A Gentleman's Game

It was called a 'gentleman's' game. Those were the days when there used to be matches played between Gentlemen and Players. It was mainly Test cricket between England and Australia for several decades though there has been the Larwood series and the tradition of 'The Ashes' Tests when the matches between the two countries were fought for retaining the 'urn'. After a long time, where the British had their imprint, other countries joined in the Test circuit. India and later Pakistan, West Indies and later South Africa. And then followed by Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. The common factor in all these countries was the influence of the British rule!

Test cricket although extended over four later to five days was seen to be too slow and waste of time. But in those good old days we did not need rules to promote the 'spirit of the game'. Gate money and player's fees were not major issues at all. It was good honest cricket. The old greats of Bradman and others in his era, W.G.Grace in England followed by the Hammonds, Comptons etc were household names. In India we had the great C.K.Nayudu, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Subash Gupte etc and Pakistan had their greats too. Unfortunately the era during the apartheid regime in South Africa had its greats like the Pollocks and others but who were not part of the circuit.

But the game took a bad turn( for the purists) as the years progressed. To increase spectator interest the one day matches were started in 1975 principally in England. Becoming world champions was the objective. While the quicker game improved several aspects of the game, competition brought in questionable tactics which have eroded the gentlemanly spirit of the game. Then we had professionals in game and one could earn money in cricket. ODIs created such a great interest in the game the world over that spectators came in large numbers in bigger stadii and lots of money came in. This was followed by the T20 matches while in England there are 40 over matches. Technique, finesse and grace gave way to agricultural and wild stroke-- making - any way to make runs. The T20 bug has resulted in tournaments in many countries of sponsored teams like the BIG Bash in Australia, and the IPL in India.

With moneys coming in, an organisation -ICC- was formed to regulate and control the game -albeit surreptitiously. This body thought it wise to improve the spirit of the game but it has not really achieved this purpose.. A panel of elite neutral umpires, match referees became necessary to 'inculcate the "spirit of the game". The motivation in the game has become money and winning at any cost. The very soul of the game has been destroyed. To make it worse , we now have leagues like the IPL were a price is put on each player and probably some young cricketers are happier playing for the money than to play the game for one's country.

To conclude, it is a vary sad state of affairs that being a gentleman and playing the game in the right spirit is totally absent and cricketer's game and judgement of their own fitness is sacrificed by the lure of money. As one notable cricket writer put it -Test Cricket is vintage whisky, while T20 and IPL etc are like indigenous illicit liquor.

Alas, do we now have to play for the 'ashes' of the 'gentleman's game'.