Cricket: Was it ever a 'Gentleman's Game'?

Douglas Jardine tarnished the game of cricket way back in 1932

Just type ‘Gentleman’s Game’ in Google and you would get enough articles to compile an encyclopaedia on “why cricket is no longer a ‘Gentleman’s Game’?”

Many instances like the Ashes 2013 in England, BCCI’s power game in the ICC, amongst other things have been given in support of this claim. One can also hear people from yesteryears harping on how the game of cricket is no longer played with the right spirit. Even the most ardent cricket follower will agree that the recent episodes do not showcase cricket to be a gentleman’s game. But my question is ‘was cricket ever a Gentleman’s Game?’

Cricket was born in the British Isles in the 16th century and since then it has spread to many parts of the world. It is one unique game in which the players have to abide by what is called as the ‘spirit of the game’ which is in addition to the laws. Now I do not know if that’s why it is called the ‘Gentleman’s game’. But this name has been around since the very beginning. I sometimes wonder why?

Oxford dictionary defines gentleman as – a chivalrous, courteous or honourable man. From whatever I have read about the famous body line series, I fail to understand what was so courteous about bowling bouncers with the sole intent of injuring the batsmen. Probably Douglas Jardine had a dictionary which defined ‘Gentleman’ in some other way.

One of the oldest rivalries in cricket is between England and Australia famously known as ‘The Ashes’. There is an interesting bit of history behind it. On 29th August, 1882 a death notice had appeared in the Sporting Times (after England’s loss) which led to the name Ashes -

“An Affectionate Remembrance of English Cricket, which dies at The Oval on 29th August, 1882, Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances. R.I.P.

N.B. – The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”

If this is courteous then I shiver at the thought of what could be uncourteous.

People say that the way BCCI has been manoeuvring the ICC does not go well with the spirit of the game. While I do agree they are indeed calling the shots in the ICC at the drop of a hat but haven’t the English & Australian boards been doing the same for years. So where was the spirit of the game then? The only difference I see is a change in the protagonist this time around.

Now think of some great cricketers and their actions on the field. I am a great fan of Sunil Gavaskar but I was not able to find anything gentlemanly in him walking off the field along with his batting partner Chetan Chauhan in Melbourne due to a bad umpiring decision. After all, bad decisions are part and parcel of the “Gentleman’s game”. Another Indian captain who probably taught India to win outside home was Sourav Ganguly and I find it very difficult to find flavours of ‘gentleman’ in his captaincy.

We all know how Greg Chappell asked his brother Trevor to bowl underarm to prevent New Zealand from having any chance to score the six runs needed to tie the match. And I am sure Indian and Pakistani fans remember the monkey jump that Javed Miandad did mimicking Indian wicket keeper Kiran More. There are many such incidents which tell you that cricket has been anything but a gentleman’s game. I’m not, for a second, suggesting that cricket hasn’t produced gentlemen. Like any other sport, we have had thorough gentleman like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid to name a couple.

What I am only trying to say is that cricket has always been wrongly labelled a gentleman’s game and its high time we keep correct this. Also, I don’t find anything wrong in cricketers being a little pumped and showing their emotions. In my opinion, sports person should show some emotions, it only spices up the game.

Take the game of tennis for example, where at one end you have the serenity of a Pete Sampras or Roger Federer and on the other end you have the likes of John McEnroe. But I am sure people would agree that tennis would not have been the same without the emotional outbursts of a McEnroe. So let cricketers just be ‘sportsmen’ on the field rather than giving them the burden of ‘gentlemen”.