Despite the ICC’s attempts to muddy the waters every team will have a decent following for the 12th iteration beginning next week
Jack Bannister, who died in 2016, was an influential figure in cricket: fine seam bowler for Warwickshire, pioneer of the players’ union, journalist, broadcaster, behind-the-scenes fixer. Shrewd? He could have had a Regius professorship in shrewdness. He also owned a chain of betting shops.
In 1983, halfway through the third World Cup final, Bannister had a brainstorm. An acquaintance shouted at him through the open windows of the old Lord’s press box: “What price India?” “100 to 1.” With Jack, such questions were never theoretical. He took the bet, and he paid.
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