4 controversial moments that shook cricket to its core

Cricket is one of the oldest sports in existence. Having been played for hundreds of years it rivals golf in terms of being one of the oldest sports to come out of the British Empire. What’s interesting, however, is how unrecognizable today's ‘cricket’ would be to those who invented it back in the 1700s.

Cricket is constantly changing, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. In a society where attention spans are shortening, and a lot more sporting options are there to wet fans' taste buds, I applaud the fact that cricket is adapting to stay relevant. However, there are some events that have not necessarily changed cricket for the better.

Throughout this article, I will look at the 4 specific events which I believe have shaken cricket to its core, so much so that they have changed the way cricket is played all over the world. Some have changed it for the better and some have changed it for the worse, but they have all changed the way the world's second most popular sport is played in today’s day and age.

#4 The creation of Twenty 20 Cricket

Originally introduced as a gimmick in English County Cricket in 2003, no one in their wildest dreams would have predicted the impact of Twenty20 cricket on the world game. Fast forward 15 years and Twenty20 is comfortably the most supported format out of the 3 forms of the game. There are both good and bad aspects in today’s cricketing world that can directly be attributed to the game's newest format.

Good aspects include the amount of cash that has been injected into modern day cricket, new younger fan bases, and the ability to broadcast cricket around the globe as a much shorter, entertaining product.

Indian Premier League, Big Bash League, Caribbean Twenty20. None of these multimillion-dollar competitions would be around if it wasn’t for the invention of Twenty20 cricket. These leagues earn in some cases multibillion-dollar tv rights contracts. This is great for increasing player income and getting more cricket broadcast on tv sets all over the world.

The fact that a game of Twenty20 only lasts 3 hours, compared to an 8-hour ODI or 5-day Test Match is great for introducing the younger generation to cricket. Average attendance at Twenty20 leagues reflects the lift in popularity of Twenty 20. Both the IPL and Big Bash in 2016 were in the top 10 sports leagues around the world for average attendance with 28,279 and 31,750 respectively.

There are destructive qualities that Twenty20 has introduced to cricket. 20 years ago, the best players in the world were playing International Cricket. Nowadays some of the best players have turned their back on Test Cricket for the more lucrative Twenty20 leagues around the world.

Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo are examples of this. Test Match crowds have also taken a huge hit. Fans are used to the excitement of Twenty20 cricket, and as such don’t want to sit down and watch defensive cricket all day anymore.

#3 The underarm ball

‘I think it was a disgraceful performance from a captain who got his sums wrong and I think it should never be permitted to happen again in cricket. It was an incredibly poor performance and one of the worst things I have ever seen happen on a cricket field’.

Those were the words that cricketing legend Richie Benaud used to describe the events that unfolded on the 1st of February 1981 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. To put things into context I will explain the situation and the events that unfolded.

It was the last ball of the third match of a 5 match World Series Cricket series between Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand needed 6 runs off the final ball to tie the match and keep the series alive. Brian Mckechnie was facing, and Trevor Chappell was bowling. His brother (and captain) Greg walked over from mid-off and instructed him to bowl an underarm delivery. This would prevent Mckechnie from being able to get under the ball and would guarantee a win for Australia. Trevor agreed, and an underarm ball was bowled. Australia won the game. What is remarkable is that this was legal at the time.

Outrage followed. As the team ran up to their dressing room they were verbally abused by their own crowd, not to mention the rest of the New Zealand team. New Zealand Prime Minister Rob Muldoon described the underarm as ‘as an act of complete cowardice’. Even 37 years later the underarm ball is still talked about whenever New Zealand play Australia.

Following this incident, the rulebook was rewritten, banning the bowling of an underarm delivery in all forms, and all levels of cricket. This one moment really did have a permanent impact on modern-day cricket, and will never be forgotten.

#2 Match-fixing/Spot-fixing

There is perhaps nothing more damaging to the integrity of a sport than match-fixing. Unfortunately, cricket has had its fair share of match-fixing and spot-fixing scandals over the last couple of decades. Hansie Cronje is a key example that springs to mind. However, I am going to focus on the Test Match at Lord's back in 2010, since a Test at Lord's is as prestigious as cricket gets.

On August 26, 2010, Pakistan was playing England in a Test at Lord's cricket ground. Pakistan was bowling first when something strange started to occur. Pakistan was bowling a lot of no balls, particularly Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. The strange part was that they were huge no balls. In some cases, the bowler's front foot was half a meter over the line. People knew that something was not quite right.

The news came out that night that Asif, Amir, and captain Salman Butt were being charged with spot-fixing. Scotland Yard arrested a man named Mazhar Majeed. Majeed had deliberately bribed the 3 Pakistani players to arrange a sequence of deliberate no-balls at specific times. Majeed would tell people this, who would then place exuberant amounts of money on gambling websites.

Each of the cricketers was charged with match-fixing and all received between 5-10-year bans from cricket, as well as jail sentences. This incident really did shake cricket to its core. The feeling was that if fans couldn't trust the credibility of a Test Match at the home of cricket, could they really trust the credibility of any professional cricket at all?

#1 World Series Cricket

In my opinion, the most controversial moment in cricket history is the creation of World Series Cricket. Nothing has had a bigger impact on the cricketing landscape. Whites to colors, red balls to white balls, unlimited overs to 50 overs, music, crowds, etc., World Series Cricket had it all.

In 1977, a TV executive for channel 9, Kerry Packer saw an opportunity. International cricketers were fed up with their low pay and poor playing conditions. Combine this with dwindling Test Match crowds and lowering interest in Australia’s summer game, Packer felt something needed to change.

Packer discreetly started to talk to players from around the world. He offered them $30,000 for 3 months of their time to play in a new ‘rebel’ league he was organizing. No cricketer had ever seen this sort of money before, so the majority jumped on board right away. Packer was designing a new country vs country series. The games would be shorter and played during the evenings to boost crowd numbers and television ratings. Because of playing at night, white balls and colored clothing were introduced to cricket, as was the 50-over a side format that we know and love still today.

Things weren’t smooth sailing originally for Packer. Because traditional cricket grounds didn’t have lights, World Series cricket was forced to be played on Australian Football ovals and drop-in pitches. Despite this, however, within 2 years the Australian World Series team was viewed as more of an Australian team than their actual Test team.

Eventually, the 50 over format was introduced to sanctioned ICC cricket, and the first limited overs World Cup was played. Despite the controversy at the time, if it wasn’t for the introduction of World Series Cricket who knows what state the health of the game would be in today.