silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
Not quite. I admire his single mindedness. I have a problem with cricket viewing itself as holier than thou when it clearly isn't. Either make sure it's actually played that way, or admit it's like every other sport and legislate from that viewpoint. Fundamentally, if anything, soccer is a sport with much more integrity and fair play than cricket. I didn't hear any bowler withdraw an appeal after a bad decision, or ever saw an offer to replay the game after a series of calls went against them. They say 'umpire decisions are final', or 'that's part of the game.'
Right now, cricket wants it both ways. It still clings on to illusions of being a Gentleman's Game and is legislated as such, while the players keep towing the line officially but keep playing it like players play in every other sport on the planet. So administrators are reluctant to put in rules that would make the game better and flow smoother, and the players keep doing idiotic things knowing they have the 'spirit of the game speech' ready whenever they need to bring it out.
If I was a Test player, I'd manipulate and cheat as much as I can, because my job is to win for my team. If the administrators want to keep the blinders on, that's their problem.
Fundamentally, someone has to explain to me how this incident is different from a bowler appealing when he knows its not out, or a batsman not walking when he knows he hit it. I'm sure in some games, there are penalties called when they shouldn't have been. It all evens out right? Why isn't that line used in other sports? Again, we go back to the beginning, and cricket has readymade nonsensical lines about it 'evening out' and 'part of the history of the game'. And so they keep doing it, and we accept it while talking up their integrity and penchant for fair play. Makes no sense.
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