Sobers: Excessive appealing disgusts and sickens me

West Indian Test great Sir Garfield Sobers has launched a withering attack on excessive appealing and gamesmanship in the modern game. In an interview with the BBC World Service, Sobers said that he is sickened and disgusted when players refuse to walk and appeal optimistically.

Sobers said that when he was playing cheating was something he never wanted to do, and that he used to walk when he knew he was out. The 64-year-old played 93 Tests, with a highest score of 365, at the time a world record. He also famously hit Glamorgan spinner Malcolm Nash for six sixes in an over at Swansea.

Speaking on the Sports International programme, the former all-rounder branded batsmen who don't walk as cheats. "When you hit a ball you know you hit it. I don't care what anyone says. Some people say they couldn't feel it, I don't believe that. If you know you should walk," he said.

Sobers also criticised bowlers who appeal for leg-before when they know the batsman has hit the ball. He says that bowlers appeal for leg-before when the "bat is four or five inches from the pad" and that "the only way the ball could hit the pad is by hitting the bat."

Sobers said the current situation puts unnecessary pressure on umpires: "It makes me sick. These things really disgust me." His comments are particularly topical following the recent Test series between Sri Lanka and England, where a number of players were warned or fined for excessive appealing. The umpires were also criticised for poor decision-making in the face of pressure from the fielders.