Cricket South Africa "is paying the price for rubbing India the wrong way," according to the HINDUSTAN TIMES. India "has resented" the appointment of former ICC President Haroon Lorgat as CSA CEO last month. On Monday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India "made its displeasure clear by changing the dates for a series against New Zealand so it would eat into the schedule for India’s tour of South Africa." The South Africa tour is scheduled for November-January. However, the BCCI declared on Monday that India’s tour of New Zealand "will start in January instead of February, while it announced on Sunday that West Indies’ tour of India will begin in November." This puts CSA "in a tough spot, forcing it to either curtail the India series or cancel it altogether." Either way, "it stands to lose out on potentially the biggest revenue it could have earned from any bilateral series." The last time India played in South Africa in a similar schedule ('10-11), CSA had earned approximately $7.2M (HINDUSTAN TIMES, 9/3).
BIG PICTURE: The AFP reported the England and Wales Cricket Board's decision to scrap the May Tests which have been a part of their home fixture list since '00 by shifting next year's two-match series against Sri Lanka to June "could have wider implications for the world game." By playing the Tests later in the season, with the T20 match and five one-dayers beforehand, the ECB "has given the likes of England's Kevin Pietersen a chance to enjoy longer stints in the lucrative Twenty20 Indian Premier League." The scheduling move "should also avoid the problem many touring sides have experienced in recent years of either being denied their best players for the May Tests because of IPL commitments or their stars only arriving shortly before the start of a series" (AFP, 9/3).
