After Sydney-gate

Steve Bucknor8217;s gone from the Test series, but what about the record of his errors?

Harbhajan Singh can play while his appeal remains pending against a three-Test suspension, and Steve Bucknor will not umpire in Perth for the third Test match. The ICC has also reached for the services of its most trustworthy and trust-inspiring official, Ranjan Madugalle, to make peace between the two teams. And Sydney-gate will presumably be consigned to the record books, just as the 1932-33 Bodyline series was. Can it, however, be that simple?

The ICC is doing two things by holding out these olive branches. One, it is doing its utmost to save the tour. Nothing can be more alarming for the ICC than the prospect of its schedules being overturned 8212; today a team could do it as protest against perceived injustice, tomorrow it could be on a whim or, horror, for more commercially lucrative options. Two, it is 8212; or so we hope 8212; trying to revive popular affection for cricket. Lots have gone wrong on the field in series past 8212; and each time, whether after the outrages of Douglas Jardine8217;s 8220;leg theory8221; or even the ferocity of the West

Indian fast attack in the 1970s, the laws of the game were amended to avert such episodes thereafter. And all was usually well once again. But today, live telecasts, spectacularly revealing camera work, and media outlets that bring in voices from the street have changed the way sport is consumed. Cricket8217;s world is no longer that receptive to mere amendments for future games to rectify injustices in previous ones.

It8217;s a revolutionary thought, and it is being uttered softly. But it is a suggestion that the bosses in the ICC need to hear and consider before the street gets loud in demanding its implementation. When officiating at matches has been atrocious enough to gain the ICC8217;s concession that change of personnel is required, it is serious. What then happens to the results entered into the record books on account of those errors? In other words, what could be the criteria for demanding and gaining the annulment of particular Test matches? Make no mistake, the questions of Sydney-gate are with us still.