as nothing but Bollywood razzmatazz and just hit and giggle cricket.

It is clear that the ECB stubborn refusal to adjust the schedule of the Tests to allow the IPL players some time to get adjusted to English conditions was done with the intent of showing the NZ cricket authorities that they were wrong in allowing their players a full window to play in the IPL.  But to the credit of the NZ board they understood that by not denying the chance for their players to make a handsome pay packet, something they themselves could never match, they would actually be getting the players' loyalty as well as their uninhibited desire to not just do well personally, but to do well for their country too.

Now if only the West Indies cricket board had such enlightened people, maybe the West Indies could also rise and regain their crown as the show-dogs and players of exciting aggressive yet substantive cricket which the Black Caps seem to have usurped.