Adil Najam
The news is too fresh, murky on the details, and still developing, but as Adnan Ahmed has just pointed out on the comments section of another post, Pakistan walked out of — and therefore possibly forfeited — the 4th Cricket Test against England at the Oval, in a dramatic turn of events. Then, it was announced that Pakistan will take the field… but just as the crowd begins to cheer, the umpires decide they will not come out if the Pakistan team does. Meanwhile the light keeps deteriorating. No matter how this ends, this will be a drama to remember.
More and developing details are available here. Best place to stay informed on this is CrickInfo.Com, from where the photograph above is are linked. (Updated after original posting).
Dave,
yes, you’re right there are bad apples in every country. Ball tampering is illegal and should be punished. However, like anything that involves crime and punishment, it needs to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime was in fact committed. The Pakistani team were offered no such proof and were in fact punished (i.e. ball changed and 5 runs awarded to England) without even letting the captain know what exactly they were being punished for.
Maybe Inzamam could have better handled the situation by delaying the protest, but in a game like cricket where the advantage can swing so quickly, it was probably a major blow to Inzamam and the team to be accused of somehting like that.
Also, I think the whole nationalism issue has been exaggerated by the media. If one of Manchester United’s top players was clearly falsely accused of cheating and punished during a cliffhanger football (soccer) match, how would the die-hard fans react? Would it matter that the other team was also predominantly from England? My guess is no.
Think about what Zidane did. I don’t think it was the right thing to do but then again, I wasn’t there. Most people would say that he literally threw away the world cup because of pride issues. But at that moment nothing was more important to him than the respect of his family.
Most countries and sports have strict laws against physical abuse like they should. However, we know very well that mental abuse can be as bad or even worse than physical abuse.
In summary, for me two solemn rules were violated:
1) Pakistani team was not notified of what they had done wrong and what their punishment was; i.e. no charges.
2) No proof of ball-tampering was presented.
AM AN AUSTRALIAN LIVING IN LONDON WHO STUMBLED ON HERE. FASCINATING DISCUSSION. PROVES THAT NATIONALISM AND SPORTS DO NOT ALWAYS MAKE A GOOD COKTAIL. EVERY CRICKETING NATION HAS ITS SHARE OF TAMPERING BOWLERS AND BAD UMPIRES. WE ARE NO EXCEPTION. NOR IS ANYONE ELSE.
HAPPY CRICKETING ALL!
The plot thickens
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/engvpak/content/cu rrent/story/257401.html
DEAR SIR
IF YOU COULD PRINT THE FOLLOWING IN THE PAPER IT WOULD BE A GREAT SERVICE TO CRICKET…
REVERSE SWING CONTROVERSY
HERE WE GO AGAIN
Before I may say anything let me assure you that I am an ardent fan of Cricket and I love this game so whatever I say is not due to partialism.
I am going to be straight forward in what I want to say….no diplomatic ways of narration…because I have had enough of whining and worst spotsmanship by the English….
Today we have had another drama about Reverse Swing……Last year when Jones,Flintoff and Hoggard were reverse swinging ,never was the ball shown to be examined by umpires and it was taken to be just a case of an art being put in practice….!! The English Trio was hailed as MASTERS OF REVERSE SWING…!!!! No one found anything wrong….
Now I want to take you back almost 15 years in the past….1990-91…. West Indies Captain D.Haynes and New zealand Captain M.Crowe “ACCUSED” Pakistan for doing “something ” to the ball….In fact it was just because they were whiners who could not take defeats fairly……Similarly in 1992 English media,newspapers,Players and dare I say even children and housewives went up in unison that PAKISTAN is tempering with ball….!!! Fact was that ENGLISH were totally oblivious with regards to this art…They did not know about it altogether…
Hence each English player thought “if I don’t know how to do it then it must be something illegal …so why NOT accuse the other party and hide my embarrasment of defeat through these allegations…”
Plainly I can say that if Person A does not know how to solve mathematical equations but person B does …then if A accuses B to be proponent of witch craft…then it will be a sad case of accusation due to one’s own less-learned approach…!!! That is exactly what has been happening till last year when finally England learned to reverse swing….
It is on record that once I.Botham said …”THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS REVERSE SWING…IT IS ALL BUT PURE CHEATING” and now he is seen saying “ENGLAND BOWLERS ARE THE MASTERS OF REVERSE SWING….”
HMMMM …How quickly one can change one’s words and thoughts……I even read in in English newspapers last year that reverse swing is as old as 1930’s and has been in practice in England…since then….how amazing….!!!!
Now today when England thought they were going to lose fairly and squarely….an old “ally” came to their rescue..in the form of ever controversial, highly inept DARREL HAIR…Who seems to plagued with different “HUMAN ERRORS OF JUDGEMENT” whenever he is adjudicating on an appeal raised by Indian, Pakistani,Srilankan player…..He might not hear a big nick from 22 yards though it might be heard by a sparrow sitting 75 yards away on boundary..!!!
He can ask for banning players for “over appealing” , he can warn bowlers and even batsmen for tempering with wicket…by running on it (only Asians have been accused by him..be it TENDULKAR,SALMAN BUT OR KANERIA…)…
Then he can call a bowler a chucker…be it Murali,Afridi, Akhtar,Shabbir or Hafeez….
Still he is on elite panel….Pakistan team have lodged official complaints about this HIGHLY PARTIAL umpire at least 3 times in 5 years…but still he is seen officiating no other match but those involving Pakistan,,….
Fact of the matter is that with the passage of time this man has been growing wild with respect to Asian countries…and now he has started going really berserk….What happened today is totally INCOMPREHENSIBLE…..
When after each over the ball is examined then how on earth the ball was deemed to be tempered so suddenly…….
It is a fact that HAIR must be congratulated that in Cricket History …he is only the second umpire after T.Robinson from Zimbabwe ..who actually tempered with the ball….yes T.Robinson actually soaked a ball in water after he saw it reversing for Pakistan during a match in 1998….
Today, I am sure that it was HAIR who scratched the ball with blades during some break….WHY DO WE ALWAYS ACCUSE TEAMS…IF ROBINSON DID IT IN 1998 why can’t Hair do it in 2006….
I think we should look this matter from other PERSPECTIVE…..Justice can only be met if impartialty is met with….
Because when umpires are always checking ball how can it be tempered…if and only if they are BLIND or if they are tempering with it themselves….
Nowadays cameras are there…millions are watching on TV and scores of officials on ground are there….nowadays ball can not be scratched so easily by players …unless an umpire DOES it himself …YES an umpire can temper with the ball legally …on the pretext of setting the seem of ball right by plucking with blades………!!!!!!
So before getting on to any conclusion I think looking at track record of this HIGHLY PARTIAL and dare I say very very rude umpire ….if justice is to be maintained then he should also be probed…..and what to say about his fellow umpire BILLY DOCTROVE….Who dileberately did not give Jimmy Adams caught behind against Pakistan in 2000 and Pakistan lost….later on he went into Pakistan dressing room…and officially apologized for partial umpiring…!!! wow…and still he is on elite panel and officiating in allaince with D.HAIR…
I think if fast bowlers can hunt in pairs then shrewd and dishonest umpires can also hunt as well as hurt in pairs….!!!!!
I think umpires are not beyond the game…they are part of it and they are human too…so they can resort to vindictism and wrong doing…so why not probe them too………
CASE CLOSED……
A VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED FAN OF GAME OF GENTLEMEN…!!!!ABDUL HAFEEZ
The latest: PCB has sought BCCI’s help in this controversy
http://www.ibnlive.com/cricket/hair-splits-cricket -world-wide-open/19271-5.html.
Inzy is getting lots of support in Indian media
http://www.hindustantimes.com/htcricket/14_1774710 .htm