Spirit of cricket? Do me a favour
Mark Butcher, Surrey legend and former England player, points out the impracticalities of spirit of cricket in All Out Cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
Mark Butcher, Surrey legend and former England player, points out the impracticalities of spirit of cricket in All Out Cricket. Cricket and life, he writes, teach harsh lessons. Stupidity should be no defence in either
Cricket has always had its own sense of morality - a gentleman's code if you will. I recall the quaint practice of 'clapping in' the new batsman. Lovely on the surface of course; but the seven-year-old Michael Holding in me had thoughts of rearranging the poor unfortunate's new dental work. Cricket - like the world in which it is set - has a brutal beauty and is governed by law and order. For the most part!
I conclude that the Spirit of Cricket is a commendable notion but is not without significant flaws in its interpretation. The Laws of cricket are comprehensive and most of the recent wrangles have come about because of a lack of understanding of such Laws, as opposed to massive breaches of some unrealistic utopian code.