For those who know me i am a bit of a sports mad person and the wife becomes a football widow when the new season starts. However, as the years increase I get increasingly frustrated by the 'gamemanship' that goes on in football and one likes to hark back to the old days when players played hard and never showed pain or be very sporting and accept the refs decision.
As the football season draws nearer I also watch a lot of cricket and love the sport. It's not without its controversy but what I witnessed yesterday has restored my faith in sports people. As we know they are winners and no one likes losing. To coin a Allan Border phrase (Australia cricket captain) 'Nice guys never win'.
The scene was Trent Bridge, Nottingham and the teams are England and India. Last ball delivered before tea break and Ian Bell strikes the ball towards the boundary and the indian fielder Kumar makes a vain attempt to stop the ball but he goes over the fence and the ball stays on the field. To be fair Kumar does not know where the ball is and eventually finds and returns to the howls of laughter from the crowd. The england batsmen are on the way to the pavillion thinking they scored a boundary and declared tea themselves. At this point the umpires had not called tea and Ian Bell is Run Out. The umpires are in a predicament and go the video ref to see what happended. By the letter of the law India were correct and Ian Bell was out. Cue scenes of anger and disenchantment from the crowd as the umpires and the India team leave the field.
Those in the ground were possibly upset as the spirit of cricket and sportmanship was in tatters. However, to everyones amazement behind the scenes was frantic talks. The Indian team felt not happy at the manner in which Ian Bell was given out and the team decided to call him back, it has to be said also that the England Team captain and coach went doen to ask if they could appeal on there better nature. The decision was made that Ian Bell would be called back. As the umpires and the Indian team re-entered the field the boos and hissing started then the England team appeared on the balcony clapping (Was this sarcasm we thought!!) but no Ian Bell walked out to cheers and amazement. The umpires declared he was back!
From that moment the whole mood changed and the two teams fought valiantly on the field and the relationships between the two teams thawed and was good humour between the fielders and the batsmen. It was great to see.
The Indian captain MS Dhoni will take a lot of plaudits and rightly so buit the cynics may say that his team may lose the no.1 ranking to England if they lose this test match. The good guy on this occassion might not win but what he does take is honesty, respect and good sportsmanship.
For those interested in cricket, I recommend this book By Simon Hughes called 'and god created cricket' Excellent read click here for more information and on how to buy.
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