What is Spirit of Cricket?

Spirit of Cricket

Ian Bell moves on assuming its end of the over; India runs him out; Crowd boo’s and chants ‘Cheats’; England knock Indian dressing room; All set and Bell re-emerge from pavilion to the pitch post tea; Cheers everywhere from crowd and England dressing room give a standing ovation to the Indians; MSD becomes a hero.

That’s it. The spirit of cricket is established.

Is this actually the real spirit of the sport? If Bell has accepted that he was ‘naive‘ and it’s his mistake to have assumed things, won’t it be appropriate, yet again in the spirit, on Bell’s part to say let the decision stand and remain in dressing room? Or is this gone by the saying ‘only one team played in the spirit of the game‘?

Let’s think this way. If Dhoni really thought about the spirit then why did he say that he stand by the appeal when the umpire asked after calling tea. So here Dhoni is not the real hero. Just that like in any other test match he led where the seniors who performed for him to lift the cup, this time as well the seniors or the fab 3 made this decision. Initially when the drama unfolded, I thought ‘what a revenge for Laxman’s stumping‘. May be this what went through Dhoni’s mind as well and no offense and those appeals are within cricketing laws. And the law as well states that if the appeal has to be withdrawn then it needs to be done inside the ground before being called for tea, in this case, or before the next ball is bowled. Can this be considered that the rules are relaxed for India? Or was that the laws were given a back seat to suit a particular player against India? But exceptions are sometimes necessary if something good comes out of it and right decision taken by umpires as well.

Now that everyone’s happy and a bigger controversy, to be, averted, it’s nice to see for once that Team India gets praised. BCCI and Team India are different. All happened might be by the laws but true sportsmanship survived that day. Guilty feeling would have definitely passed through Bell that post tea session as he was also one who used the hole in the law once. That’s why I guess he went back soon scoring just 22 even though 150-run milestone was reached.

This incident was not only a lesson to other captains but as well to umpires. Umpires should go by what the laws states and use the resources (third umpire and DRS) to their assistance rather than discuss with captains on what happened and conclude on decisions.

Strauss said – “It was very commendable that they changed their mind and took back the appeal” (of course the matter is you won the match riding on Bell’s heroics) “It’s one of those circumstances where there are always shades of grey” (why in the first place such grey shades take up the light?) “I think one of the things that has set the game of cricket slightly apart from other sports is that you have the opportunity to show some spirit” (of course there is opportunity and its up to the captain to use it to maintain the spirit of the sport) “It’s good for the game of cricket going forward” (yes, cant correct the previous mistakes now. Can just feel you had done) “he wasn’t trying to take another run was a factor in his defense” (if he was not trying to take a run even after Morgan’s signal, what was he trying to do without staying in his crease).

I just wonder why the so called ‘spirit of cricket‘ didn’t surface when Laxman was stumped in a bizarre fashion recently in West Indies or even when the immediate remembrance of that iGrant Elliot’s run out incident trigger any chaos then. Flower said that he and Strauss went to Indian dressing room to avoid any unwanted chaos to happen inside the stadium as the spectators by that time were already in war of words mood. Just wonder why Bell can’t come out and calm the crowd saying it’s his mistake, like what Tendulkar did in a match against Pakistan. Does this point out that all those spirit applies only for India?

Indian team has been amongst lot of unnecessary controversies these days and that brings out the importance of this gesture. If some one says ‘why these things happen only for India‘ then he is forgetting the keep calm always Daniel Vettori and the ICC Spirit of Cricket award for 2010 was won by New Zealand. India can also not be termed as following the sport’s spirit. Ofcourse, post the Sydney fiasco many talk about it often. But don’t forget Sourav Ganguly and his ways to stare down at opponents. But these were never against laws because it’s the Team Spirit. Team spirit and spirit of cricket will always be contradictory. Team spirit is one where you do anything for your team’s cause within the laws but spirit of cricket expects certain natures of humanity to take control of unwanted situations or rather prevent incidents from becoming uproar.

I also wonder what would have been the reaction if India had stood by the appeal. Especially, what would the English media and former cricketers turned media persons would have commented. Would they still stand by what they said now – the laws should not be tweaked and Bell has to go and Dhoni shouldn’t have revoked the decision and the umpires are the judges etc. In upholding the spirit of the sport, the media has a bigger responsibility next to the ICC as they are the ones who take the happenings to far corners of the world. This particular incident took this much importance only because the world is watching.

The so much talked about spirit cannot be mentioned in laws and no one can actually frame a set of clauses saying these acts come under protecting the spirit of game and if followed will be rewarded. If that is the case, can Dhoni be given an exception for his over rate breach or extra ten points be awarded to team India so that they remain number one. The spirit actually lies in each sportsman as an individual and this applies to individual games as well. That is why we have a neutral eye called the umpire/referee to make sure that the spirit shines. The spirit cannot be talked just in terms of the modes of dismissal. We have seen in recent times that few batsmen stood even after a thick edge and many wait for the umpire’s signal knowing very well that it’s not needed and very few walk even before the bowler starts to appeal. If the so called spirit popped up in the player’s mind then we wouldn’t be having a DRS now. The spirit stands in believing the decision of the umpire and not in looking at the batsman in suspicion or inspecting his bat.

The ICC and many top officials praised India for the wonderful gesture. If they said what happened at TrentBridge was great, what will they have to speak about the event that is going to take place at the Harare sports club over the next five days? In the current scenario where players are openly leaving out statements against their boards for want of payment and good governance, Zimbabwe are trying hard to be back to test cricket and the players are going to play just for their country and just for their love on the sport without even knowing how much penny they are going to earn or whether they are going to earn anything out of this. The real spirit of cricket is going to be seen over the next 5 days at Harare but good things always get overcast.

Spirit of cricket doesn’t always mean that it’s only for all-go-well situation. Punishments can also be termed as under the spirit of the game. If everybody believed that every player plays with a feel good heart, then why did Pakistan got involved in match-fixing and what suspicion made to phone tapping. Suspensions and punishments should definitely be framed for breaching the spirit. A true player will never try to breach the spirit, and as per MCC, in doing so ‘causes injury to the game itself‘. Post the origination of match fixing, the MCC have made great measures to uphold the spirit of the sport and have also added it to the laws preamble. One such addition is ‘giving respect to the game’s traditional values‘. But what are those values? Isn’t it going by the laws always?

Saying so, spirit of any sport doesn’t lie just with the players. It’s also up to us, spectators as well to maintain the decorum. Blindly supporting the home team and chanting slogans against or provoking the boundary line fielder can also be considered against the sporting spirit. If spectators better understand the situation and applaud all good things that happen on the field then the sport and more importantly test cricket will be a winner. But in a country like India, getting a match ticket against all obstacles aka sponsors is a mountainous task and fans, expecting to see a home victory is never a sin. Here it’s up to the respective boards to maintain the sport’s spirit.

Spirit in any sport can never be taught. It has to be watched, learnt and experienced. Examples can be set often. But when are those examples be followed in real time? Spirit of Cricket doesn’t lie in plain talks or lectures but it does lie in acting towards it.