Woolmer murder adds new chapter to cricket's dark history by AFP

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Player:	RA Woolmer
Event:	ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 23rd March 2007

 

The murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer at the World Cup has led the likes of former South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald to call for the tournament to be called off.

 

While uniquely shocking, in a cricketing context at least, for its violence and brutality, the death of Woolmer is not the first occasion where those who love cricket have wondered whether it was worth continuing with the sport.

 

The phrase "it's not cricket," has entered common English usage as an expression of disapproval at underhand conduct.

 

However, the game's own standards were thrown into sharp focus by the 'Bodyline' crisis during England's tour of Australia in 1932-33.

 

England captain Douglas Jardine, determined to combat Australia run-machine Don Bradman at any cost and win the Ashes, instructed fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to bowl at batsmen's bodies, rather than their stumps.

 

With no restriction then on leg-side fielders, Australia players protecting their bodies were in danger of giving an easy catch.

 

Crowds across Australia were shocked by what they saw and Australia captain Bill Woodfull told Pelham Warner, England's tour manager, at one point during the series, which England won 4-1: "There are two teams out there. One of them is trying to play cricket, the other is not."

 

It was said of Jardine that "he could win us the Ashes but cost us the (British) Empire" and the Bodyline row escalated into a diplomatic incident which threatened Anglo-Australian relations at all levels.

 

One of cricket's more enduring controversies has been the issue of 'throwing'.

 

Unlike baseball, where the pitcher throws the ball at the batter, bowlers, according to the Laws of Cricket, must bowl with an arm already straightened before the moment of delivery.

 

During England's 1958-59 tour of Australia, where the hosts won the Ashes 4-1, many of the tourists' batsmen were convinced they'd been 'thrown out,' mainly by fast bowler Ian Meckiff

 

Although no action was taken against him at the time, Meckiff's career ended in 1963 when he was no-balled for throwing four times in an over by Australian umpire Col Egar during the first Test against South Africa at Brisbane.

 

Decades later the issue of 'chucking' returned when Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, now the second most successful bowler in Test history after Shane Warne, was no-balled in Australia in 1995/96 for throwing.

 

Murali, the subject of repeated examinations by experts in biomechanics, has continued to play despite all the controversy surrounding his action and, most recently, his 'doosra' delivery (a ball that is the opposite of a conventional off-spin delivery in that it turns away from the right-handed batsman).

 

Critics claimed the International Cricket Council (ICC) had given into pressure from the Asian sub-continent when it recently redrafted the rules on throwing to allow for 15 degrees of straightening.

 

But an even bigger controversy in recent times has been the issue of match-fixing which has centered on the relationships between players and bookmakers, mainly in the sub-continent where betting is illegal.

 

The most high-profile case led to former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, a national hero in his homeland, being banned for life after confessing to match-fixing in 2000.

 

Two years later he died at the age of 32 after a plane crashed into mountains near his hometown of George.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)