Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
It's all happening out in the middle. And much more under glittering chandeliers and clutter of cocktail glasses.
Cricket is certainly the much talked about sport right now, be it for England's clueless and spineless batting in the Jamaica Test or the Australians' slide down the rankings list in both versions of the game. At the other end, the rapid rise of South Africa and India as the new super powers is adding to the action.
There is also a small matter of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff going under the hammer for a record $1.55 million each in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.
The seismic shift in the balance of power in world cricket is matched only by the actions of a few super rich who are willing to gamble with millions of dollars at a time when the watchwords are 'meltdown' and 'credit crunch'. Is cricket really 'recession proof'?
Well, that's a topic better left for economists and sociologists. My take is that sports has the ability to provide succour at times of serious sociological and economical downturns as being witnessed now.
In the past, we lost three Olympic Games due to the World Wars and last year the Champions Trophy was cancelled because of security concerns in the host country. At the other end, the global credit crunch is crippling big money sports like golf and motor racing and not even sparing the low profile rugby union whose players in Australia have been compelled to take pay cuts.
But sports overall is faring much better under these difficult circumstances than any other economic or sociological sectors. The IPL, for instance, has already set the tone for another exciting showdown and the list of bidders for the 2018 and 2022 soccer World Cups is ever growing.
Sportsmen at another level can also provide great relief during grim reality. Don Bradman, Jesse Owens and Babe Ruth, to name a few, lightened the dark days of the Great Depression in the 1930s by their exploits on the field. Muhammad Ali, Wilma Rudolf, Pele and Gary Sobers in the 60s and 70s and later Carl Lewis, Bjorn Borg and Diego Maradona carried on the trend be it rain or shine.
Today, we turn to Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt for inspiration to battle the odds of our times.
Coming back to Australia and England, the teams in most distress ahead of their traditional Ashes showdown. The Aussies are sliding down the rankings list much faster than tears down the cheeks of a damsel in distress in a Bollywood potboiler.
England, on the other hand, are 'clueless and spineless' in the West Indies. Their performance in the first Test (bowled out for 51 in the second innings) has sparked fury back home and the satraps at Lord's are finding no place to hide.
Highly paid headline writers and amateur humorists alike are having a go at the beleaguered cricketers. One report even advised that the Test team should be recalled and a women's team flown in as replacement while another equally scathing comment piece suggested the England cricket board to put the players on a raft and force them to sail back home.
But I thought the heading in the Jamaica Gleaner took the cake. It simply said 'YES WI CAN' playing eloquently on Barrack Obama's election slogan.
