In WG Grace’s time Cricket was religion-like, it was considered blasphemous if you fail to turn up in white flannels for a Sunday match. But this gentlemanly game is no more ‘Cricket’. Like other sports Cricket too has become the victim of swindling, greed and unsportsmanlike attitude. It was in the ‘90s that Cricket began to deteriorate as there were a number of misconducts by players surfaced. Since then there is no respite for the game’s honour as scandals being reported at regular intervals and fans have started suspecting almost all the matches played.
Well before the match-fixing and ball-tampering era there were ‘Bodyline Series’ and underarm bowling scandals in Cricket. England skipper Douglas Jardine’s tactic of ‘fast leg theory bowling’ during 1932-33 tour of Australia kicked up an uproar. His bowlers pitched short balls on leg stump that reared into the body of batsmen. ‘Bodyline’ was a dirty plan by the English team to intimidate Don Bradman and contain his batting.
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In 1981 Trevor Chappell resort to underarm bowling in the final ball of a one-day match to help Australia beat New Zealand. Chappel earned notoriety and widespread condemn for this act and the ICC had to make bowling rules unambiguous. Pakistan Cricket team was rocked by match-fixing allegations in mid ‘90s and Salim Malik got a lifetime ban for fixing a match in 1995. Late South African skipper Hansie Cronje also was banned for life after he admitted fixing South Africa’s one-day matches against India in 2000.
Caption Salman Butt along with fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir of Pakistan were suspended from playing for five years by ICC. They had plotted with a bookie to bowl deliberate no-balls during a Test match against England in 2010. Ball-tampering by Pakistan players during a Test match against England in 2006 ended in the umpires awarding the match to England as Pakistan players refused to play the match in protest to the allegation. The match-fixing in IPL which resulted in the ban of certain teams too had marred Cricket. The recent ball-tampering scandal in a match against South Africa by Australians involving three players including Caption Steve Smith is the latest disgrace to the game.
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Why Cricketers resort to such mean, unethical tactics to win games? Match-fixing is done out of greed for money, it is also said that sometimes underworld mafias dictate terms in connivance with bookies. Ball-tampering and other kinds of swindling happen because of the players’ moral bankruptcy. These players do not have any regard for the game of Cricket. To win and to ensure fair-play are the two sides of the same coin. ICC needs to look into these matters seriously and make sure that the game’s reputation is not further eroded by such scandals.
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