Some seek to create history, some to blot it

Achievement and success are very interesting times to observe human nature. A hard man might just display a streak of generosity, a small ma...

Achievement and success are very interesting times to observe human nature. A hard man might just display a streak of generosity, a small man might show resentment. Two records, extraordinary personal achievements and fruits of some perseverance were set recently. Most of the world applauded, for others grace was a heavy burden to carry.

Brian Lara8217;s life has been the subject of much scrutiny, occasionally too much for a young man, then in his mid-twenties, to bear. But his skill has rarely been questioned, when he puts bat to ball he displays one of the rarest skills in the game. The reactions to his quadruple hundred, in the West Indies and in the eyes of some in Australia, were vastly different. I suspect it has much to do with the inability to understand cultures. One saw it as a matter of pride, another as an item of selfishness.

Muralitharan8217;s achievement, indeed his entire career, hasn8217;t met with the levels of approval that Lara8217;s has and yet both stand near the top of their profession. It was disappointing therefore to see the grudging acceptance of a huge achievement.

There is more to Murali8217;s cricket than his action just as there is more, hugely more, to Maradona8217;s life than the Hand of God goal. It is one thing to attempt a balanced profile, quite another to be churlish and graceless. Some seek to create history, some to blot it.

Murali8217;s action deserves to be debated, indeed it has been for so long now. But I thought we needed to pause a while to applaud and that is why Barry Jarman8217;s statement, and the importance it was accorded, was in poor taste. Jarman was match referee at a time when the degree of mistrust in the cricket world was at its highest. His astonishing acceptance of Allan Donald8217;s repeated abuse of Rahul Dravid was a contributor to that perception, as indeed were the Sehwag suspension at Port Elizabeth, with Mike Denness and the Slater let-off at Mumbai with Cammie Smith.

The reason Jarman8217;s statement was in poor taste was because it implied that Murali8217;s success was solely due to what he believes is a suspect action. He is entitled to an opinion on the action, as indeed all of us are to ours, but it places too little importance on his extraordinary skill. And that is unfair.

Murali8217;s action was first debated in 1995. Within a year he was among the best bowlers in the world. Surely, if his action was all there is to him, there should have been another with a similar action knocking on the doors of world cricket by now. In business, as in politics and sport, unfair advantages are very quickly picked up but nobody has been able to get quite the same degree of accuracy or control or guile as Murali. He hasn8217;t even been sighted yet.

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The combination of a whirring action and wrist spin is very, very difficult to master, even if you try doing it with a bent arm. That is why I think we must acknowledge that, for all the debate over his action, Muralitharan is an extraordinary cricketer. In his time of triumph we must applaud his skill.

The enthusiastic bunch of novices he bowled to in Zimbabwe wouldn8217;t have had a clue to what was coming their way. For a long time I must admit I held the view that what happened within a country was its business and nobody else8217;s. I still largely believe so because those like us sitting on the sidelines either do not know enough or have an agenda.

But I still believe some intervention is needed because the quality of cricket is suffering and we are a sport that is played at this level by only ten countries. If two of those become total pushovers, the spectacle of competitive sport will diminish and for us devotees, that must be a matter of concern.

I fear that to some degree, cricket and much else in Zimbabwe is driven by vendetta. It is an understandable feeling, a visit to Robben Island will convince you of that, but one that isn8217;t very conducive to progress. Even South Africa, with the most compassionate living leader at the helm, is only now starting to come to terms with a mixed society. Zimbabwe has no Mandela and sadly cricket must suffer. The ICC, and most of us, have much to think about.