Test cricket is the height of any cricketers career. It’s the format everyone wants to play. But if the ICC are going to continue to run it like children – We’ll all lose interest and the format will die
The general rule I have when writing a blog post is to think what I want to write about, and if it’s a topic that has me a bit hot under the collar, to rather sleep on it and write it in a calmer mood – but this Proteas v Australia series has got me so angry, and the Kagiso Rabada situation has now pushed me over the edge…. so stuff the rule of only writing when calm!
What really gets my back up, is how soft the game is becoming. It annoys be beyond belief that sledging basically isn’t allowed anymore. Yes, many people will disagree with me, but sledging and getting under the oppositions skin is all part and parcel of most sports – I actually enjoy it. If you’re standing in the baking heat watching two batsmen pile on the runs, and a comment could get them flustered, and at the same time get you and your side fired up – I’m all for it.
I’ll be more controversial for you. Do I think Rabada should be banned for nudging Smith and screaming at Warner? No. Do I think Warner or Quinny should have been fined for their drama? No. Should Marsh be fined for swearing at Rabada? NO, should Lyon be fined for dropping (please don’t even try tell me he “threw it”) the ball next to AB? Absolutely not! Let them get on with the game and go hammer and tong at each other. Everyone is now talking about “where the line is”? I honestly couldn’t be bothered. Stop it if they swinging at each other – but don’t be ridiculous and start punishing players for sledging and swearing.
I’m getting so wound up. We don’t have to hear everything on the field. For all I care – they can turn the stump microphone off so we can’t hear anything. And if it’s there for “snicko” – then they must make another plan.
This is one of the talking points, and one of the things KG did wrong and has been banned for. GOOD GRIEF MAN! What grates me is actually how Steve Smith reacts to it. Swings his head around and then turns to the umpire and cries about it. Honestly, what’s the next step from here? Will players now start rolling around on the floor like footballers? Smith should have been told to stop being a child and carry on.
Where is the consistency from the ICC ? Rabada shouts “YES YES YES” when he gets Warner out and does the same to Smith, and touches his shoulder – the result being that he’s suspended for the rest of the series. He then gets Mitchell Marsh out, and Marsh calls him “A f**king c**t” as he walks past him. The camera picked it up, so according to the ICC’s logic, children would have seen that – this however resulted in Marsh being fined just 20% of his match fee.
I want to see every bowler steaming in at near boiling point. I want to watch epic test cricket where both teams are giving it everything, and if it boils over, all the better. To me, it shows that the players are fully invested in the match and wearing their Proteas kit or their “baggie green” actually means something to them.
Some of my favourite cricketing moment that I’ve watched have all been when the game was boiling over. It’s the greatest theatre. Players at their peak, going full tilt at each other. All I have to do is say two names to prove my point. Donald and Atherton. What comes to your mind? It’s certainly not an elegant cover drive from Athers and Donald complimenting him on it. How many games would White Lightning have been banned for?
I bought my ticket to the third test at Newlands months ago. And for my money, I expect to see the likes of Philander, AB and Rabada. If the ICC are going to continue making the game soft and not allowing players to do certain things and suspending them, there will be no theatre and ticket sales will dwindle, more so than they have already over the past few years.
I don’t understand how the entire cricketing world can agree on something, but the board in charge do something different. It’s surely just another form of corruption.
One last example – one of my favourite spells of cricket back in 2013. Mitchell Johnson taking on Kevin Pietersen. Can you just imagine if Rabada (or any bowler for that matter), threw a ball in disgust like that now days? How long would they be suspended for? What actually happened? The crowd got into it even more and people sat on the edge of their couches to watch every moment. I may be wrong – but I doubt either of these two got suspended for this.
I know it’s 2018 and everyone is now overly sensitive and everything offends everyone, but I’m sorry – the ICC is ruining the game that many of us love! We’re turning into 5yr old kids: “look at him, he swore” “He was nasty” “He touched me”. Get over it – leave them alone and let them get on with it.