Gentlemen play

It was the weekend game at the Wembley. Manchester United was playing Chelsea. It was a sell out crowd. The weather was less than perfect. The crowd who braved the weather got to watch a blinder of a game, when it was raining cats and dogs. Men were playing.

What a contrast it was when India played England at the Chinnaswamy stadium! Tendulkar and Shewag were at crease, and to say that the 25,000-strong crowd were vociferous is to state the obvious. To any cricket enthusiast this pair at the crease coupled with interesting captaincy (??) by Nasser Hussain should have made mouth watery viewing. Everybody goes home happy after watching a great game of cricket, right??

Wrong!

All it took was one lousy shower and the Men in White scooted into the pavilion with more haste than crabs on a crowded beach. The not-too-heavy-rain lasted for a mere 15 minutes. The sun was out immediately. But, did our cricketing men come out to play? Nah! They cooled their heels in the dressing room, while the cricket-thirsty crowd waited to watch a game, for which they had paid good money.

Believe me, to see a cricket stadium basking in sunlight with no cricket played is about as exciting as watching paint dry!

The reason apparently for the stoppage of play was that the outfield was too wet for the fielders to run on, and the players might get injured. The sun shining in all its glory, a noisy crowd but no cricket played. They are scared of being injured, remember!

This, a game prided to be a game for men??!!

The most difficult thing to fathom is why, of all sports, should cricket be soft on its players. Rugby is played while its snowing; football is played in blinding rain; Michael Schumacher is at his best when it is raining, but cricket, no sir! The players are a little too comfortable in the dressing room to come out in the arena to fight it out.

The cricket administrators (read ICC) are more than anxious to state that the players have hell to pay if the players get injured playing and will face financial losses. This just doesn’t wash. If you tell me that cricketers have too much to lose, what do you say about the footballers? Formula-1 drivers? Are they paid peanuts? The cricket establishment is robbing people of the good money they have paid to get into the stadium and watch a game of cricket at least when the sun is shining!

The field wasn't looking like the Ooty Lake for chrissake!!!!!!

The ICC should take the following steps if it wants to keep an already waning cricket audience in world cricket.

1] Drying facilities: Get the state of the art suppersoppers, drainage system (like the one at the Padang, Singapore), covers, use sawdust, ropes, and let the cricketers strut their stuff. If in the process they slip and fall down, it is an occupational hazard. They are playing for their country and it is not enough to sit at press conferences and say they are proud to play for their country. "Action must speak louder than words."

2] The pitch: Protect the pitch with the best available protection. Inspite of this, if the pitch acts funny, then so be it. Isn’t this game supposed to be a game of glorious uncertainties? The players already have the best form of protective equipment, ranging from chest guards to spiked footwear.

3] Change of balls: Change the ball as soon as the ball gets wet .This is a common practice in the one-dayers; inculcate it in the Test matches as well. It might hamper the bowlers a bit, but what the heck! It is an act of god and it applies to both teams.

4] Floodlights: Schedule as many matches as possible in stadia where there is the provision of floodlights.

The paying spectator, television audience and everybody else concerned gets to see a wholesome match, and this can only help the game further. What we do not want, is a bunch of sissies going off every time it rains and coming back the next day to abandon the game. With the tour of the West Indies coming up, where its notorious weather has fouled up many a Test match; one can only hope to see more cricket this time around than to watch the pyrotechnics of the groundsmen bringing on the covers.

Gentlemen play!

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Mail Harsha Karanth