Just not cricket!

In many ways, the modern era of cricket can be traced back to the final Gentlemen versus Players match in 1962. With a history stretching back to 1806, this annual event in the sporting calendar showcased the best amateurs against the best professionals. As it drew to it's close, it had become akin to one of those Victorian Follies with it's raison d'etre long having been superfluous. For all that though, things were different then. Although there were amateurs and professionals with their respective class distinctions, standards on the field of play were nevertheless sacrosanct.

As aggressive and as great a bowler as Fred Trueman was, his 307 test match wickets were acquired by letting his cricket do the talking - although he was never a short of an opinion. Trueman was a direct straight talking Yorkshireman but not a rude one. Certainly he did plenty of muttering under his breath when things weren't going his way, but he would never lower himself to directing vulgar language to a member of the opposition. He was bigger than that. In those days, cricket was bigger than that. What has happened since has coincided with the advent of the professional era. But it is no coincidence.

Jonathan Agnew was quick to highlight the stupidity of holding two Ashes series back to back and he has been vindicated in his view. After just one match, standards have already slipped to new lows. Behaviour from both sides has been appalling and there is a good reason why I refer to this. Young players look to the national team for guidance on how to play the game. They might not be able to bat like Bell or bowl like Anderson but they will be able to emulate their behaviour. That is now a source of great regret. By fining the Australian Captain a paltry 20% of his match fee, the ICC has given carte blanche to other players to behave accordingly. As the Captain of his national side, Clarke should have had his entire match fee withdrawn and been suspended for one match. Failure to treat this problem properly now will leave cricket no different to football if indeed we are not already there.

While coaching under sixteens a few years ago, I was genuinely appalled by some of the behaviour I saw. I later reflected on where this might have come from. Clearly, parents always have a huge influence on their children but so too does the national side on our TV sets. I started to think back regarding the first unsavoury incidents I had seen when watching the national team.

Although a little before my interest in cricket, the England Ashes tour of 1974 to the Antipodes produced a surreal moment. Rather like those natural phenomona when two oceans meet, an incident occured which was possibly one of the very last to include a survivor of the old era with a pin up boy of the new. England had been suffering a bruising at the hands of the new found Australian pace bowling duo of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. They weren't there to make friends and exchange pleasantries. They saw their role as being one of utter unbridled aggression and they did not disappoint. As news emerges that Jonathan Trott is to return home from the present tour (albeit for personal reasons), it is timely to consider that our current batting crisis was nothing compared to that which confronted us nearly 40 years ago. In a desperate bid to inject some steel in to the English top order, the rotund Colin Cowdrey was recalled and joined up with the tour which featured several players who had not yet been born when he made his first century at Lords. In his book, Cowdrey recalls walking out to the crease and politely introducing himself to Jeff Thomson, "Hello, I'm Colin Cowdrey, pleased to meet you". He was not being obseqious because this was just Colin behaving in the correct manner. He was greeted with a vile torrent of abuse and later professed that many of the words used had not hitherto been familiar to him. Colin was one of the finest players to represent his country and his manners were never less than exemplary. Oh for such an example for our youngsters today.

I then recalled the unpleasant exchange between Ian Botham and Alan Whitehead during the home Ashes series in 1985. When you have the talent of Botham, it does you no good to resort to such acts of petulance and I'm sure he can't look back on that incident with any pride. We than witnessed the unfortunate spectacle of the England captain Mike Gatting becoming embroiled in a finger wagging altercation with the Pakistan Umpire Shakoor Rana. Gatting was a redoubtable character but not a rude one so it was surprising to see himself get flustered in this fashion. Granted, the umpiring up to that point had been shocking, but Gatting should not have allowed himself as captain to sink to the same level.

But if Botham and Gatting were both culpable in their behaviours, Chris Broad took bad sportsmanship and ill manners to a new level. It culminated with him demolishing his stumps when he disagreed with an umpiring decision - not a very dignified approach.

Interestingly, the team who dominated world cricket during my younger years rarely got involved with this sort of behaviour. The West Indies for a long time were so far ahead of all the other teams, they had no need to behave badly because they could rest assured of a win in the majority of cases. Famously, Michael Holding did kick down the stumps in anger at another umpiring decision which had not gone his way on tour in New Zealand. This though was the exception rather than the rule. Viv Richards had a hot temper but did not put it on show on the field of play. Many a dressing room was the worse for wear after his three pound bat had ricocheted off a few walls and windows.

The current Ashes series is deluded if it thinks it can be compared with the Bodyline series of 75 years ago. Bodyline emerged as a tactic purely because one batsman had become the dominant difference between the two sides. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Bodyline, it did not feature foul language or discourtesy. Douglas Jardine instructed Larwood where he wanted him to bowl and Larwood did so. There was no need for finger pointing or swearing then and nor is there now.

I was intrigued to learn that Michael Clarke had been docked 20% of his match fee simply because a pitch microphone had picked up what he had said. There should be no need for microphones in the first place. A strong umpire would snuff out any silliness in an instant and the current crop should be given the power to do so. Cricket used to be like Rugby in that arguing with the referee was just not the done thing. To get back to that, the ICC needs to send out a strong message sooner rather than later before cricket becomes a bore. It is not good for anyone to see players behaving in this fashion and even the players must feel pretty silly to say the least. While the porfessional era is now here to stay, it doesn't follow that we have to compromise on standards. To do so is a cop out to the marketing men and shows a massive lack of leadership both on and off the field of play. If England are to get back in to this series, I candidly suggest that they seek to do so with the bat and the ball. It's time to shut up and get on with the cricket.