What’s happening to the Gentleman’s Game?
Ball-tampering is become a
big issue in cricket. The seemingly innocuous application of saliva and sweat,
and more interventionist acts such as pressing chewed lozenges, throwing the
ball hard on the surface, the use of nails or abrasive dust from the turf, and
in some cases the use of bottle openers have plunged a knife into the game’s heart.
Steve Smith’s Australian team scuffed the ball with a yellow tape laden with dirt-granules from the
pitch during the course of the third Test against hosts South Africa at Cape
Town. The act was caught on camera. This was owing to Australians’ urge to win
at any cost.
In fact, ball-tampering has been attempted by most international teams. In
this case, Smith and Warner to
step down from leadership roles. Australian
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull publicly questioned the team’s approach to the
game. And Rajasthan Royals replaced Smith with Ajinkya Rahane as its captain
for the forthcoming Indian Premier League season. The International Cricket Council, for its part, imposed a one-Test ban
on Smith, and fined him 100% of his match fee. Bancroft got a 75% fine.
Australia has always been in the controversy even before the advent of
modern technology. The umpires and players colluded to win matches by unfair
tactics. Sadly, they have not changed their attitude
The ball tampering incident has caused outrage and India has added its
bit to the outrage. Ball tampering has been common ever since reverse swing
came in to play. The tampering gets more rampant as no two cricket balls are
similar and the swing factor differs from ball to ball, thanks to
aero-dynamics! The side getting the ball that swings less feels cheated and
perhaps resorts to cheating for a level playing field. In cricket conditions on
a given day plays such an important role that the two sides battling out do not
have a level playing field, unlike say in Tennis or Football.
The Australian cricket team has wrapped itself in infamy. Their Captain,
Steve Smith, a prodigious run-machine who could well have ended as one of the
all-time great batsmen, now stares at a life-time ban and an abrupt and premature
end to his career. Anything short of life-ban would truly be an injustice to
the game and its fans at large. He cannot claim a 'brain-fade' every time and
escape punishment that he so well and truly deserves. The same fate awaits
David Warner too. They both chose a young player as he would be the most pliant
and unfortunately that happened to be Bancroft who would now live with this
dishonour for the rest of his life. The Aussie premium on 'winning' has led
them to 'winning using any means'. The ICC also deserves a part of the blame
because for a few decades now, they have allowed the evil Aussie practice of
'sledging', a disease that has spread to other teams also. What a fall for a
country that has produced so many legendary cricketers & sportspersons.
The sledging that the Aussies have taught to the rest of the cricketing
world, euphemistically called "chatter" or "banter", is not
harmless but a symptom of the deep desire to win at any cost. Once that is in
place, then other things, such as ball tampering, are not too far away. It is
too bad that other teams too, including Indians, have started along this path.
The West Indians stand out for playing with the true spirit of the game in an
era when cricket has long lost its "gentlemen's game" tag (given the
money involved now, it is more appropriate to call those who play sport as
mercenaries than sportspersons).
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