Archbishop of Sydney

It Wasn’t Cricket

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
13/1/2008

Many years ago I was told that the British hero Vice Admiral Nelson put the telescope to his blind eye to ignore an order before going on to win the Battle of Copenhagen.  Alas, that there was no Nelson at an earlier stage in the unholy mess around the Second Test.

Rarely has so much been made out of so little by so many waxing indignant until the International Cricket Council patched up a compromise.

Racial abuse is ugly, but so is abuse which focuses on the parentage, religion, wealth, intelligence or sexual inclinations of an opponent.

The Sydney Test will be remembered for the wrong reasons, but it was a great cricket match.  Tendulkar’s innings in the twilight of his career was a gem.  Clarke’s three wickets in five balls to snatch victory in the final minutes emphasized the Australians’ dominance and self confidence, but the Indians are getting closer.  Too many umpire’s decisions went against them and every visiting Test team needs a few first class warm up matches to adjust to the new conditions before a Series.  If this is regularly ignored for commercial reasons then every home team will have an initial advantage.

The Australian team deserves to be world champions, but they have also been the undisputed champion sledgers.  They are not well placed to complain.

Sledging will continue, but the unwritten rules, which prevent descent to the law of the jungle, should be respected, especially when genuine antagonism exists between the teams.  This is particularly difficult when players belong to different cultures, where the unwritten rules and expectations are also different.  Despite our common language of English and a shared love of the imperial game of cricket, the Indians belong to an ancient, varied and different culture.  E.M. Forster’s novel “Passage to India” wrestled with the differences and mutual self-righteousness across them makes things worse.

Hundreds of millions of Indians from every class love their cricket, although the players come from a more restricted circle.  Surely someone should have restrained Ponting from reporting the bowler who now has the wood on him (temporarily we hope) for a lesser repeat offence.

Most Indians interpreted his action as an unfair attempt to remove a successful opponent.

Also W.S. Gilbert told us that the punishment should fit the crime, but Harbhajan’s exclusion from three Tests is excessive.  The appeal result will be interesting.

It is inevitable that cricket changes with the times, but Test teams should not make things worse among the youngsters who admire them.

Modesty in victory, dignity in defeat, traditional courtesies are lessons worth learning.  Racing around the field doing high jinks would not be tolerated in children, even if rich, spoilt soccer stars perform like that for the T.V.

Ponting and Kumble need to lead their teams away from the brink.  Too much off and on the field in Sydney wasn’t cricket.