Chappell receives email: hold the front page

A friend of mine once came to Calcutta to teach small Indian schoolchildren. He began with some UK geography, asking his eager pupils to name a city in England which he would then point out on a map. ‘London’, came the first reply. ‘Very good’ said Mark, pointing to the Thames estuary. ‘Birmingham’ said another, at which my friend was impressed because these were young children. Then a third stuck his hand up. ‘Taunton’ he called out. Bewildered, Mark said, yes, Taunton was indeed in England, but how on earth had the lad known about it. He should have guessed: ‘Taunton sir – India v England, 1999 World Cup.’

And that appetite for cricket has not changed if Nagpur’s local Sunday paper, The Hitavada, is anything to go by. In a 16-page paper, there are 15 cricket pieces. Remarkably, one of them is headlined ‘Chappell has acknowledged receipt of email’. Over on the front page, the three lead stories are: ‘England Cook up a defiant story’, ‘Keep restraint, Pawar tells Chappell in surprise meet’ and, finally, the tiddling matter of President Bush snubbing a proposed nuclear deal with Pakistan.

I don’t know, but that insatiable demand for fresh news – any news – to fill the cricket quota in newspapers could be one reason that sagas like the Ganguly—Chappell spat seem to be dragged out for ever.