A great sport .... ruined

The sport of cricket has long been my favourite and is just about the only professional sport I take any sort of real interest in now - but over the last ten years or so there has been very very little live coverage of it on television.

So I was quite looking forward to the live coverage of the Indian Premier League cricket that's on ITV4. What a load of old rubbish it was. It's not just that the coverage itself was awful - which it was - it's the sort of "cricket" that this version of the game produces.

Before cricket was tainted by money it was a game of subtlety and style. For anyone who really appreciates the game there are few better sights than that of a batsman playing a perfectly executed and timed cover drive - a front foot shot which appears so effortless and elegant yet results in the ball singeing along the turf of the outfield as it flashes to the boundary rope.

But with the IPL travesty that calls itself cricket there is none of that subtlety. It's all about flinging the bat at the ball with no subtlety whatsoever. There is no rhythm to the game, no elegance, no tactical battle - just endless slogging.

The crowd hoot and jeer as loud music pounds out incessantly from the stadium speakers. The players dress in brash coloured kit plastered in advertising and numbers. Numbers! Why the hell do cricket players need numbers on their shirts?

I won't be watching again - I don't know what it is, but the IPL isn't cricket. It's taken a great game and ruined it as money in sport invariably does.