MCC bowls them round the legs

The honour and the exposure that the Sri Lankan cricketers brought upon themselves and the country was hit for six when Australian cricketing officials, laughed out loud and hard at the weak allegation made by cricket officials here that Adam Gilchrist used a squash ball in his glove to gain undue advantage.

It must be an insult to our cricketers to realise that their excellent work was made a joke by ignorant officials who levelled allegations against Gilchrist and Australia without looking beyond their noses.

The Marylebone Cricket Club, guardian of the laws of cricket, had in a statement said that Adam Gilchrist did not contravene the rules by using a squash ball in his left glove.

‘Apparently the addendum to the inside of the gloves was not for protection from injury but to improve the way the batsman gripped the bat handle. This should not be considered unfair’, said the MCC.

‘The incident could not be classed either as contravening the law or as breaching the spirit of the game’, says the MCC.

Gilchrist used the ball after his coach Bob Meuleman adviced and believed that it would help him with his grip to keep his bottom hand from moving too far around.

True that Secretary of the Interim Committee for Sri Lanka Cricket Kangadaran Mathivanan in his eagerness and the welfare of the game here wanted to take the matter up with the International Cricket Council at their meeting and asking them to act. Mathivanam had said: We don’t think Gilchrist did anything illegal but we question whether it was unethical or within the spirit of the game’.

None of the cricketers who played in that final joined in the controversy. Quite rightly. On the contrary they heaped praise on Gilchrist for that amazing innings.

The ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ quoting Mathivanan had said that the secretary compared Gilchrist’s use of the squash ball to Trevor Chappell’s infamous underarm delivery, but off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan had said that, that was the secretary’s personal opinion and that the team doesn’t think that.

Incidentally, although the spirit of the game was challenged when Chappell bowled that underarm delivery, the fact remains that he was doing it within the rules. Today with so much money to be won, playing the game to rules is what matters and to hell with the spirit.

Now that the MCC had had the final say on the squash ball matter, it is hoped that the Interim Committee would have a change of heart and not take it up with the ICC and make a joke of themselves.

Bob Parry a senior Australian umpire described the incident best when he said: ‘I don’t see it being outside the spirit of the game. It’s the same as wearing an extra inner inside a batting glove’.

Obviously every Australian in the team and the management would have been aware that Gilchrist was using a squash ball in his glove, and would not have allowed him to use it, if it was illegal.

If that was so Gilchrist would certainly have not waved the glove showing the squash ball to his batting coach Bob Meuleman via Television.

What has happened now is that Gilchrist has got tremendous exposure, not for his savage attack on the Sri Lankan attack, but for reasons having nothing to do with his match winning innings.

Like I said earlier, had Dilhara Fernando pocketed the caught and bowled catch offered by Gilchrist when he was on 31, this uncalled for and unnecessary bitterness would not have prevailed.

The Lankan cricketers did not complain or raise a murmur.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardena praised Gilchrist’s innings at the post match press briefing. Now what everyone connected with the game must do is to put the defeat as a bad dream and bask in the glory that our men were second best in this style of game in the world and celebrate.

Let us not brood over the defeat.

Victory came to the team that was the best on that day. And on that day the Aussies were the better team and triumphed.

To keep pecking on the squash ball and Gilchrist would be to belittle the magnificent performance of the gutty Lankan cricketers.

To ask the ICC to squash the result and award the trophy to Sri Lanka is not sport. What is the big deal in winning a trophy by default. Shame to even think of a thing like that. The Lankan cricketers played the game, because the game’s the thing for them. Let it remain that way.

(More tomorrow)