At intervals, the sport springs up controversies that leaves its fans and observers in shock. Here are some of those controversies
The incident involving Australian cricketers Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith has put ‘the Gentlemen’s Game’ again in a bad light and the incident will undoubtedly haunt the followers of the game for a long time.
Vice-captain David Warner also stepped down after Cricket Australia and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed disappointment, leaving Tim Paine in charge in cricket’s latest major controversy.
On Sunday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) slammed a one-match ban on Smith along with 100 percent match-fee fine while awarded a 75 percent match fee fine and three demerit points to Bancroft.
Here are some of the major controversies from the Gentlemen’s Game:
Bodyline Series
In what was probably the most controversial series in the history of the sport, English bowler Harold Larwood bowled in a way they though was best suited to combat extraordinary batting by Australian legend Don Bradman.
The tactic was devised by English skipper Douglas Jardine and was implemented by pacer Harold Larwood during the 1932–33 Ashes.
The tactic was to bowl at the batsman’s body so as to scare him. This was considered as an intimidation and was considered to be unfair in what was called ‘the Gentlemen’s game’.
The series resulted in ill-feeling between the two sides and was also taken up at diplomatic levels.
Match-fixing scandal in 2000
In 2000, South African skipper Hansie Cronje was accused by Delhi Police of being involved in match-fixing. The authorities also said they had a recording of a conversation between Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, a representative of an Indian betting syndicate.
Cronje was sacked as the Proteas captain after he confessed of having accepted between USD 10,000 and USD 15,000 from a London-based bookmaker for 'forecasting' results.
Cronje also released a statement revealing his contacts with bookmakers and showed the money he had accepted to concede runs, lose wickets and throw matches.
Later that year, Cronje was banned from playing or coaching cricket for life time.
In 2002, Cronje died at the age of 32 in a plane crash.
Monkeygate (2008)
In early 2008, during the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), there was an altercation between India’s Harbhajan Singh and Australia’s Andrew Symonds.
Symonds alleged that Harbhajan had passed a racist remark against him by calling him “monkey”. Harbhajan Singh and the Indian team refuted the allegations.
Harbhajan, who had been punished severely earlier, was later absolved of the charges.
Chappell’s under-arm ball
Australia was playing against New Zealand in the third of the five such matches, in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The Kiwis needed six runs to tie the match. To stop them from scoring the six, Australian skipper Greg Chappell instructed bowler Trevor Chappell to deliver the final delivery as an underarm.
At that time, the action was legal and well within the rules of the game. However, it was seen as against the spirit of the game.
England vs Pakistan, The Oval Test (2006)
The Pakistani team was accused of ball tampering by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove. Therefore, England were awarded five extra runs.
Following a tea break, the Pakistani team refused to come onto the field to protest against the decision. The match was awarded to England. However, years later, the match was categorised by ICC as a ‘draw’ before reversing the decision back to an ‘England win’ in 2009.