Cricket, ugly cricket

In 1931, on his eightieth birthday, Lord Harris, a former England captain and patron saint of cricket, was invited by The Times of London ...

In 1931, on his eightieth birthday, Lord Harris, a former England captain and patron saint of cricket, was invited by The Times of London to convey a message for all his criketing friends. 8220;You do well to love it, for it is more free from anything sordid, anything dishonourable, than any game in the world. To play it keenly, honourably, generously, self-sacrificingly, is a moral lesson in itself, and the classroom is God8217;s air and sunshine. Foster it my brothers, so that it may attract all who can find the time to play it, protect it from anything that would sully it, so that it may grow in favour with all men. We are all comrades in the world of cricket,8221; wrote the cricketing Lord. After the current revealations of bribing and match fixing the poor Lord must be turning in his grave.

How the game of the thirties was undergoing a change can well be gauged by the prouncements of Sir Neville Cardus, unique among cricket writers for sheer grace and style, and Frank Woolley, a great England all-rounder of yesteryears.

In his last book, Full Score 1970, Cardus expresses his disillusionment at the way the game was going. He writes: 8220;It is pretty certain that if I were young today, I wouldn8217;t become devoted to cricket and write about it. Cricket has responded as ever to the Zeigeist, it has developed a routine standard efficiency at the expense of the personal touch. It has lost the leisureliness of the aristrocratic manner, it has lost humour and country identity. It is offering itself in ordinary hit-or-miss scrambles in which winning or losing points or awards is the only appeal to the spectator, for in such circumstances style, spaciousness and variety of technique are not free to show themselves, in fact are discouraged.8221;

Woolley, recounting his early memories in 1976, bemoans: 8220;I must try not to shed a tear as the King of Games is beheadedquot; 8212; now jetted into one day match with different rules and regulations concerning which a young cricketer at Canterbury tried to put it gently 8212; Of course, Mr Woolley, you couldn8217;t enjoy cricket today. It is far too scientific8217;.

E. V. Lucas, an essayist and a lover of cricket could see changes coming into the game when he predicted in the thirties that 8220;a showman will before long, rent a ground or a stadium and engage a team of sloggers to fill two hours, or even that he will arrange contests of tip and run. Let him. It will be good fun for the impatient, but it won8217;t be cricket. It will be as like cricket as a music-hall programme is likely a play by Shakespeare.8221;

Then in 1977 came the great showman Kerry Packer to prove Lucas right. With his entry everything changed. Cricket ceased to be a sport, it became big business. All amateurs became professionals. It was no longer possible for a cricketer to be able to participate in any organised contest purely for the love of the game. Cricket became a commodity which had to be marketed. Night cricket was introduced and flannelled fools8217; in white became clowns in colured pyjamas. But neither Cardus, nor Woolley, nor Lucas and not even Packer could have foreseen that the cricket stadium would one day become a casino or a market place where matches would be bought and sold.

The malaise started with the matches in Sharjah and the masala8217; matches played all over the globe. Wealth of the board controlling the game began to accumulate but the game itself began to decay. Bookies started hovering around the players, making tempting offers to them to change the course of the match to suit their bets. Tim May has openly said that he and two other Australian cricketers were offered money to play poorly. Manoj Prabhakar has also had a similar experience. Now everyday more and more skeletons are tumbling out of the closet.

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How does one explain the degradation of the game once regarded as the Noblest Game8217;. Manoj Prabhakar is quite right when he says that money is the root of all the evil that has crept in today8217;s cricket. To quote John Arlott, second only to Cardus in his ability to portray cricket: 8220;Games are truly reflection of the social life of the people, changing with and conditioned by its changes in economy, religion and politics.8221; Today, with violence, corruption, indiscipline and the lure of lucre prevalent in most societies, it is not surprising that cricket has not remained untarnished for after all sports is a part of the social life of a nation.

But things must change and the game must get back on the rails. But how? The first step should be to make every effort to break the nexus between the players and the bookies. Pradeep Magazine The Indian Express, Delhi had a lot to say in the matter but sadly he has been ignored. Truth may hurt, but in the interest of the game it must be revealed. Eyewash enquiries are a waste of time and money. Players who are suspect should be kept out of the game until suspicion is cleared. Life ban should be imposed on those found guilty after a thorough investigation into the allegations. And those who want to gamble, let them have their fun and excitement but without involving the participants and polluting the game. Perhaps all this is more easily said than done, but it has to be done if cricket, lovely cricket8217; is not to become cricket, ugly cricket.8217;