Most Controversial Moments in Cricket History?

[AndrewB]

The on-field fight between Lillee and Miandad rarely seems to be remembered.

 

[Line and Length]

The on-field fight between Lillee and Miandad rarely seems to be remembered.

That immediately came to mind when I saw the title of the clip.
As an aside, the clip contains an inaccuracy with regard to bodyline. I stated that the rules were changed immediately after the bodyline series. The relevant changes weren't implemented until after the West Indies tour of England when Constantine and Martindale employed 'leg theory' (as it was called at the time).

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

There was a ground invasion at Bourda against the Aussies in 98

There was also the incident where the crowd was unruly and started to pelt bottles at the Aussies…the Sherwin Campbell-Julien fiasco

 

[The Sean]

That immediately came to mind when I saw the title of the clip.
As an aside, the clip contains an inaccuracy with regard to bodyline. I stated that the rules were changed immediately after the bodyline series. The relevant changes weren't implemented until after the West Indies tour of England when Constantine and Martindale employed 'leg theory' (as it was called at the time).

And the England batsman who defied them unflinchingly for five hours to score 127 when they did? Douglas Jardine.

 

[Burgey]

There was a ground invasion at Bourda against the Aussies in 98

There was also the incident where the crowd was unruly and started to pelt bottles at the Aussies…the Sherwin Campbell-Julien fiasco

There was a pretty bad riot on the 1979 Aus tour of the WI at Sabina Park.

Steve Rixon recalls extraordinary scenes which led to controversial drawn Test at Sabina Park

Fire, teargas, gunshots: Australia’s abandoned Test

www.foxsports.com.au

I think in terms of controversies within the game though, the Lillee-Miandad one stands out from my time as a kid. Very ordinary by Lillee. He was lucky he only got a couple of ODI matches as a suspension tbh. Could and should have probably copped 12 months as a minimum imo. Underarm was obviously huge at the time too, but in the same match Martin Sneddon took a great catch diving forward in the outfield to remove Greg Chappell but the umpires were both watching the respective creases for short runs when it happened and gave Chappell not out. One of those which would have been sorted in a heart beat with a replay today.

In more recent times, obviously Sydney 08 for the sheer size of the usual victim complex wahhhhhing on display by India given they lost nine wickets in two sessions, including 3 in an over to Michael Clarke of all people to lose the test. Leave it to organised religion as a means of externalizing blame, fellas. Not an umpire.

Sandpaper was obviously a fiasco, but the controversy was more self-imposed off the field than anything which happened on it, which was blatant and obvious.

Any Mankad is controversial but getting less so, thank ****. Another one from when I was a kid was the Hilditch handled ball, though that was as revenge for a Mankad in the same game as well.

Edit: another one I remember was Greg Dyer claiming a catch he dropped off Andrew Jones(?) in a test in Melbourne in about 87 or 88. Plainly not out on replay and basically ended Dyer's career. Shame Strauss' didn't go the same way after he claimed the half volley from Phil Hughes at Lord's in 09.

 

[Line and Length]

The '70/71 Sydney Test when the crowd threw bottles etc on the ground after Terry Jenner was felled by a John Snow delivery. One spectator leaned over the fence and grabbed Snow. Captain Ray Illingworth risked a forfeit by removing his team from the ground until order was restored. Journalists from different sides of the Ashes fence differed in their description of the Snow delivery . They vary from "a vicious bouncer" to "Jenner ducked into a shortish delivery".

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Sorry to bring it up, but it has to be Bob Woolmer's death.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

There was a pretty bad riot on the 1979 Aus tour of the WI at Sabina Park.

Steve Rixon recalls extraordinary scenes which led to controversial drawn Test at Sabina Park

Fire, teargas, gunshots: Australia’s abandoned Test

www.foxsports.com.au

I think in terms of controversies within the game though, the Lillee-Miandad one stands out from my time as a kid. Very ordinary by Lillee. He was lucky he only got a couple of ODI matches as a suspension tbh. Could and should have probably copped 12 months as a minimum imo. Underarm was obviously huge at the time too, but in the same match Martin Sneddon took a great catch diving forward in the outfield to remove Greg Chappell but the umpires were both watching the respective creases for short runs when it happened and gave Chappell not out. One of those which would have been sorted in a heart beat with a replay today.

In more recent times, obviously Sydney 08 for the sheer size of the usual victim complex wahhhhhing on display by India given they lost nine wickets in two sessions, including 3 in an over to Michael Clarke of all people to lose the test. Leave it to organised religion as a means of externalizing blame, fellas. Not an umpire.

Sandpaper was obviously a fiasco, but the controversy was more self-imposed off the field than anything which happened on it, which was blatant and obvious.

Any Mankad is controversial but getting less so, thank ****. Another one from when I was a kid was the Hilditch handled ball, though that was as revenge for a Mankad in the same game as well.

Edit: another one I remember was Greg Dyer claiming a catch he dropped off Andrew Jones(?) in a test in Melbourne in about 87 or 88. Plainly not out on replay and basically ended Dyer's career. Shame Strauss' didn't go the same way after he claimed the half volley from Phil Hughes at Lord's in 09.

Yeah, he was known as Dyer the liar over here. Jones was fresh off 150 in the previous test too. The Dyer 'catch' was in the same test that the plumb LBW off Danny Morrison I think to McDermott was turned down and then Mike 'who dares wins' Whitney blocked out an over from Sir Richard

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

There was a pretty bad riot on the 1979 Aus tour of the WI at Sabina Park.

Steve Rixon recalls extraordinary scenes which led to controversial drawn Test at Sabina Park

Fire, teargas, gunshots: Australia’s abandoned Test

www.foxsports.com.au

I think in terms of controversies within the game though, the Lillee-Miandad one stands out from my time as a kid. Very ordinary by Lillee. He was lucky he only got a couple of ODI matches as a suspension tbh. Could and should have probably copped 12 months as a minimum imo. Underarm was obviously huge at the time too, but in the same match Martin Sneddon took a great catch diving forward in the outfield to remove Greg Chappell but the umpires were both watching the respective creases for short runs when it happened and gave Chappell not out. One of those which would have been sorted in a heart beat with a replay today.

In more recent times, obviously Sydney 08 for the sheer size of the usual victim complex wahhhhhing on display by India given they lost nine wickets in two sessions, including 3 in an over to Michael Clarke of all people to lose the test. Leave it to organised religion as a means of externalizing blame, fellas. Not an umpire.

Sandpaper was obviously a fiasco, but the controversy was more self-imposed off the field than anything which happened on it, which was blatant and obvious.

Any Mankad is controversial but getting less so, thank ****. Another one from when I was a kid was the Hilditch handled ball, though that was as revenge for a Mankad in the same game as well.

Edit: another one I remember was Greg Dyer claiming a catch he dropped off Andrew Jones(?) in a test in Melbourne in about 87 or 88. Plainly not out on replay and basically ended Dyer's career. Shame Strauss' didn't go the same way after he claimed the half volley from Phil Hughes at Lord's in 09.

Whoa, that's some crazy stuff.

 

[Dazinho]

Not sure how far the list it would appear but 'the Rob Bailey incident' definitely deserves a place on said list, even if it's at #9 or something.

Misses the ball by miles, is emphatically given not out by an umpire who knows he's missed it.

Opposing captain, supprorted by a hostile crowd, then wanders over and essentially intimidates the umpire into giving Bailey out.

Rob never played for England again, unless I'm mistaken - despite being a consistent scorer in domestic cricket in the 90s.

Worth a mention I felt...

 

[gggsaffa12]

I think if something happens that even your own team mates are ashamed of, that has to take the biscuit. So I guess that rules out the sandpaper and gives it to the under arm.

Thats why I'm leaning towards the Hansje Cronje scandal. The guy was literally SA's hero and was meant to be the leader of the new era of cricket but he threw it all away for more money in the bank

 

[wpdavid]

Not sure how far the list it would appear but 'the Rob Bailey incident' definitely deserves a place on said list, even if it's at #9 or something.

Misses the ball by miles, is emphatically given not out by an umpire who knows he's missed it.

Opposing captain, supprorted by a hostile crowd, then wanders over and essentially intimidates the umpire into giving Bailey out.

Rob never played for England again, unless I'm mistaken - despite being a consistent scorer in domestic cricket in the 90s.

Worth a mention I felt...

Viv Richards, wasn't it. Not his finest hour.

 

[wpdavid]

The final test between England and Pakistan in 2006 when the latter were deemed to forfeit the match after not returning to the field following a ball-tampering issue.

 

[centurymaker]

2007/08 Sydney Test
Hansje Cronje/Azhar
Underarm
Bob Woolmer's death
World Cup 2019 tied final

 

[wpdavid]

Mike Gatting/Shakoor Rana

With a helpful contribution from Sporting Javed, who, having heard that Rana was happy for play to recommence, explained in no uncertain terms that this must not happen due to Pakistan's precarious position in the match.

The previous test in that series also deserves a mention due to the MOTM performance of umpire Shakeel Khan. Estimates of the number of Engish batters sawn off by this gentleman across the two innings generally reach two figures. I think that was the one when Chris Broad refused to go after being given out for whatever spurious reason Khan thought appropriate.

 

[wpdavid]

Darrell Hair no-balling Murali for chucking.

 

[Molehill]

The final test between England and Pakistan in 2006 when the latter were deemed to forfeit the match after not returning to the field following a ball-tampering issue.

Pakistan and Australia can probably put together their own Top 10's, and sometimes combine them too (like that one was).

 

[sledger]

Darrell Hair no-balling Murali for chucking.

See also: Darrell Hair/Pakistan 2006 ball tampering.

 

[subshakerz]

It is obviously match-fixing, be it in the early 2000s, or even the spot-fixing in 2010. That threatened the entire integrity of the sport.

Anything else pales in comparison and are just regular controversies during play.

 

[AndrewB]

That immediately came to mind when I saw the title of the clip.
As an aside, the clip contains an inaccuracy with regard to bodyline. I stated that the rules were changed immediately after the bodyline series. The relevant changes weren't implemented until after the West Indies tour of England when Constantine and Martindale employed 'leg theory' (as it was called at the time).

I can't see anything related to bodyline in the 1936 revision of the laws, and always had the impression that umpires were just told to clamp down on it.
The new code in 1947 specifically includes "The persistent and systematic bowling of fast short-pitched balls at the batsman standing clear of his wicket is unfair".