Gamesmanship has always been part of professional, and, indeed, of much amateur cricket, whatever the game’s public relations men protest to the contrary. It can take numerous forms – fielding sides slowing down over rates in the hope of running out of time, and denying their opponents victory; batsmen frustrating a successful or penetrating bowling attack by sending for new bats, gloves or pads, or demanding lengthy attention from a physio, or just engaging in endless mid-wicket conversations. And there are attempts to intimidate umpires by appealing for hopeless lbws; or fieldsmen claiming catches when they know very well that the bat was nowhere near the ball, or that the ball touched the ground. Technology in international games has eliminated some of these horrors, but others remain.
The T20 World Cup in the United States and West Indies seems to have brought a whole new level of sharp practice into the game, in violation of what the MCC, as custodian of the laws, calls “the Spirit of Cricket”. Australia are contemplating resting some of their best players for their game against Scotland on Saturday, presuming they have won their Wednesday game against Namibia and have qualified for the next stage of the tournament. If they do, Scotland will have an easier ride through to the next stage than England, whose run rate they considerably exceed. England, already demoralised after their defeat by Australia last weekend, will effectively be at the mercy of their two rivals and unable to do anything about it – except to engage in such a slogfest against their remaining opponents (in the course, naturally, of beating them) that they give themselves a chance of massively improving their low run rate.
Australia would rather face Scotland later on than England, the latter of which have a chance, however remote, of beating them in a knockout stage. The Australian camp might reject all accusations of gamesmanship, and claim that should they put out a weakened side they would simply be resting players to keep them fresh and injury-free for the latter part of the tournament. Also, as (under a seeding system) run rate in the first stage has no bearing on where sides end up in the second, Mitchell Marsh’s Australia do not need to beat Scotland heavily, or indeed at all. And if Scotland take on a weakened Australian side and maintain a reasonable run rate, it may well prove impossible for England to proceed further.
T20 is not really about cricket but about money, both for those who promote it and those who play it. A cricketer’s playing life being short, no one is going to begrudge sides doing all they can to win as often as possible, and as much money as possible. However, that is about as far from the true idea of the spirit of cricket as one could imagine. In a sport without gamesmanship, Australia would put out their best side, beat Scotland as soundly as possible, but allow England to take their chances in upping their own run rate. But that is not how things work today, and certainly not in the forest of money-trees that is T20.
There is still an ugly taste in the mouths of many England supporters after last summer’s dismissal in the Lord’s Test of Jonny Bairstow by Alex Carey, the Australian wicketkeeper. The ball went past Bairstow, was taken by Carey, and the batsman assumed it was dead. Carey nevertheless stumped him and he was given out, which was within the laws but not within their spirit. This situation would seem to be a chance to atone for that unsporting conduct, but it remains to be seen whether the Australians take it.
In 1948, Bradman’s Invincibles played Essex in a three-day tourist match – those were the days – and famously made 721 in a day off 129 overs (a rate of over 21 an hour), with Don Bradman making 187 and there being three other centurions. Keith Miller came in and threw his wicket away for a duck to Trevor Bailey. Bradman was livid; and when Miller protested that it was a wildly uneven contest, Bradman told him that Australia always played to win and gave no favours. They won at Southend by an innings and 451 runs, to prove his point. What would Bradman make of giving Scotland an easy ride? We must imagine he would be appalled, not least because he would have no concerns about beating England.
The violation of the spirit of cricket that would be caused by fielding a weakened team in order to manipulate an entire contest will amuse traditionalists. To many of us, T20 is barely cricket at all, but acts of increasingly mindless trivia, and therefore “spirit” is a debatable element in it. What may be about to happen in the West Indies seems to prove that point.