|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Tuesday, 30 November 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Sports | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Comment by Elmo Rodrigopulle All's well that ends well All's well that ends well. Thankfully for cricket and the media the impasse that threatened to scupper the England tour to Zimbabwe for a series of five one-dayers has blown over and at the time of writing the cricketers are doing their thing. At one time the tour was in the balance because the Zimbabwe Government had refused to grant visas to some of the British media to cover the tour. Now that was unbecoming and unacceptable. Mediamen must be allowed access because they are also doing a job. What had the Zimbabweans to hide or fear? Obviously the Zim Government feared that some of the visiting journalists instead of covering and writing on what was happening out in the middle, would have made use of the opportunity to write what was not cricket. If that was the case and had they abused their profession and written things bad about the country and the government, then the aggrieved had only to resort to legal redress. It is the accepted norm that politics is one thing and sport is another. The two should never be allowed to be one. Madiamen other than for some miscreants indulge in responsible journalism. No mediaman would want to misreport or report the wrong thing and lose his credibility. True the Zim government would have been displeased with some journalists and agencies. But that does not mean that they should tar all journalists with the same brush. England skipped a World Cup match in Zimland and had to pay a heavy fine imposed on them by the ICC. They were waiting for the opportunity to duck this tour too. The ECB hoped to make the refusal of visas to their media to pull out of this tour too. They were not babies to be told that playing the game is one thing and commenting on it is another. The cricketers must mind their business and that is wielding the willow and bowling the ball. Politics must be left to the politicians. At the time of writing all parties have thankfully seen reason and the traditional and time honoured game is being played in the best of spirits. And isn't that what the game is all about? All parties, the ICC, ECB and the Zim government moved in the matter and after a lot of give and take finally arrived at consensus acceptable to all and that was good for the game, the player and the administration. Protea problem The South Africans led by Graeme Smith and now contesting India in a Two Test series are sadly lacking some of their best players. To name two are Herschelle Gibbs and Nicky Boje. The reason being not that they were dropped like Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener, but because their alleged involvement in match fixing with their former skipper Hansie Cronje now dead. Funnily they are scared to tour India for fear of being detained and questioned by the police. Why they have to fear to tour is questionable. Obviously Gibbs and Boje have something to hide and therefore pulling out of the tour. For how long would the ICC and the United Cricket Board of South Africa allow this comedy to go on? Smith who is leading a young side, seems to have stressed on his mates that if a match cannot be won then it must not be lost. That is exactly what happened in the First of Two Tests played in Kanpur which ended in a draw. Batting first, the Proteas rattled up a huge 510/9. With this score there was no way that they could have lost. It was the Indians who were under pressure and they did well not face the ignominy of following on or losing. The TV Commentators who read the wicket on the morning of the match predicted that the wicket would crumble and the game would probably end inside three days. The wicket would have had the last laugh because with each day it began to get better, as was sadly admitted by the Commentators. SLC on a sticky wicket In my previous column I said that it was wrong for Muttiah Muralitharan to have shot his mouth and condemned other bowlers saying that they were chuckers too. But now it looks as though it was Sri Lanka Cricket that had shot its mouth. If this is not so how can one explain the hurry to take action on the bowler ignorant that there is no clause in the player's contract that bars him from speaking out. The SLC realising its folly has now only cautioned the bowler, promising to re-do players' contracts next time round. Come, come the SLC bat wits more purpose and resolve. I wonder what their counterparts - Cricket Australia who sounded the SLC on Murali's outburst think of Sri Lanka Cricket. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
