August 27, 2008 - a day of celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Donald George Bradman. And they celebrated at his birthplace, Cootamundra, the hometown of his youth, Bowral, and in a black tie dinner at the business end of Sydney. Has any other sportsperson, in any sport, anywhere in the world, been celebrated quite so much as The Don?

My 2005 campaign on these pages for Philadelphia all-rounder J.Barton King's nomination as the Greatest American of All Time has gathered support, albeit three years after the poll closed and was won by an obscure mid-western baseball commentator.

Steven Wells, US-based sporting blogista for The Guardian's website, used his column on July 15 to throw his weight behind The King's claims to be America's greatest sportsperson of all time, citing "Australian cricket writer Rick Eyre" who claimed that King was "the greatest cricketer the United States ever produced, and thus the greatest sportsperson in American history".

Nice to see a reporter who quotes his sources accurately. Onya Steve!

But in 2008, it's time to take the Bart King campaign one step further. Is there anything in the US constitution that prevents a dead person from becoming a write-in candidate for President of the United States?

Alternately, Bart King could be named as John McCain's vice-presidential running mate. After all, they're roughly the same age...

It's a warm welcome to Bulgaria, Estonia and Turkey. One of the more sensible outcomes from this week's ICC meetings in The Home Of Cricket, Dubai, was the expansion of the governing body's membership by three, to now encompass a total of 104 countries.

This represents cricket's biggest incursion into eastern Europe to date. Estonia is the first state of the former Soviet Union to attain ICC membership, while neighbours Bulgaria and Turkey join Croatia and Greece as south-eastern Europe's representatives in the cricketing community.

There's been no official announcement yet, but if all the rumours are true then the ICC executive is about to alter the result of the 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan. The BBC, Cricinfo and the Press Trust of India are among sources reporting the Orwellian masterstroke, by which the two year-old result will be amended from an England win to a draw.

The white ball hurtles skywards at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad, on Thursday night. Pity there were so many empty seats. How will the IPL cope if it can't consistently get the crowds in through the gate?

"IPL is now a well established product on TV."

- Kunal Das Gupta, head of Sony TV India, as reported by Business Standard, 20.4.08.

Yes Kunal, a well established product less than 48 hours after its launch. Just one of the many cases of hyperbolics and just plain bollocks accompanying the birth of the Indian Premier League.

Why does the IPL need cheerleaders? Why, oh why, does the IPL need to import cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins? Why, oh why, oh why, do the Kolkata Knight Riders need cheer leaders in garish bright gold wigs, and dancing with their backs to the field of play? Doing a private show for SRK and the gang??

As I write, Delhi are 48 for 1 after six overs against the Deccan Chronicles Chargers, and presumably cruising to victory in Game Seven of the Indian Premier League. There's a lot to observe and a lot to talk about. Lots to blog about over the coming weeks if I have the time and maintain the energy.

I find this a very exciting time, for cricket, for India, for capitalism. It's fantastic to see India take its place at the centre of a sporting universe, much as we look to England for its soccer, much as we look to the United States for its baseball, basketball and gridiron. It's great to see cricket flourish big time outside the straitjacket of nationalism.

West Indian batting star and Bangalore Royal Challenger-to-be Shivnarine Chanderpaul had a great 2007 by any measure. He averaged 111 with the bat in Tests, and 76 in one-dayers, where his output included four centuries. A worthy winner, it would seem, of the West Indies Players Association's awards for Test player of the year, ODI player of the year and West Indian International Cricketer of the Year.

Chanderpaul collected all three major awards at the WIPA's annual gong show in Trinidad on Sunday night. One thing, though. On Saturday he turned out for Guyana at the start of a four-day Carib Beer Series game against the Windward Islands at Providence Stadium. Chanders had a good afternoon at the crease. At the end of play on Saturday he was 78 not out, sharing an unbeaten 151-run stand with his captain, Travis Dowlin.

And then on Saturday night, he packed his bags and flew to Port-of-Spain. Without telling his team management.

One of the joys of having several different formats of the game of cricket is that one can retire more than once. Such is the case of Shane Warne.

His retirement from Test cricket - along with that of Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer - reduced the 2006/07 Ashes into one long farewell tour.

His retirement from ODI cricket was not so well orchestrated. The plan was to retire from one-dayers for Australia at the end of the 2003 World Cup. But that was before he was sprung illegally taking his mum's medication.

Yesterday, Warnie confirmed what we really should have understood for a few months, when Hampshire CCC announced his retirement from first-class cricket, because of his "many other business and charitable activities". The writing was on the wall from the moment he announced his unavailability for Hampshire for the 2008 Twenty20 Cup to play professional poker.

Cricket historians will fiercely debate for years to come whether Warne's retirement from Hampshire to play poker surpasses Phil Tufnell's retirement from Middlesex to appear in "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here".

I wish I could understand the rules under which the buying of players by the Indian Premier League franchises operates. Meat Market II wrapped up at the Mumbai Hilton yesterday, and I just wonder how and if IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi is making things up as he goes along.

Consider the case of Ashwell Prince who, after being passed in at Meat Market I, was snapped up yesterday. Prince will not be a (Chennai) SuperKing, a (Rajasthan) Royal or a (Bangalore) Royal Challenger, he becomes a Mumbai Indian. But that's not the issue.