Now, cricket on Moon

In April 2006, Subhash Chandra’sZee TV secured the rights for international cricket matches on neutral venuesfor $219.15 million. Leaving aside the monetary angle, the objective of theInternational Cricket Council (ICC) was to stage matches outside the ICC membernations and to take cricket to unexplored territories. The mostdesirable venue, the US, remains elusive owing to issues surrounding governance,infrastructure and scheduling. In fact, it is now accepted that it could be afew years before the US can host such a fixture. Among the other popularvenues, Sharjah remains out of bounds due to the past match fixing episodes.Ireland has not been very conducive to the Indian cricketers’ overallhealth. The moon, on the other hand is ready and available. So, there is now acricket field proposal on the moon. The moon’s first cricketground — the Dreamcricket Lunar Cricket Field — was registered withthe Lunar Registry this past week. The sale of extraterrestrial property, thoughwithout legal standing, is a brisk business online. The InternationalInstitute of Space Law (IISL) is debating whether to establish legal languagethat would make such sales null and void. The Outer Space Treaty of1967, adopted by the UN, stipulated that no “government” can ownextraterrestrial property, but neglected to mention individuals. So,several space real estate agencies have surfaced over the years and haveactually made money by selling land deeds. The Lunar Cricket Field islocated on the Near Side of the Moon in the Equatorial Region, and is owned byDreamcricket.com, a US based company that began by devising online cricket gamesand went to buy media rights for cricket telecasts in North America.“Admittedly, it is a whacky idea to buy property on the moon.We just did it to express our frustration about neutral venue cricket, morespecifically the lack of it, especially in the US,” Venu Palaparthico-founder of Dreamcricket.com says. “So we paid $25 for the cricketground on the moon.”Why the moon? “Well, it is theperfect neutral venue for cricketers from the sub-continent. Look at all theadvantages — it allows cricketers like Sehwag to regain form becausegravity makes it very easy to hit a boundary. Also, there are nodistractions due to advertising and fielding is convenient because one can divearound without fear of injury.” When asked if the land deed was legal, hesmiled. “Let the legal experts worry about that.” Come tothink of it, sporting activity on the moon is not such a fantastic thought.On February 6, 1971, Alan Shepard of the Apollo 14 mission becamethe first man to hit a golf ball on the moon, using a ball and golf club head hehad smuggled on board inside his space suit. He hit two balls just beforelift-off, and sliced them out of the sand trap. They travelled, as he putit, “miles and miles and miles”. Why not just build a cricket groundin the US? “We hope to build a natural turf facility in the US someday,” Kranthi Bayya, Director of Dreamcricket, says with hope.Dreamcricket recently obtained angel funding and is opening its first physicalcricket store in New Jersey in August, 2007. The 3,200- square foot storewill feature indoor nets that will offer a 35-foot run-up for the bowler.Bowling machines and video analysis software are being planned.