Cricket, both at the Test and street level, owes its charm to thesense of camaraderie and respect you share with your opponent
Erapalli Prasanna21-Jan-2003Cricket, both at the Test and street level, owes its charm to thesense of camaraderie and respect you share with your opponent.But with the continued media focus and the commercialisation ofthe international game over the years, things have indeed changedand for worse.The image of the game owes a lot to all the past players who hadset the right kind of example for the youngsters to emulate. Inthose days, one could see more families in the stadium, most ofthem arriving with their lunch hampers or packets for the daylong entertainment. The ones who couldn’t make it to the ground,always stayed home listening to the radio broadcast. Mind you,the contributions of the radio commentators like John Arlott,Alan McGilvray and Brian Johnston in spreading the spirit of thegame cannot be underestimated.Now, though, it seems that the spirit of the game they sozealously propagated is taking a serious beating. The fieldingside and the bowlers seem to be appealing for almost everythingand the batsmen refuse to walk even if they are know that theyare out.
© ReutersAll this despite the relentless scrutiny by the ubiquitous TVcamera, which, incidentally, I think is one of the reasonsbehind the change of the character of the game as a whole. Thanksto this all-seeing device, the pressures on the umpires hasincreased manifold these days and sadly quite a few umpires inthe ICC elite panel seem to have fallen prey to it.To tackle this disturbing trend, one of the steps that the ICCcould take is to formulate a policy by which the Match Refereereviews all controversial moments of the day’s play and then actson it. Punishments that are handed out in this manner could serveto caution players who have been trying to put pressure on theumpire by appealing when there is clearly no need for it.I for one feel the whole process of appealing needs conviction.For instance, in a recent game, Bangladesh skipper andwicket-keeper Khaled Mashud was seen appealing for a leg-beforedecision despite it being clear to everybody concerned that theball was missing the leg stump by quite a margin. Then there arethe batsmen who stay put like innocent lambs after getting athick edge. It is ridiculous to see such instances of the playersleaving all the decision-making to the umpires. Probably theyhave forgotten that the umpires’ role lies only in helping themplay the game in a fair manner.All this has meant that umpires, despite being well-paid andtaken care of, have been constantly erring while applying thesimplest of the rules. An example could be that of the largenumber of poor lbw decisions, which seemed to be handed out evenwhen the ball is pitching down the legside. ICC should keep alogbook on such poor umpiring decisions, and eventually show thedoor to the umpires, who seem to be erring repeatedly.The golden rule accepted by all is that the benefit of doubtshould go to the batsman. TV replays can always expose whether aplayer – either a batsman or a fielder – was trying to cheat theumpire. The match referee should be empowered to caution suchplayers, and repeated offenders must be punished severely. Ithink it will be far better for the game to get rid of suchspiritless blokes than entrust bulk of the decision-making to theTV umpires.
© CricInfoIn my playing days, there was a lot of goodwill between teams andplayers; batsmen used to walk while the fielding side used torecall a batsman if they thought the decision was not justified.Let us try to put that spirit back into this game.Before I end, I must congratulate the ICC for having dealt withthe Darren Lehmann incident in a firm manner. It was shockingthat someone as experienced as Lehmann – a cricketer who hasplayed around the world and rubbed shoulders with so many players- actually made such outrageous racial remarks. The Australianshould count himself very lucky to have got away with a lightpunishment. Lehmann’s outburst is not only a slap on the face ofhumanity but also a cruel reminder that the spirit of the game ison the wane.