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From: reddy@ctnews.UUCP (T.S.Reddy)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india,net.sport
Subject: cricket
Message-ID: <130@ctnews.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 14:44:20 EST
Article-I.D.: ctnews.130
Posted: Tue Mar 18 14:44:20 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Mar-86 05:40:26 EST
Lines: 43
Keywords: bouncers, intimidatory bowling
Xref: watmath net.nlang.india:1175 net.sport:722


While we are on the subject of intimidatory bowling and Marshall and
Company's attempts to bounce the English team out of the game,
I came across the following related article in the Mar 8th issue of
The Economist. By the by, the contents page title of this article
was "Head before wicket".

Nasty, brutish and short

     For millions of Englishmen, the issue has been what to do about
fast, short pitched bowling. England's cricket team, presently battling
in Trinidad, have been ducking-or, in the case of Mr. Mike Gatting, who
has been invalided home with a broken nose, failing to duck-the West
Indies' attack. So violent was the bowling in the recent test match in
Jamaica that some English newspapers called for the team's return.

     Whingeling whiteys? Possibly; at least in Fleet Street. The 
cricketers themselves have not complained (they won a one day
international this week). Moreover, fast short-pitched bowling,
rearing towards a batsman's chest or face, has long been a weapon in
any succesful team's armoury. It has been controversial before, most
notoriously in the 1932-33 series betwen England and Australia, when
"bodyline" (in Australia) or "leg-theory" (in England) bowling threat-
ened to strain the ties between Oz and the mother country. What is new
is that any team facing the West Indies now gets no respite. Once the
90-mph thunderbolts from Mr Malcom Marshall and new-discovery Mr. Pat-
rick Patterson have been seen off, the 80-mph torpedoes of Mr Joel Gar-
ner and Mr Michael Holding replace them.

     That is to be done? In many international series, the laws of
cricket are supplemented by regulations that stipulate a mazximum
number of fast short pitched deliveries per so many balls. But the West
Indies do not agree to such additions-they play just by the laws.
These state that such bowling is unfair if any umpire thinks it's
intimidatory. It may be prohibited if it is intended or likely to
inflict physical harm on the batsman.

     All is then up to the umpire-and West Indian umpires appear to 
take a relaxed view. This could be solved by an international panel
neutral umpires applying the rules consistently. Cricket is now the
only internationally played team game in which neutral officials are
not regarded as essential. It has become such a money-spinner that it
should not be difficult to pay for the change.