Boycott writes about the curse of sledging but more specifically about the England tour of Australia in 2013. Sledging has risen to enormous proportions. It is just a question of time before something untoward will happen on the field. England have been at the receiving end whenever they tour Australia. He feels that the example was set by Michael Clarke and Darren Lehmann. Guys at the top must set the standard. During the 1st Test at The Gabba, some years ago, Warner and Bailey behaved appallingly. Abuses were thrown around freely. Clarke walked upto James Anderson when he came into bat and uttered “break his f… arm”. It showed how the behaviour standards have fallen in the game. Even the new players are not immune to this because as soon as they join the team, they start with these abuses.
Anderson is not a saint but the on-field abuse has increased during the last decade. Clarke was a good captain and a nice bloke when he started and when his team were losing but he completely changed when his team started to win. He and every player must understand that it is important to win with dignity. Warner is another who is not shy of getting into a fight. The blame must be laid directly at the door of Darren Lehmann, the then coach. He incited the Australian public to abuse Broad.
The reason behind such appalling behaviour during the winter tour
It all harked back to the 2013 series at Nottingham when Broad did not walk after nicking one to the slip. Australia lost that Ashes series and in one of the interviews, Lehmann called Broad a cheat and said that the Australian crowd must make his life miserable during the return series the same year so that he goes home crying. The Australian press took the cue and called on the fans to abuse Broad. The public and the players were relentless in abusing Broad. To Broad’s credit, he didn’t bother about all that and emerged as the highest wicket-taker for England in that series. Both Clarke and Lehmann were fined a small amount but they were never condemned.
Fines do not solve the problem
The players must be hit where it hurts. Fines will not hurt, rather proper bans will hurt. ICC must call on every nation and tell them that this must stop. This is unacceptable. The modern cricketer seems to think that sledging has always been part of the game and is not worried about the repercussions. The great West Indian bowlers, Marshall, Garner, Holding & Roberts never abused anyone on the field. They played tough but fair. They let the ball do all the damage. At the most, they will only stare at the batsman. They never resorted to personal abuse.
Clarke and Lehmann do not have any moral authority to complain that some batsmen did not walk. Australians are the first to never walk whenever the umpire doesn’t give them out. It has happened multiple times. Remember the Andrew Symonds catch at Sydney against India? Australians are taught during the school years never to walk. Part of the problem is that the umpires aren’t strong enough. They are in awe of the superstars.
The Big Three
Boycott starts with a scathing attack on the so-called Big Three. Hey says they do not really care about supporting Test cricket. The big 3 will earn a major share of the revenue from the media rights leaving the rest with a pittance. The BCCI is calling the shots in ICC. In 2011 Lord Woolf was commissioned by ICC to review its governance. He advocated for the appointment of independent directors to the ICC board to clampdown on decisions being taken with vested interests but it was swiftly rejected. Until 1993, England and Australia had 2 votes each. It was disgraceful and other countries felt the need for a change. Then came the one nation one vote. This tipped the balance in BCCI’s favour because it controls 80% of revenue which has led to greed for more power.
Every nation now wants India to tour. They will be able to settle all their bills because of one tour by India. England and Australia cannot escape blame either because they were also a party to the power-grabbing exercise. In 2015, the powerful men of the 3 boards occupied top positions in ICC. Srinivasan became the ICC chairman. Wally Edwards chairman of the new executive committee and Giles Clarke chairman of the finance and commerce committee. The money that broadcasting companies pour into the game is enormous. The big 3 are the main beneficiary because they are the crowd-pullers. As a result, these teams play more often among themselves.
Cricket must evolve
Fewer people are going to the grounds to watch the game. The authorities must wake up to this alarming situation. The Test match crowd is becoming non-existent. The broadcasters demand more and more games, preferrably with India playing because of the enormous funds that they pump in. As a result, there are lots of games nowadays. If you miss the bus, you do not care as long as another one comes trundling along in 10 minutes. Cricket has become like that. TV channels love cricket because it fills in close to 10 hours of their time. No other sport does that. Boycott want teams penalised 10 runs for every over short. The overrate is abysmal and because of that, teams take a lot of time to finish the overs every single day.
Needless interruptions due to water, celebrating a wicket etc. Test cricket has evolved. It began as a 3-day affair, then moved to 4 and now it is 5 days. In the 1970s and 80s there used to be a rest day in the middle of the Test. That is now abolished. There was also the 8-ball overs in Australia. Cricket has evolved and it must now evolve again. Boycott advocated for day/night Test cricket all those years ago which is now in vogue. Boycott further writes about the changes that English counties will have to go through and the hardships they are put through. Namely, the floodlights that every County must install on their grounds, the improved drainage system that they must adopt etc.
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