Cricket's Controversies and Gamesmanship

Within the UK, Cricket has traditionally presented itself as a "middle-class" sport, usually the reserve of those from more "fortunate" backgrounds. It is ironic therefore, to consider the recent controversies sweeping through the game at the highest echelons of test cricket.

Cricket Controversy

A quick glance at today's headlines reveals that the Indian bowler Harbajan Singh, has been unceremoniously dropped from India's test squad for the third test against Australia starting on Wednesday. This follows the well documented alleged "racial" insult aimed at Andrew Symonds during the Second test match, which resulted in a three match ban for Singh, and the Indian team threatening to abandon the tour completely.

This most recent transgression from the "spirit of cricket" is just one in a series of incidents which threaten to undermine the spectacle of the game itself, and also leads us to question whether Cricket is as unspoiled as some of its patrons would like us to believe?

Cricket Gamesmanship

The Indian Captain, Anil Kumble went on to say that during the second test at Sydney, that there was only "one team playing in the spirit of the game". This may or may not be true, bit India's claim to be faultless is no better than any other international team in the modern game. Since 1997, Indian players has totted up 43 infringements for offences including intimidating umpires, abusing rival players, ball tampering, time wasting and widespread dissent.

The England cricket team can also be cited as a team "stretching" the boundaries of the spirit of the game. During the second test between India and England at Trent Bridge in 2007, it was alleged that members of the England team had purposely thrown jellybeans onto the wicket, whilst Indian bowler Zaheer Khan was batting. Dismissed as a "prank" by Michael Vaughan, the event proved costly for England, with Khan taking test best bowling figures in the following innings, attributing his performance to the jellybean incident.

Sledging

One recent worrying trend seems to be to involve the umpire and as a result the media at the first sign of "sledging" or any other form of verbal exchanges between players. Dinesh Karthik was prompt to complain to the umpires after England Wicketkeeper Matt Prior told him that Mohendra Singh Dhoni (Kathik's rival for the Wicketkeeper/Batsman role) wouldn't have played similar shots to Kathik. This is clearly a case that didn't need to be covered in the media the following day.

Due to the intense pressure and scrutiny that professional sportspeople find themselves burdened with, it is inevitable that a degree of confrontation will occur. However, the confrontation should stay firmly within the confines of that which caused it - in this case the cricket pitch.

It would be wrong to defend the seemingly widespread practice of sledging opposition players, but it is important to ask whether it is ultimately necessary to involve third parties in the debate.

Test cricket by its very definition is designed to "test" the attrition of cricketers, and dealing with sledging forms part of that test.

It is slightly pathetic that cricket seems to have fallen to a level whereby players find it necessary to "tell tales" outside of school. We can only hope that common sense prevails, and that next week we are talking about a fantastic game of cricket between two of the behemoths of the game, India and Australia, rather than discussing what has been said between the players during the match. Anil Kumble was quoted as saying "It's test Cricket, not tiddlywinks", a sentiment that should be considered by some of today's players.

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