The announcement of the World Test XI by the ICC displays two critical issues.
(1) They are not taking banned drug-taking seriouslly.
(2) Lack of integrity in the selection panel.
(1) As we all now know, for the 12 month period covered by this World Test 11 team selection, six of those months Shane Warne was serving his 12 month ban for taking a banned drug. Yet he was selected in the the World XI. Would this happen in any other sport? Didn't the 12 month ban mean anything to the ICC? When sporting bodies are fighting to keep drugs out of sport through vigorous detection methods and punishment, the ICC is rewarding a player for taking banned drugs. Shame on the ICC!
(2) It was made clear by Ian Botham and Michael Holding, members of the selection panel that selected the World Test XI and the World ODI XI that they did not consider Muralitharan for either team because of his bowling action. In other words, they selected the teams based on issues other than performance. Isn't that simply dishonest? If they were going to do that, they then should have excused themselves from the panel and let two others with integrity take their place. And the ICC let them get away with this clear lack of integrity.
To all you self-confessed Murali haters out there, this is not about Warne getting in ahead of Murali, (this link from Cricinfo clearly shows Murali was ahead on performance during the said period :
http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/SEP/040518_AUS_08SEP2004.html
) but this about the dishonesty shown by 2 members of the selection panel in pretending to select the teams on performance but by their own admission, letting non-performance issues take over. Shame on the ICC for letting that happen.
(1) They are not taking banned drug-taking seriouslly.
(2) Lack of integrity in the selection panel.
(1) As we all now know, for the 12 month period covered by this World Test 11 team selection, six of those months Shane Warne was serving his 12 month ban for taking a banned drug. Yet he was selected in the the World XI. Would this happen in any other sport? Didn't the 12 month ban mean anything to the ICC? When sporting bodies are fighting to keep drugs out of sport through vigorous detection methods and punishment, the ICC is rewarding a player for taking banned drugs. Shame on the ICC!
(2) It was made clear by Ian Botham and Michael Holding, members of the selection panel that selected the World Test XI and the World ODI XI that they did not consider Muralitharan for either team because of his bowling action. In other words, they selected the teams based on issues other than performance. Isn't that simply dishonest? If they were going to do that, they then should have excused themselves from the panel and let two others with integrity take their place. And the ICC let them get away with this clear lack of integrity.
To all you self-confessed Murali haters out there, this is not about Warne getting in ahead of Murali, (this link from Cricinfo clearly shows Murali was ahead on performance during the said period :
http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/CRICKET_NEWS/2004/SEP/040518_AUS_08SEP2004.html
) but this about the dishonesty shown by 2 members of the selection panel in pretending to select the teams on performance but by their own admission, letting non-performance issues take over. Shame on the ICC for letting that happen.