Playing games with the game

Cricket has morphed from a prolonged gentleman's game to a fast-paced, finance-friendly and techno-savvy sport

made available to d1e game, but also commercial ised within a sho rt span.

BY MALLI IYER

Cricket as a game is more than 200 years old and was originally played b y British aristocrats who christened it the 'gentleman's game'. It presumably never intended to acquire a global following or participation. But the best-laid plans go awry and it comes as no smpr ise that there were detractors who disliked the narrow limits drawn by the founding fathers of cricket.

Too testing!

In the early 20'" century, even George Bernard Shaw could no longer associate himself with th.is exclusive preserve of the rich and the famous, and decided to call it a sport played by "22 Aanne!Jed fools and watched b y 22,000 fools with nothing better to do". Until then, a great number of cticket games ended in a stalemate called a draw, with no winners or losers. Most critics of the game asked what the purpose of the sport was, if a test match ended in a draw after five arduous days of competing. Thanks to the well-known vagaries of the English weather, the game would be frequentl y suspended because of rain or poor light. None of tl1is endeared d1e game to the spectacors, who took refuge in saloon ba rs attached to cricket o,Tals.

In Europe and North America, cricl{et as a s port did not grow in popularity with Americans developing baseball, their ho megrown substitute with similar characteristics. Mose people in Europe saw cricket as a tired, dull and lazy pastime which was played over five days of action in slow m o tion The British therefore looked to popularise the sport within the Commonwealtl1, an extension of tl1e Empire, and the game took rooc in South Africa, Australia and the Asian subcontinent.

Trite termino logy

Consider tl1e weird terminology associated w ith the game: fielding positions Ii ke siLiy mid-off or silly point, long leg, fine leg, square leg, gul ly, slips and cow corner, have a whiff of their co lonial connectio n. There is little in tl1e above char suggests a competitive angle or an attacking posture. That is, Lmtil Douglas Jardine, captain of England invented bodyline in tl1e l 930s, instructing his bowlers co attack tl1e Australian batsmen and aim at their bodies, rather than at the stumps as an intimidating tactic. Bodyline created m ltch more tl,an a storm in a teacup, leaving tl1e Australians aghast. Cricket administrators hastily created laws to prevent intimidating bowling.

ODI emerges

In tl1e 1970s, AL1stralian business tycoon Kerry Packer created a fast and furious rival to tes t cricket tl1at was short, sharp and guaranteed to produce a winner and a loser. Inevitab ly tl1e cricket establishment i n England was scandalised, and refused to admit tl1e renegade rival any official status. They dubbed Packer's one- day carnival of cricket as a pyjama game since most of the player s and officials were attired in co lou red clothing which endorsed commercial sponsors Packer however, by enlisting leading cricketers, made tl1e game a professional spore overnigh t. More i mportantly, ,vith just 50 overs for each side, tl1e game was over within a day or

Fast and furious

In che new millennium, further innovations have created a h ybrid char lases only 20 overs for the competing sides, requires suprerne fitness of p laye rs and is supported b y latest techn o logy w ith several different camera angles and a spider cam to boot, chat hovers above cricket ovals like a low level satellite. Technolog y has given new armoury to crkkec umpires in the form of snicko, hoc spot and cbe smrnp cam among others, that enables them to bear even sighs and whispers of those in the field of play. Action can be endlessly replayed instantly for lovers of tl1e gan1e, resulting in public scrutiny of every shoe. The g ame has been revolutionised to d1e point of bringing a lot o f positives and negatives to tl1e reperto ire, with tl1e objective of bringing in a full house of spectators and advertis ing revenues. ln global terms, Twemy20 has tl1e h ype of a Superbowl i n American football.

Innovation to tradition

There ate new developments in the way the game is played mo.

Batsmen have added an array of ne,v shots, namely the reverse sweep, slog sweep, back cue lace cut and upper cut, helicopter shor (a ttributed to the Indian captain MS Dhoui) and Dilscoop (credited to T Dilsban of Sri Lanka).

night.

One-day cricket is now p layed in tl1e ,vee homs of the evening in a floodlit stadium. It has a lso become very watchable and ensured good gate money for the benefit of players, officials and cricket administrators. The top l eve ls in cricket hierarcl1y eventually joined the bandwagon. Money power was well and truly

Australian Dav id Warner invented tl1e swi tch hit, which can be pl ayed by anyone who is ambidextrou s. Bow lers, on tl1e other hand; have also s hown tl1eir abili ty to adapt, tl1ey now have rhe carrom ball, a rm ball, slow bouncer, low full to ss, the reverse swingers, yorker and doosra, all of which make it hard to decipher for the batsmen. C ricket legends like Don Bradman and Ranjit Singhji would s urel y tmn in their graves and wondering how much more mucil.ation the game will

''Bowlers have also shown the ir ability to adapt; they now have the carrom ball, arm ball, slow bouncer, low full toss, the reverse swingers, yorker and doosra

''invi te. It is fair to say tl1at cricket is now a r imer g ame, despite innovations tl1at are a far cry from its established traditions

Beyond the bat

Pro te ctive equipment s uch as helmets, sl'llll guards, abdomen guards, chest and elbow guards are already widely in use and make the players look robot - lil,e, but help prevent injuries Umpires who adjudicate tl1e proceed ings on the field have a rough time holding tl1eir own against technology tl1at obviates human error and guestions every judgement made by chem.

Witl1 money power comes the corruption potential. The game is at odds with march fixing, spot fixing, online betting and scandals involvin g players and official~ who are accused of aiding and abetting boo kmakers

C ricket is not a sport dogged by drug cheats so far, although some banned substances have been used by players to enhance tl1eir performance. Sledging and playing mind games witl1 players is a strategy used by so me cricketing nations, and racial vilification raises i ts ugly head from tin1e to rime

The new s u perpowers calling tl1e shots about the fumre of cricket come from the Soutl1 Asian subcontinent where tl1e game has a huge following.

Playing games with che game of cricket has added c o lour, pomp and circumst.·mce co this sport.

The popularity o f tl1e game is growing b y leaps and bounds, and entertainment is tl1e key Some of tl1e o ld bastions of the gan1e will fall, but it will be compensated by greater patronage the world over