Ten incidents to remind us that Cricket is still a gentleman's game

# 4 – Jonathan Trott takes his cap off to congratulate Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid had just been declared out for the last time in his One Day career at Cardiff, England. The English cut short their celebrations and rushed towards Dravid to congratulate him.

The Cardiff crowd were on their feet. Jonathan Trott then came and did something incredible. He came towards Dravid, took out his cap and shook Dravid’s hands. In a field of equals, you don’t take your cap off. Even though you might be a 17 year old youngster bowling to Sachin Tendulkar, you still consider Tendulkar to be your adversary. As Harsha Bhogle puts it – Jonathan Trott “elevated sport to another plane” by his gesture.

# 3 – The Guard of Honors

It is not a requirement or a tradition for players to give Guards of Honour in Cricket as it is in Football. But it is shown by the opponents to celebrate a player’s achievement or career.

The Indians gave a guard of honour to Muttiah Muralitharan on his last test match, the Australians gave Sanath Jayasuriya a guard of honor to mark his last game on Australian soil, the English gave Brian Lara a guard of honour when he scored 400 runs. Most recently, the South Africans welcomed Ricky Ponting on to the field with a guard of honour during his last match.

Cricket is a game and you play it to win, but the fact that this game commands this much of respect out of the players is what that makes Cricket gentlemanly.