Beyond the Boundary
‘ I would love it’ said David Lloyd in reply to Mike Atherton’ s question.
It is tea time on Thursday 22 March in Cape Town in the third Test between South Africa and Australia, and David, Mike and Ian Ward are discussing the probable return of South Africa’ s Kagiso Rabada for the remaining Tests – and the ramifications of the disciplinary process that earned him bans in two successive seasons. This led them on to the possibilities handed to captains and teams that they could contrive to provoke incidents that would take points-earners over the limit.
And what would he‘ love’? To be given the ability to control – and solve – any incident there and then, on the pitch, using the penalties of virtual yellow and red cards, thus avoiding the lengthy, argumentative and costly‘ demerit’ ICC system now in place. They then chatted about whether behaviour is worse now than it has been previously.‘ Yes’ said David,‘ more verbal aggravation and insults... and these are much worse than the immediate physical response that a bowler or batsman would have when something unexpected happened, and the reaction is to step across that line.’
Where is this line players are not to step over? Who judges where it is, is David Lloyd’ s argument for the immediacy of umpires’ disciplinary action. I know we often think that our level of recreational cricket is removed from the international pressure that stresses such behaviour, but, truly, it isn’ t.
Yes, the star pros are in the headlines, but every weekend we encounter rougher, cruder ill-discipline. Indeed, it does not end with us – it starts with us, at our level. We all need to act to discourage dissent.
Now for a quick quiz – and if you answer‘ no’ to the first question, please go straight to page 5 and read the rest of the magazine!
Simply asked, question 1 is: Have you ever held a match ball that has been tampered with?
‘ Yes’ is the correct answer, and the only reason you may have been tempted to say‘ no’ is that you didn’ t think it was‘ bad enough’ to query with your colleague. It is amusing, sad, frustrating – and very costly to some – that a basic Level 1 offence should now after all these years be accorded such high-status drama! Why do I say basic Level 1 offence? Because every team does it, every year, every match. Every action of the ball contacting the pitch, bat or anything else solid will affect it. Hands then rub, spittle washes, trousers polish, sun cream lacquers! We all change the condition of the ball every time we pick it up. The debate on one side of the fence( ours maybe – you tell us?) is that there should be rules to break, we just do what we have always been asked to do, which is to inspect the ball regularly and offer change if‘ tampering’ is severe enough to alter the character of the ball or the state of the match.
End of.( There are no more questions in this quiz!) Pierre Tartari
Let’ s Get Quizzical!
The below was spotted on the TV quiz show, Only Connect. Can you guess the connection between these four famous statues?
Augustus of Prima Porta
Laocoön and His Sons
The Rocky Statue Christ the Redeemer.
?
The answer can be found on page 28.
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