Smith's Crew in SA

[LP]

I've not commented on this up to now & have just been going through the forum reading up......this post nails it in one sentence.  Not one minute excusing what they did, but the drive for success (media & public driven) in all sports has become so over-emphasised that the health & enjoyment of the sport has become obliterated.  And yes, this is an extension of the erosion of values such as respect, honesty, humility & integrity in our society.

I'm currently re-reading (I've read it many time since I was a boy) the autobiography of Ray Lindwall "Flying Stumps".......and I ache for the return to that era of cricket, and a return of such gems of blokes such as Lindwall playing our game today & providing examples to our kids that we can be proud of.  However, it may well be a forlorn hope.

Are we being a bit precious here, it's not like it was the glory days!

Forgive me if I am wrong, but back in Lindwall's day you could legally scrub the ball on the pitch. There was no rule saying you had to scrub it evenly all over the surface, you could scrub one side if you so choose.

For modern ball tampering, somewhat ironically cricket historians will say it was TV that forced the change, after TV was able to deliver higher quality slow motion replays "ball tampering" incidents became widely exposed. The broadcast medium that complains about slow games and non-results helped contribute to slow games and non-results! Should we listen to them now?

Now the whole game is over officiated. The umpires even interject if teams are not throwing the ball back on the full, like the thrower from the outfield has any real control over which side of the ball hits the ground! If they don't control the side that hits they are actually benefiting the batsmen! In any case, most 1st class grounds are like playing on a bowling green and the grass has almost no effect on the condition of the ball! It's a moronic over legislation and interjection that the game does not need, rules built on flaky theories not on facts, and initiated by batsmen who have moved into administration roles. Those poor unfairly treated batsmen who are victims of the big bad bowlers no doubt! :o

Unfortunately for the bowlers, cricket is a game of asymmetry, there are too many batsmen relative to bowlers and batsmen now govern the game!