 Appeals or threats?
The South Africans have put up a brave fight in the ongoing series against Australia by scoring 451 in the first innings of the Sydney Test and claiming three early Australian wickets. The hero of the innings has undoubtedly been Ashwell Prince, the doughty lefthander who defied the Aussie bowlers to make a fighting 119 before succumbing to a masterly Shane Warne leg break that came back a long way from outside the off stump even as he padded up to it. The only thing wrong with that dismissal was that it would have missed the off stump by at least another stump. Shane Warne obviously won that decision by intimidating the umpire with his vociferous, aggressive appeals and highly provocative gestures. The Australians have got away with murder with their loud, persistent and often overpowering appeals. The umpires, lest we forget, are only human, and sooner or later give in to the pressure.
Not that the South Africans are angels on the cricket field. Andre Nel’s behaviour would be unacceptable in all but the worst juvenile delinquent homes. His glares and domineering follow-through to breathe down the batsman’s neck and his ugly facial expressions make him look more villainous than some of the most ridiculous Hindi film stereotypes. Remember how Allan Donald abused Rahul Dravid who replied with a straight six at the Wanderers all those years ago? Or how Kepler Wessels deliberately tripped Kapil Dev with his bat while completing a run? They are pretty aggressive too when it comes to appealing to the umpires.
Coming back to the Australians, how often have we seen their fielders appealing for catches, they must surely know they floored? Watching a recording of an old one-dayer, I was shocked to see even the venerable Steve Waugh do that. He appealed for a catch he must have known he had dropped, and the body language — and worse — clearly cried foul as the batsman Srikkanth stood his ground. In the end, TV replays clearly showed that umpire Johnson had been right in turning down the appeal. And, back in 2001, Michael Slater made such an ugly scene after he appealed for a catch and Rahul Dravid stood his ground in the Mumbai Test. Here again, TV replays suggested the fielder was wrong.
In wonderful contrast, a recent TV feature called ‘Legends of Indian Cricket’ was full of examples of sportsmanship and sober, gentlemanly conduct on the field by India’s stars of yesteryear. Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan would walk away quietly after taking a wicket or after an appeal was turned down. There were no high fives, no ugly demonstrations, no huddles and hugs. What good examples they set for young cricketers! How you wish today’s youngsters would be exposed to similar on-field conduct by their heroes! It is all very well for cricket to be played with passion, but when that passion turns into uncouth demonstrations of ill-temper or unbridled aggression, then there is the serious danger of our future cricketers turning out to be thugs, influenced by what they see while watching international cricket.
V Ramnarayan
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