Devotees of cricket consider it to be less a game than a pinnacleperhaps the last remaining oneof genteel civilization. In the past few weeks, most of them were reacting as if a hairy Visigoth had strolled onto one of the sport's immaculately manicured pitches. Reason: an upstart Australian entrepreneur had signed up 51 of the world's best players, and was threatening to turn the hallowed institution intogad, Sir!another vulgar spectator sport. Quipped London's Guardian: "The world as we know it is about to end."
Not quite yet. The six-nation International Cricket Conference (ICC)* was still battling to ward off Communications Tycoon Kerry...