picture: The Guardian
England v India Test Series: The Spirit of Cricket in changing times
Cricket is governed by Laws, quite a lot of them, which are tweaked and changed from time to time. But there is a wider framework of fair and appropriate play, sometimes known as the ‘spirit of cricket’ something which can be quite closely related to gamesmanship.
The current series between England and India, closely contested, is producing some interesting examples. One focus has been on slow over rates. Sometimes these just relate to fast bowlers who take longer to bowl an over than a spinner. Equally they can be a tactic to slow down the game for a variety of reasons.
In addition ball changes have become a frequent occurrence. The umpires have a pair of metal hoops and if the ball goes through them it has lost shape and needs to be replaced by a ball of a similar condition. What the reason for the increasing number of ball changes is remains unclear.
The Daily Telegraph blamed India for slowing down the game with ball changes on Day Two but may have noticed that England did exactly the same on Day Three.
In the final over of Day Three with England facing a few minutes batting against Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, England batsman Zak Crawley stood aside four times, as Bumrah was ready to bowl. That is against the Laws of Cricket but the Umpires did little beyond trying to make sure that exchanges of words between the Indian Captain Gil and Crawley went no further.
BBC comments included
Former England bowler Steven Finn on Test Match Special: “The end was great, you wait six and half hours of play for something as captivating as that.
“It sets up a beautiful first hour tomorrow morning because India are going to come with some gumption.”
Meanwhile Andy Bull in the Guardian describes the playing background of Indian Head Coach Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir is a man who was banned for elbowing Shane Watson in the chest while coming through for a second run during a double hundred against Australia and said afterwards he wasn’t “on the field to make friends”, the man who had to be dragged away from a staring contest with Kamran Akmal, who squared up to Shahid Afridi after barrelling into him in the middle of the pitch during an ODI in 2007, and who had to be separated from Virat Kohli after giving him a send-off in an IPL game.
The spirit of cricket as Mike Marqusee underlines in his book Anyone But England was in the nineteenth century about imperial advantage for the England team. Think W G Grace.
In 2025 the power in cricket rests not at Lords but the Board of Control of Indian Cricket….
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