CRICKET LOVELY CRICKET

July 18, 2011 at 6:11pm

MAINTAIN SPIRIT BEHIND JUBILEE TEST IN THE CENTENARY TEST ALSO

1980 Jubilee Test proved to be an eye-opener with then skipper Gundappa Vishwanath setting high standards in sportsman spirit. Even though we lost the test match, we were able to maintain the decorum of Gentleman's game. Fourtunately for India, Vishy was asked to lead Team India in the one off test match. Had it been Sunil Gavaskar he would not have recalled Bob Taylor back to the crease. The present day cricketers and captains play spoilsport. Despite a win over West Indies, Dhoni did not maintain the spirit behind the victory by finding fault with the umpiring of Harper and that has created a big stir with allegations and counter allegations even after a fortnight. But on the other hand Jubilee Test is talked about even after 31 years simply because of the history being created on the cricketing field by a fine gesture. This reminds me of the West Indies captain of 1960s Frank Worrell. Despite the loss in the most controversial 1960-61 Tie test series against Australia, the Adelaide test saw most important decision going against the Caribbeans and that was the root cause of them to lose the test series by a narrow margin of 1-2 with the first test at Brisbane ending in a tie and Adelaide test ending in a draw with Ken McKay and Leslie Kline holding the fort for Kangaroos. In the prize giving function, Worrell was gracious to shine the cup with coat sleeves before handing over to the Australian skipper Richie Benuad. We miss such scenes in contemporary cricket. We hope that in the Centenary Test between India and England the likes of Dhoni, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth behave decently in front of the paid spectators at the Mecca of cricket. It is time to behave in an exemplary way in a gentleman's game instead of just showing off with GALLIS and SLEDGING. Team India should behave sportingly if they are the real number one test side.
Jayanthy Subramaniam 11/258 Pattanwalla Mansion Sion East Mumbai 22 Ph 022-24095514