Read the Doosra: our cricket blog with an Asian spin

It is a game so complex — nay, fiendish — that one would think its popularity among the Chinese would be assured, but for decades it was banned under communism as a pursuit of imperialist lackeys. Now India is taking cricket to China as it attempts to turn its obsession with the game into a global money-spinner.

A first consignment of bats, balls and other paraphernalia will be sent to China in a month or two, according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The move follows a request from the Chinese authorities for help in cultivating a game now presented as good for socialist solidarity — a team sport that bonds players.

To help Chinese youngsters to pick their doosras from their googlies — and even their chinamen — India plans to send coaches from the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, accompanied by umpires and groundsmen.

“China has already taken to cricket at the schools level in a big way,” a BCCI spokesman said. “It's time to support a blossoming love of the game.”

The Indian passion for cricket has been undiminished through years of under-achievement by the national side and a series of match-rigging scandals. Few argue that the decision to assist China, the only nation with a bigger population than India, is driven by anything but business acumen and an eye for profits.

“There is little doubt that people look at China and see dollar signs,” said Shariah Khan, of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), which is taking cricket to new frontiers from Afghanistan to Thailand, “although we'd prefer to see it as a chance to prove cricket's basic appeal as a game.”

The BCCI recently showed its money-making ambitions by creating the Indian Premier League (IPL), a six-week tournament that begins this month and, some say, has taken the commercialisation of sport to a new level.

The television rights for the IPL, inspired by football's lucrative English Premier League, have raised $1 billion (£500 million) for the BCCI this year.

The subsequent auction of the eight new regional teams to compete in the competition brought in another $720million as a pack of billionaire businessmen and Bollywood idols vied for the assets.

Next on the block were the players. Adam Gilchrist, the Australian wicketkeeper, said that the bidding — in which he was sold to the Hyderabad team for about £350,000 — made him feel like a cow.

While the game is far from being able to raise similar sums in China, it has made a decent opening stand. The Chinese Cricket Association hopes to have 15,000 cricketers — plus enough umpires and coaches to allow them to play — by next year. It aims for 60,000 by 2012.

The ACC hopes to have 150,000 players in the country by 2020 and was behind the appointment of Rashid Khan, the former Pakistani Test player, as the Chinese national coach.

A tricky ball

The chinaman is a delivery for left-arm wrist spinners which mimics the right-arm leg spinner's googly - an off break that looks like a leg break. Legend has it that the name came into being in 1933, when Ellis “Puss” Achong, a West Indian spin bowler with Chinese ancestry, took the wicket of England's Walter Robins, who apparently muttered: “Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman”

Source: cricinfo.com

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