RIP Cricket (1877-2013)

Once upon a time

Not so long ago

There was a sport called cricket

That I loved to follow.

With bat and ball

And stumps and bails

Runs and wickets

And legends and tales.

The Ashes and Bradman

Sobers, and games tied

I read up on them all

With eyes ever wide.

Marshall to Gavaskar

Chandra to Richards

The magic, sheer magic

Of contests revered.

Was simpler back then

Little money, less support

Players, made but a bit

The game, much a sport.

Then along came the merchants

With dollars in their eyes

One mantra on their lips

Monetize, monetize, monetize.

Fair game indeed, why not

For the times were not the same

And he, who goes not with the flow

Has only himself to blame.

But then, alas, disaster

For it all went just too far

The greed, it killed the sport

A million cuts, many a scar.

So died the game called cricket

A business now in its place

In the quest for money and more

The game died, nary a trace.

R.I.P, cricket (as I knew it).