Even those blessed with an overactive imagination would have difficulty visualising Jagmohan Dalmiya as Luke Skywalker, or Lt-Gen. Tauqir Zia as Han Solo. But with world cricket currently facing a Star Wars scenario - with Asia in one corner of the galaxy and England, Australia and New Zealand in another - it's a pretty accurate parallel. The touch-paper was lit by Mike Denness in South Africa three months ago, and the flames have proved harder to put out than the Sydney bushfires. Yesterday, at a meeting in Sharjah, Asia's cricket chiefs came out with some fighting talk, leading many to believe that a continental fault could well lead to cricket being split in two.

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC), headed by Zia, the chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board, threw its weight behind India's request that a referees' commission meeting - to look into the penalties imposed by Denness - be put on hold until the executive board of the International Cricket Council (ICC) discussed it in March. The Indians, and Dalmiya in particular, are still smarting from ICC's rejection of the names they suggested should sit on the commission.

Zia was adamant that Asia's voice must be heard. He also went on the offensive on the thorny issue of teams calling off tours of Asia citing security reasons. New Zealand are due to go to Pakistan in April, and Zia clearly fears that they might go the West Indies way and bail out. "What we want from the ICC is that there should be some form of compensation - around a million dollars - to the host country if a team declines to play there [in Asia]," he said. "If the ICC does not accept this recommendation, the four Test-playing nations of Asia will automatically refuse either to visit or host that country."

The ACC have certainly struck a chord with many Asians on that score. For too long now, we've wondered how teams are allowed to wimp their way out of tours on the flimsiest pretext, leaving the host country buried under an avalanche of unsold tickets. Not to mention potential millions lost in advertising revenue. You'd never hear India and Pakistan complain about playing in an English city that has been targeted by IRA bombs. Why, then, the reluctance to tour towns and cities in the subcontinent where the biggest danger is most often being mobbed too enthusiastically by fans?

To make matters more interesting, these days the subcontinent has four votes on the ICC executive board, which is made up of representatioves from the ten Test-playing nations. An ACC source told a news agency that support was "guaranteed" from Zimbabwe, South Africa and West Indies as well ... not news that would make Malcolm Gray, the ICC president, a happy chappie in the event of the ACC calling for a vote.

There were conspiracy theories aplenty in the Asian media in the aftermath of the Denness affair, lots of talk of The Empire striking back. It's clear now that Asian cricket's Jedi knights are preparing to deliver a stinging riposte. While it's hard to imagine Dalmiya or Zia wielding a lightsaber with Obi-Wan Kenobi-like precision, you don't have to think too hard to identify the Darth Vader in this little tale. In the present scenario, it's all too convenient for the Asian contingent to view Gray and ICC as representatives of the Dark Side.

So what if cricket goes for a toss in the midst of all this jostling for power? With the next George Lucas epic not due for release for another year, we can console ourselves with cricket's version of Good v Evil. If only we knew which was which. And where's Princess Leia?

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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