The ManicaPost
ALTHOUGH the first reference to cricket is said to have appeared in the 13th century, the game only made its mark in the 17th century when English aristocrats started playing it.
They made a decree that cricket would be played in ‘a gentlemanly manner’, which means no sledging, cheating, bodyline bowling, temper tantrums or excessive appealing. If the batsman knew he was out, he should ‘walk’ even if the umpire decided otherwise. This made the game a very civilized one.
Here are some definitions of a few words mentioned above:
Sledging is a term used in cricket to describe the practice whereby some players seek to gain an advantage by insulting or verbally intimidating the opposing player. The purpose is to try to weaken the opponent’s concentration, thereby causing him to make mistakes or underperform. This act is done these days so much that the governing body for the game have put in measures to combat this practice.
Bodyline bowling is a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team for their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia’s Don Bradman.
It is common now for bowlers to want to hit the batsmen with throat balls, but back then things were more genteel, there was only minimal protection and the deliveries were generally full.
The bodyline bowling became a thing that changed cricket, the evolution of bowling and the equipment used in batting then advanced from there.
These two terms seem to have put the game in disrepute. I still have a strong feeling that cricket has maintained its form of being gentle besides many other things that have taken a toll on this reputation and the biggest of them all is match fixing. When cricket started it was not played as a professional sport but as a hobby. The game had not been commercialized at all so the rules certainly worked the way they were designed to work those days.
People these days have careers in the sport so there is bound to be a form of illegal activity happening behind the curtain. Many cricketers have been found wanting in match fixing scandals for example great beacons of the game on a global scale like Hanse Cronje of South Africa was involved in one of the biggest scandals in the history of the sport which saw him leave the sport that could have seen him have his name engraved in the hall of fame.
The competition that is there in the game has turned it into a very psychological sport that one has to be very strong mentally to participate in a game. The sledging that happens on the field is tense that if you are easily offended as a bowler you will lose focus. If you are a batsman you might go rampage on the fielder with a bat. The idea of chasing the win has moved the game form being a hobby to being a psychologically charged game.
I do strongly stand on it that this game is a gentlemen’s game, there are those that do disagree saying that certain actions have led to the game losing its shine because of the behavior of the players on and off the field.
To me, there are humans living among humans. The fact that one has to sledge, to bodyline bowl or to fix a match, it is because the game has been evolving with time. So teams are just trying to keep up with time and do the best they can do to win series and trophies. Indeed it is a gentlemen’s game.
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