Preston Mommsen retirement only evidence of ‘exclusivity membership’ in world cricket

When Scotland skipper Preston Mommsen announced his retirement, there were a few who questioned his decision to retire. Of course, it was the Scotland board that stood to lose out given the fact that he was one of their best players. Others, the majority of cricketing fans across the globe had another question. ‘Who is Preston Mommsen?’ The funny part of the ordeal was that you could not blame them as well.

When Sachin Tendulkar, perhaps the greatest cricketer of the post-Bradman era, announced his retirement from the sport, millions tuned in to witness the event. The Indians had thrashed the Windies out of sight and Mr. Tendulkar had just played a gem of an innings of 74 runs to complete a glittering career spanning 22 years.

Of course, one would most certainly question the fact that Tendulkar was a statistician’s dream and no more, but the fact of the matter remained that he was a legend.  And as they say, ‘Heroes are remembered but Legends never die.’ Tendulkar has not played competitive international cricket for the better part of four years. Yet, he is one of the most followed people in recent times.

However, in somewhat of a shocking manner, Mommsen’s retirement speech was a matter of barely 10 minutes. There was the serious face of the 29-year old for all to see, but, behind that there were tears overflowing in the outset. What shocked me the most about the ordeal was the ‘corporate future’ Mommsen saw for himself.

“After much thought and reflection, I have taken the decision to step down as the captain of Scotland and not renew my contract with Cricket Scotland, in order to pursue a very exciting and attractive opportunity in the corporate world. It has been an incredibly difficult decision but one that I felt I had to make at this stage in my life,” Mommsen said.

What struck a chord as far as many were concerned was the simple fact that this did not sound like the Preston Mommsen we all had heard in Dharamsala a few months previously. This was a man who had seemingly caved into the pressures of being the skipper of an associate nation. The words ‘attractive opportunity’ was shocking, to say the least. What could be more attractive than playing cricket for your country? There are many in the world that would literally go on a killing spree for that job.

Many cricketing thinkers and intellects would certainly see a pattern of early retirements when it comes to being a cricketer contracted to the ICC’s associate nation’s roster. Tatenda Taibu, quite effectively one of the best Zimbabwean cricketers that I have ever seen called it quits early on in his career. Brendan Taylor, a one-time teammate of Taibu also called it quits at the age of 29. Kyle Jarvis is another who we knew as one of the better Zimbabwean pacers of his time.

The aforementioned evidence only goes on to establish a pattern. Why is it that cricket exclusive to only the ten full-member nations? While one cannot deny the obvious monetary issues, it seems quite clear that a very few boards are contracted to the ICC. ‘The Big Three’ nations of the ICC was perhaps a near-perfect evidence of the same.

In their documentary ‘Death of a Gentleman’, Sam Collins and Jarrod Kimber had traversed the path taken in recent times by the ICC when it comes to governance of the game. Their findings were rather shocking. While they touched upon a very important aspect of the ‘Relevance of Test cricket’, there was something much more concerning that met the eye. The fact that cricket was simply generating the purrs of happiness that it has generated for the stuffed shirts in terms of return on investment.

What they also came across was the fact that none of the associate nations were a part of the ICC’s plans to feature in Test cricket. Taking the example of Scotland, they have played just the 17 ODIs from 2015 to 2016. This is also a distinct similarity to the others such as the Netherlands, Oman, UAE, and other such nations.

Lord Woolf, the ‘crossbencher’ at the House of Lords had published a massive report on the ICC’s governance in February 2012. While this report was rejected and even despised by the likes of Giles Clark, the introduction is something that really speaks to many of us who watch cricket simply for the enjoyment of the sport and do not expect much entertainment in terms of cheerleaders and movie starts.

The first page of the introduction is titled ‘The history and the growth of the ICC’. Although it would not be a wise thing to cherry pick quotes to articulate my argument, but the body is something that needs to be read by each and every cricket fan across the world.

It reads: “As the governing body of international cricket, the ICC has ambitions to expand its Membership. It has embarked on a “Bigger Better Global Campaign.” The ambitions include expanding the playing of cricket in USA, China and more controversially to potentially introduce cricket as an Olympic sport. If the ICC is even partly successful in any of these endeavors, the scale of its activities will be dramatically expanded. As the current president of the ICC, Sharad Pawar, has stated: “cricket must be an aspirational game, where nations and their cricket lovers can dream of being on the biggest stages.”

Pakistan cricket administrator Ehsan Mani, during his time as the president of the ICC, had made several yet futile attempts to make the Associate nations a part of the schedule released by the ICC. In an interview a few years later, Mani went on to lash out at the ICC for not taking the sport to China, something he wanted to do as ICC Chief.

While the likes of Preston Mommsen come and go at will, it seems unlikely that much would change with respect to the Associate Members of the ICC at the moment. However, there is a lesson to be learned for one and all as far as I am concerned. Mommsen retires at the age of 29 to pursue a career as a corporate executive. I am one of those who does not buy this argument. Not one bit.

How can someone, who has been associated with cricket all his life all of a sudden give up the one thing he loves the most? It is not rocket science that Mommsen has a tremendous cricketing acumen given his history as a terrific player in the junior ranks for his birth country South Africa.

However, being a vocal critic of the ICC, the real reasons as to why the 29-year old Scot hung up his pads is crystal clear for those who are interested in the growth of cricket. Hopefully, the ICC would have also learned their lessons from this episode and begin to start taking Associate Nations a bit more seriously in the future.