andykayz

In 2003 South Africa together with Zimbabwe and Kenya successfully hosted the Cricket World Cup which Australia won after beating India.I can't recall Australia's journey to the victory but I can surely recall the devastating Australian wicketkeeper/opener Adam Gilchrist.Gilchrist was not a good batsman but also an honest batsman.In one of the games Gilchrist edged one to the keeper but was not given out by the Umpire.However,Gilchrist decided to help the Umpire and gave himself out.Throughout his career Gilchrist played this 3rd Umpire's role more often.
In recent years,former Australian skipper,Ricky Ponting has also seen it necessary to walk when the Umpire has missed something.In all these incidents it is the spirit of the game that has been promoted.
A few years ago,Ian Bell was run out off the last ball before tea break in a test match against India.The ball was believed to have gone away for a boundary but it had not.Everyone assumed the ball had crossed the rope thus Bell didn't want to waste anytime on the crease as a cup of tea was awaiting.Ms Dhoni the Indian wicketkeeper received the ball from the boundary and maybe for fun removed the bails and appealed for a run out.During the break T.V footage revealed that in deed Bell had been run out because the ball had not crossed the boundary line.According to the rules of the game Bell should have been given out.However,the then Indian team full of experienced players such as Laxman,Dravid,Sehwag and Tendulkar urged Dhoni to advise the Umpoires to reverse the decision and allow Bell to continue batting.That is the spirit of the game as the Indians felt that it was an unfair dismissal.
Ironically in yesterday's Broad scandal,Bell was watching from the other end and kept quiet even though he had seen everything.I'm not implicating anybody but my guess is that Bell saw the huge edge.The English pair opted to discard their morals and concentrate on making a huge score.Replays show that Broad clearly edged the ball but he pretended as if he missed the ball.By clearly cheating,are the players doing any good to the spirit of the game.Will Broad feel great if he gets to 50 clearly knowing that he has been dismissed already in the innings.Maybe an Ashes test is too difficult to win that one need to cheat to succeed.On this one I will stand by Michael Holding,Stuart Broad should be banned and fined for putting the game into disrepute.


By: Masimba Kambuve