Nobility in a hard game

There is something innate, something unique about how every person is wired that determines the sporting spirit quotient of an individual. What is special about cricket is that from the time we begin to play the game expectations are set – of upholding the spirit of the game, that spirit signifying integrity, uprightness, honesty, keeping team interest above self interest and so on.

In this essay we describe some of the most moving incidents of warmth, generosity and nobility seen on the ground, to show that sportsman spirit transcends times, cultures and geographies. Many of these wonderful sporting gestures extracted their price – the games turned in favour of the opponent; some of these players lost their places in the Test team but none of these considerations ever entered their mind.

In an Ashes Test in 1964, Fred Titmus, the England batsman, slipped on wet grass and was hopelessly stranded mid pitch, but Wally Grout, the Australian wicket keeper, did not whip the bails off and instead allowed Titmus to gain his ground. In Grout’s books taking advantage of a mishap like that was simply not cricket.

Grout is famous for another magnificent act of sportsmanship. At Melbourne in the last Test of the famous 1960-61 series against West Indies, when Grout ran two runs, the Windies keeper Gerry Alexander was pointing out that a bail had been dislodged. With no one sure of what had happened the Umpire gave Grout the benefit of doubt. But Grout felt he should not have been reprieved and simply gave his wicket away the next ball.

Whatever we may say, one plays to compete and win and nothing exemplifies this as much as the battle for the Ashes. As England beat Australia by two runs in the Edgbaston Test of 2005, Brett Lee the batsman sank to his knees in utter despair. The English players embraced and celebrated but Andrew Flintoff, the hero of England’s triumph, had already slipped away to Brett Lee, to console him. The picture of Flintoff putting his hands around the disconsolate Lee is probably the most memorable one of the year.

Such spirit is not restricted to players. Certain cricket grounds are blessed with a special bond with the spirit of the game. In December 1998, all of India was disappointed when India lost to Pakistan by 12 runs and one of Tendulkar’s greatest tons went in vain. The crowd at Chennai ought to have been the ones who were most devastated. Somehow, the 60,000 people at the stadium found the nobility to rise up and give the Pakistan team a standing ovation and the picture of the Pakistani team’s victory lap is etched in memory for ever.

Captains can set the tone for such uplifting behaviour. In the Jubilee Test (1980) at Mumbai, with England tottering on 85 for 5, Bob Taylor was given out caught behind. But India’s captain for the test Gundappa Viswanath pleaded with the umpires to recall Taylor because he thought the batsman was not out. Taylor returned to forge a match-winning partnership with Ian Botham. None of this mattered to Viswanath, because he simply did not know any other way to play the game.

Should batsmen walk or not has always been a hot debate. To Viswanath it was no debate. How many times have we seen, Vishy simply tuck his bat and walk the minute he snicked, even before the fielders could appeal. Lara too was priceless in this aspect. To the consternation of umpires, he would turn and walk on LBW appeals, even as umpires were shaking their head to turn the appeal down. Dravid, Indian readers will remember walked, when he was on 95 in his maiden innings at Lord's in 1996. How many would do such a thing? Among the Aussies, Gilchrist was the sole exception, walking even before the umpire gave him out. He set such high standards for himself that it became an embarrassment for the rest of the Australian team. By no means should we look down upon batsmen who wait for the umpire’s verdict but these walkers simply tug your heart.

Among the bowlers who have been great ambassadors for the spirit of cricket, we cannot think of a better example than Courtney Walsh. In a 1987 World Cup match against Pakistan, Walsh earned eternal respect as a gentleman cricketer because in a needle situation he refused to run out the Pakistan batsman who kept running out of the non-striker’s crease despite being warned not to do so. Walsh’s sporting gesture cost West Indies the match (and they were knocked out of the tournament) but Walsh quite simply did not want to win any other way.

One of the great and towering personalities of cricket in the early days of Test cricket, Dr. WG Grace was known to take advantage of his position and stature at every opportunity and would intimidate umpires even in village matches (remember the famous “they have come to see me bat, not to see this fellow bowl”). There is this story of an exasperated bowler telling Grace, “Doc, why are you going, there is still one stump standing”.

Luckily some of the great batsmen who followed him were wonderful sportsmen. Jack Hobbs was the epitome of sportsmanship. In a Test match, he asked Aussie keeper Bert Oldfield if he was out and when Oldfield confirmed this, Hobbs walked. And Australian hero Victor Trumper was revered by all as the perfect human being - naïve and kind hearted to a fault.

One of the finest instances of sportsmanship was in 1953 when Australia played South Africa. Neil Harvey was in superb form. Batting with Harvey, was Arthur Morris on 99 when they were stranded at the same end as a result of Harvey’s bad calling. Morris sacrificed his wicket. As he passed a crestfallen Harvey he is supposed to have told him - you better make up for my missed century and score a double hundred. Harvey did go on to make his first double century. This is in such stark contrast to a recent muddle in the Australia-Pakistan series, when Shane Watson and Simon Katich literally competed against each other to regain the nearest crease after a muddled call had them stranded. They had to be separated in a photo finish!

The sporting spirit in cricket has usually been discussed in rather simplistic frameworks. There is a section of opinion which believes that when the game moved from amateur to professional status and then to the intense commercialisation of modern days, it lost the gentility associated with the game. The other section is of the view that because we see and hear everything on TV, we feel the spirit has deteriorated whereas it may not be really so. Both may be correct to an extent but there is much more to it.

We hope that we have been able to bring out some evidence to show that magnanimous gestures have embellished modern times as much as the earlier times. In an ironic sense, perhaps modern-day TV coverage might well become the reason that the spirit of cricket is preserved, for no cricketer would want to be shown up as a boor or have his integrity questioned. From there to more voluntary acts of sportsmanship may not be such a big leap after all.