There is a lot of misinformation in circulation these days. Much of it, Yahaluweni, is emerging from certain Indian media and other mischief-making sources that enjoy feeding off rumour.

Fact and fiction surrounding the Mumbai Massacre aftermath, and genuine local issues as well as fantasy headlines have grabbed attention. Suggestions though that New Delhi is about to lose rights to hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and South Asia the CWC11 to Autralia and New Zealand seriously smack of hearsay.

Comments as these clutch at issues through supposition, which are ridiculous in their Orwellian doublespeak. That is, if you follow the realities of what has happened since, and in some cases through a sense of belief and cool common sense of what can be achieved through a careful examination and analysis of what has happened as well as the resulting political fallout.

England captain Kevin Pietersen has rarely been my favourite person. But give the man some credit. He believed that England should return to India play the two Tests and convinced others it is necessary. It is a commitment deserving recognition.

He is following through on his comments in last weekend’s British tabloid ‘News of the World’ when he said, "Terrorism should not affect sport. We can’t allow these cowards (terrorists), to run our game," with action and not as some politicians would have done, through manipulated rhetoric.

This was after he expressed the view of how it could have "been me being carried out in a bodybag" during the same interview. Naturally being a newspaperman, it is easy to understand why the writer and sub-editor used that as a headline. It shouts the sort of emotive warfront imagery that appeals to the readers.

Also supporting England’s return is the country’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown. As he sees it, the tour shows solidarity with India and a way to get on with life after the terrorist butchers left Mumbai with a bloodied image through lack of inadequate security.

It might also shake up as well the second tier of the custodians of the game and as they meet in Cape Town, later this week to discuss a variety of issues. Items as CWC11 and South Asia could be part of the agenda.

While James Sutherland of Cricket Australia was offering one view for a TV Network to twist to their jingoistic views, New Zealand Cricket’s CEO, Dr Justin Vaughan, with your typical Kiwi pragmatism, suggested how it ‘is way too soon to think along such lines." That is reality, not some TV slanted make believe take of the issue.

Terrorist activities not only in South Asia are of concern to the International Cricket Council. It is up to the governments to find answers to outlaw and shut down all terror organisations that recruit maleficent lowlifes, who perform such criminally organised murderous activities on their behalf. This is where fundamentalist groups are worse than the Cosa Nostra with its gangster mentality.

Earlier this year, at the height of India’s tour, central Colombo, in the region of fancy beachfront hotels, was all but shut down to accommodate the annual political bunfight and booze up known as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Fortunately, the Test series had moved to the more harmonious, peaceful and enjoyable surrounds of Galle.

The challenges offered by terrorists are where regional authorities as SAARC can play such an important role and form a collective agency to combat and destroy known radical organisations. Yet in the 23 years it has been in existence, SAARC, which represents eight nations and 1.58 billion people and has a growing number of observer nations, has achieved little. It has been accused of being little more than a talk shop.

In other words, big on promises, big on rhetoric, big on spending taxpayers money and big on doing nothing else than have a cheap holiday in luxury hotels.

One clown, someone from memory known as Medonza with his faked American accent because he spent some time in the ‘Land of the Free and Home of the Brave’ suggested how such criticism of SAARC is counterproductive. Yet, what has it achieved after all the rhetoric of dealing with terrorism? India have been caught in an embarrassing mess.

How to tackle regional and global terrorism was high on this year’s SAARC agenda and India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, highlighted this.

"We cannot," he told delegates, "afford to lose the battle against the ideologies of hatred, fanaticism and against all those who seek to destroy our social fabric. Terrorists and extremists know no borders. We must act jointly and with determination to fight this scourge. We must defend the values of pluralism, peaceful coexistence and the rule of law."

The initial political reaction at the time the terrorists attacked Mumbai and the length of time to set up a task force suggests Dr Singh’s words in Colombo on August 2 have a distinct hollow ring.

The chief executives and the ICC board need to consider not only India’s planned visit to Pakistan already in jeopardy, but also next year’s Champions Trophy, postponed for security reasons, and further down the line is the 2011 World Cup to be held in this region.

This recalls how politicians from some ICC nations reacted in 2003 when the Zimbabwe issue became such a prickly one that was not the case when South Africa decided that Zimbabwe and Kenya share the 2003 event. The governments who objected in 2003 had said nothing in 1999 or 2001 when it was known that Zimbabwe were involved.

What this did was leave a mess for the ICC to clean up. This was after the politicians made their views known late in the day after tournament dates and the draw had been made public. It is why there is a need for politicians to be more prudent in their comments.

There are those in Sri Lanka who suggest how more sophisticated is security on the island. Sure, there is awareness to the dangers of travel in private and public transport, but as pertinent editorials in The Island so often point out, there is no foolproof system.

August 15, 2006 is a good enough example. This is when seven innocent people died because traffic was snarled up at the Liberty Plaza circle when police security blocked off part of the road. Such measures did not save the security team looking after the retiring Pakistan High Commissioner on his way to a farewell function or innocent people waiting for a bus.

As the area had not been thoroughly checked, such security measures failed to prevent those responsible for that act of anarchy from carrying out their mission of murder that had the effect of scuttling the Unitech Triangular series. As with the England players, many of South Africa’s Proteas were already edgy after two earlier bomb attacks on politicians that maimed and killed innocents.

And remaining island bound an interesting excursion last Wednesday found me at a venue to watch, amid the showers, the afternoon’s play of the local Premier League limited-overs game. It is a wonder the grumbling of the players was not be heard in far off Maitland Place. Players in whites using a red ball in a limited-overs game? What sort of nonsense is this?

Welcome to fairyland, guys. Well, that is the impression you get. While the rest of the ICC full members nations are using a white ball at the shorter level of the game, those in Serendipity do it differently. They are using the inferior Pakistan-made red Grays ball, which as could be seen on examination, is not developed for wet conditions either.

Sure a welcomed sponsor for the Premier League slogs series has been found, but it is so far a farce. Yet the schoolboys T20 event has the sort of quality management the seniors are missing – coloured clothing and white balls along with TV coverage.

Despite the drinks company signing on the dotted line, the Premier League tournament is being played with red balls and in whites as a "cost saving exercise". This is the explanation of a disgusted club official, who shall remain nameless.

There was also a mischievous suggestion how the "cost saving" was also benefiting whoever is responsible for importing the balls and selling them to Sri Lanka Cricket for the Premier League. This would of course be denied in Maitland Place.

While internationally, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and from reports, Bangladesh and Kenya, use the Australian Kookaburra, Sri Lanka’s local first-class competition are forced to use something others have rejected.

It should be well known that the red and white balls behave differently in competition and players need to use them in the competitions for which they have been developed. To be proficient they need to get a feel of the types of balls used at international cricket, which is not happening on the island, is the complaint of one international player who didn’t go to Zimbabwe.

As he quickly argued, some bowlers were battling to adjust to the Grays ball while others had inflated success and with it affected the averages.

The ball is equally important as a tool to the game as is the bat. Are Premier League batsmen asked to bat with sub-standard bats? Or force them to use different equipment in Premier League as opposed to what they use in international competition?

The tournament committee are said to be saving Rs2000 – Rs3000 a ball, but at what cost to Sri Lanka’s national development.