The Gilchrist episode from a wider perspective

Rodney Martinesz

Cricket: Now that the dust appears to be settling down on the Gilchrist-squash ball controversy it is pertinent to view the episode from a larger perspective. The bone of contention here was that the dashing Aussie wicketkeeper, batsman used an alien substance in his glove to enhance his power hitting. The question is did Gilchrist cheat by using some additional material to enhance his batting prowess.

By the same token are other batsman less guilty by wearing various paraphanelia as protective gear both externally and internally which make some of them appear as martians from outer space. How much more runs would great batsmen of the past have accumulated had they been afforded the protective gear of the present especially the head gear.

It would be interesting to measure the performance of present day batsmen with those of a different era whose protective gear went to a bare minimum . School cricketers of a different vintage would recall the primitive gear that was worn by batsmen by way of protection.

Batting gloves of that era were a poor relation to the present day variety it's protection consisting of four saw edged strips of rubber on the outer glove with no protection for the thumb. Pads were a ramshackle of protruding leather strips and dangling buckles which often brought about a batsmen's down fall-the umpire mistaking noises produced for snicks.

Thigh pads were rarely considered and in any event were not used by less privileged schools. Helmets were not even worn by motorcyclists of that era in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and thus could have not have featured in a cricketing context.

It is in this milieu that great batsmen emerged from our schools whose exploits invariably paved the way for Sri Lanka to graduate into the big league among cricketing nations.

There are countless batsmen difficult to enumerate in a brief article such as this who would have surpassed the prowess of the present breed of national cricketers- protective gear and all.

Who could forget the batting mastery of such geniuses like Mahadeva Sathasivam,C.I.Gunasekera,F.C De Sarem, Michael Tissera,Anura Tennakoon,or Duleep Mendis of a later vintage. Wasn't the century scored by Mahes Rodrigo against the fearsome West Indian pair of Prior Jones and George Trim achieved with the protective gear we see today.

Who could forget the memorable last wicket partnership between Neil Chanmugam and P.I. Peris on an Oval green top against the likes of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith. The greatest all rounder of them all Sir Garry Sobers is on record saying that he never wore a thigh pad which he considered an encumbrance.

This against the likes of messrs Trueman Tyson, Statham. Those lucky enough to view past greats in action on Cable Television will appreciate my point. Austria's Jeff Thomson who once clocked 160 kmphs was seen carted around the field by Englishmen who only had their woolly caps instead of aluminium helmets for protection while it was clearly a boxing match facing up to the four pronged attack of the caribbean speed merchants with batsmen ducking and weaving but rarely flinching.

No head gear or even elbow guards in most instances. It was a game of skill that titillated the senses of the connoisseur and the batsmen with the right technique and temperament prevailed.

The fear element though was always lurking in the foreground what with no headgear to counter attacks with panache. There was no margin for error as found out by former Indian Captain Nari Contractor who was felled by a Charlie Griffith bouncer and more recently when Kiwi tailender Ewan Chatfield was struck on the head by England's Peter Lever.

Both batsmen survived by the skin of their teeth. Then it was a purely battle of wits between batsman and bowler with no advantage accrued to the former by way of extra protection. It was through sheer skill and technique that the runs came with even chance to both batsman and bowler.

Today however it is different. Devoid of the fear element even a tailender could take liberties and face the fastest bowler around without fear of being harmed thus giving the batsman an unfair advantage.

How India's tailender B.S. Chandrseker who has the dubious honour of scoring the most number of ducks in test cricket would wish he played in the current era where 'rabbits' donned as virtual astronauts look demon bowlers straight in the eye and score centuries to boot.