Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
It appears that wherever England play cricket controversy and drama are sure to follow and last week was no different.
First there was the outfield debacle in Antigua that forced the second Test to be abandoned early on the first day. Then the rearranged game turned into a five-day thriller against all expectations with the West Indies holding out for a draw.
Lastly, there is a back drop to all this - the Stanford crisis which is turning from an ECB dream scenario to their very worst kind of nightmare.
The days leading up to the second Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium were dominated by talk of the outfield looking like a beach. However, most onlookers, whilst disappointed that the ground could not have been prepared better, could not have allowed for the spectacle they saw on the first morning.
Daren Powell was unable to keep his footing on the run up and after some consultation with both captains the match referee called the game off for the day. The explanation from Alan Hurst, talking to the BBC, that these events could not have been foreseen seemed a bit hollow when huge divots could be seen coming out of the bowlers' run up.
Both the West Indies Cricket Board and the club itself should be ashamed they are unable to prepare an adequate pitch and the last word should be left to the great Sir Viv when asked if this was a shot in the foot for West Indies Cricket he replied with 'more like a dagger to the heart'. His obvious embarrassment was felt by all onlookers and he must surely be regretting allowing his name to be associated with the stadium.
With frantic conversations and discussions happening all over the place it was eventually agreed to move the game to the Recreation Ground and try again on Sunday. Soon, TV companies, fans who had paid thousands for their dream trip and the teams themselves were scrambling to find ways of getting to and preparing for the rearranged match.
Gayle won the toss and believing his team could capitalise on bowling England out for 51 in the last match, asked them to bat. It was a mistake and one that nearly came back to haunt him as England amassed 566 on a pitch that was always going to be at its best during the first couple of days. And so it proved as the West Indies managed only 285 in reply and was saved from following on only by illness to Harmison and injury to Flintoff.
As with any captain in this situation, Strauss was always going to find the timing of a declaration difficult and in hindsight he could have, perhaps, done it earlier. However, as he correctly pointed out his team had 128 overs to bowl the West Indies out on a worsening pitch and also had over 10 overs at the last two tail-enders. Any top international side would fancy their chances from this situation but England came up short and the home side battled brilliantly to earn their draw.
It was an amazing finish and a long way from the doom and gloom of Friday's abandonment and it was a reminder to all about how fantastic the five-day version of this game can be. In particular, this message should have got through to Sir Alan Stanford but unfortunately he was a little preoccupied with other things.
The seismic fallout from what is happening to his business interests is yet to unfold but one thing is for certain the ECB will be holding their breath ... well, the leadership will anyway. This always appeared to be an inappropriate alliance from the first helicopter landing at Lords to the formal disassociation between the two groups on Friday.
There are plenty of unanswered questions for Giles Clarke and Co to answer and they will argue it is easy to condemn in hindsight but why was an official organisation getting involved with an individual in the first place.
Surely a national side should only play against other national sides run by credited organisations and that way these situations would never arise. In fact, if it is true that Stanford had already tried to engage, unsuccessfully, with India and South Africa before approaching the ECB then they are even more culpable.
The answer, of course, lies at the heart of most sporting stories in the present era ... and that is money. The ECB's lack of ability to deal with the growing IPL and the way the subcontinent have taken over the Twenty20 format, one that England invented for good measure, has been at the root of this whole sorry mess.
Whether they should have known about Stanford's situation is something that will come out as this story plays out but the real issue remains that they should never have been talking to him in the first place on any serious level when they are the custodians of English cricket.
