Memories of Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Rantunga’s finger-waving at Australian umpires four years ago and Darren Lehmann’s racist remarks earlier this season, were carefully brushed aside at St George’s Park when Australian wicketkeeper, Adam Gilchrist, ‘‘walked’’ in the first semi-final of the World Cup 2003.It was a remarkable decision considering the state of the Australia innings as they batted first in the game against Sri Lanka and a history of acrimony between the two nations on the field, especially in Australia when the row seemed to spill into a verbal slanging match.Why, there has even been an accusation in a Colombo’s Sunday paper that some Australian writers were ‘‘taking money’’ to write ‘‘dishonourable remarks’’ about Sri Lankan players.Much of this came in the wake of Darrel Hair’s decision to ‘no-ball’ Muttiah Muralitharan during the Melbourne Test during Christmas in 1995. The ensuing row created as much off-the-field commentary as on it.Twenty-five minutes into the first semifinal, however, Gilchrist goes on the sweep to a looping delivery from Aravinda de Silva, gets a faint edge which the opposing wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara claims a catch. Umpire Rudi Koertzen turns down the decision with a shake of the head, only Gilchrist decides to take off, giving himself out with 22 runs next to his name.There are any number of batsmen who would have, in similar circumstances, stood his ground and accepted the umpire’s decision. It is a natural reaction. Not in this case: Gilchrist did what he felt was the honourable thing and walked without looking at the umpire. Whether this act would this magnanimous gesture would be appreciated in Sri Lanka is another matter.Ironically, given today’s incident, it was Australia under Ian Chappell in the mid-1970s, who were widely credited with starting the trend of not walking, even when the batsman knew he was out. Chappell thought that it was the umpire’s job to make the decision. As a result, he would stand his ground until the finger was raised. His approach even drove West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding to tears when he was given not out after apparently edging a catch to wicketkeeper Deryck Murray. Former England captain Tony Greig was another player with a similar attitude.But what Tuesday’s incident did was to restore some semblance of dignity to a game, often bereft of such rich moments of self-denial and is lost on those armchair critics whose team benefit from such a decision. They will ignore the positive and revel in the negative.
