Opinion Express View on Ashes Test controversy: Spell it out

Cricket, often, is a 21st century game with an 18th century mindset. In its quest to package itself as a modern sport, it has ignored its flawed fundamentals, those that are outdated in this day and age. Even basic things like how a batsman can be given out, and how he cannot be, is sometimes wrapped in confusion. Had the laws been clearer, the controversy surrounding the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow on the deciding day of the second Ashes Test would not have shaken the cricket world. That mystical concept of “spirit of the game” would not have been evoked.

By the book, Bairstow was clearly out. The umpires had not formally called the end of the over, the ball was still alive, and Australia’s wicket-keeper Alex Carey caught him out of the crease with a precise throw. Of course, it was a sneaky way to dismiss a batsman, cheap or cunning or heartless, you could say. But it was not illegal. Carey was just manipulating a loophole. It is the duty of the rule-setters to lay down the rules as clear as daylight. This is not the era of barons and lords in frilled shirts and silk stockings filling their leisure with a game of cricket. So rather than evoke the ineffable spirit of the game, the rules that are prone to misinterpretation should be reworked.

Advertisement

It is time to reinterpret the spirit of the game. It pertains to not resorting to unfair means to gain advantage, like ball tampering, racial abuse, personal insult, physical aggression or, most gravely, fixing a game. The spirit of the game and the rules in the book should never be mixed. The Bairstow-Carey incident should serve as an eye-opener. Laws that exist in the book should not have gaps that need to be filled by mystical notions of the spirit-of-the-game.