Subject: Cricket 
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 08:02:29 +0000


I thought this piece, which I wrote for the Wall Street Journal, may be of 
interest to some on this list.

Salil
------


The Sporting Life: The Empire Strikes Back

By Salil Tripathi

The world of cricket almost came apart late last month over a dispute 
between the International Cricket Council and India. In the end, the 
controversy was solved, but not before revealing that the way the game is 
administered -- steeped in colonial-era traditions and a mythical code 
involving gentlemanly behavior, fair play and the umpire's decision being 
final -- will have to change. It was yet another nail in the coffin of the 
established order that a certain class of England appreciates.

Our story begins in Port Elizabeth, where in the second test between India 
and South Africa, the match referee, a Scotsman of modest cricketing 
abilities called Mike Denness, punished six Indian players for "excessive 
appealing," or shouting too much. The touring Indians found Mr. Denness's 
decisions preposterous. South Africans were equally boisterous but not 
punished.

The dispute threatened to escalate when India included a player Mr. Denness 
had banned for one match, in the squad for the first test match against 
England, played in Mohali, India. In the end, India relented and kept the 
offending cricketer on the bench, but not before securing a commitment from 
the ICC that it would inquire into the controversy over the conduct of Mr. 
Denness. By agreeing to do so, the ICC bowed to the inevitable 
democratization of the game.
The balance of power in international cricket has been shifting since the 
1980s. The English invented the game, and are proud of its headquarters 
being at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London, where the ICC meets as the 
keeper of its rules, and where, until recently, England and Australia held 
veto power. But real power is shifting to the Indian subcontinent, where the 
world's most passionate crowds routinely fill stadiums, yielding millions of 
dollars for cricket boards around the world through sponsorship and TV 
royalties. Advertisers offer millions to the game's organizers, even if the 
match is played in non-cricketing cities like Singapore, or Sharjah in the 
United Arab Emirates -- if India and Pakistan are playing.

India and Pakistan want a greater say in the way the game is run. But the 
ICC seems reluctant to accept the fundamental change that money can bring, 
and acts as if cricket is still a game played on English public school 
fields with their aristocratic, gentlemanly code of behavior that they are 
qualified to interpret. In England itself, the most vociferous fans these 
days are from the immigrant communities of India, Pakistan and the 
Caribbean. They bring enthusiasm with their dhols (an Indian drum) and samba 
drums, which the game of polite applause lacks in England. Occasionally they 
go berserk, as some did this summer, forcing some English grounds to be 
fenced and making social commentators lament the rise of cricket hooligans, 
a term usually associated with football.

That's almost the end of the world; for cricket was the game for gentlemen, 
football was the one for the masses. Until well into the 20th century, only 
"a gentleman," an amateur, could captain England; someone who earned his 
livelihood playing the game could not. Such a code was born out of 
conventions formed a century ago; of cricket being a meadow game with a fair 
name played under a mellow sun on a village green on a balmy afternoon. It 
was the only game in which players stopped
for tea in the afternoon. Intricate rules governed fair play, and players 
applauded their rivals. And the umpire's decision was final. To defy an 
umpire's authority was simply "not cricket," itself a metaphor for fairness.

But of course these were myths.

Play by the gentlemanly code? In the 1930s, the Australian batsman Donald 
Bradman was shattering every known record with his phenomenal batting. To 
contain him, the visiting English captain Douglas Jardine asked his main 
fast bowler, Harold Larwood, to bowl consistently on Mr. Bradman's weaker 
flank, and packed the ground with six fielders ready to catch the lofted 
ball. Mr. Jardine succeeded in curbing Mr. Bradman's appetite and injuring 
several Australian players. England defeated Australia in what came to be 
known as the bodyline series, and almost destroyed Britain's diplomatic 
relations with Australia.

Never question an umpire's decision? One famous English player from the last 
century was W.G. Grace, in whose honor the British government once issued 
postage stamps. He was notorious for questioning umpires. Once, when he got 
out early in a county match, he challenged the umpire by asserting that 
people had come to see him bat, and not to watch the umpire.

Cricket's code sounded reasonable in the age before television. It was 
impossible for the spectators to know if a batsman was really out, and the 
umpire's decision was final. Teams from the Indian subcontinent were weak 
then, and it was hard for them to prove that a few umpiring decisions were 
all that separated them from their rivals.

In the late 1970s, an Australian rebellion made cricket a popular television 
sport. Now cameras intruded everywhere, you could hear the sighs, gasps and 
taunts, and feel the faint nicks. Then in 1983, India won the World Cup, and 
Pakistan followed in 1992. Thanks to television replays, it was possible to 
second-guess the umpire. A third umpire now sits in the pavilion, watching a 
disputed appeal in slow motion, ruling when the umpires on the ground 
cannot. And the match referee is the final arbiter. But what if he gets it 
wrong?

Umpires, like the empire, are now fallible. The empire has ended, and the 
umpire is no longer the final authority. And from the subcontinent, the 
former empire is striking back.
====Mr. Tripathi, a London-based writer, is working on his first novel.





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