Old values don’t hold true!

Sharm de Alwis

Yuraj Singh got a thick edge on to his pad in the second of the five game series but the umpire ruled him LBW. Yuraj was visibly astonished but our captain would have none of it.

He did not confer with the umpire, recall the batsman and ask for a decision from the 3rd umpire.

Why? I asked Elmo Rodrigopulle who told me that I live in Utopia and that the game has been so commercialised that old values don’t hold true.

I realise that cricket has fallen from grace. Although W.G.Grace, himself, adopted one-upmanship ploys, the game did come clean over the years when gentlemen wore flannels.

Percy Maralanda recalled a batsman wrongly given out. Jeremy Mutumani walked in the Big Match against St. Anthony’s when given not out. Hashan Welegedera got his captain de Silva to recall a batsman as the ball was not in his gloves when he stumped.

Dhoni, the Indian captain, walked when the umpire hesitated on his decision even though his side was precariously placed at 121 for 6 with 36 to get in 7 crunch overs. Dhoni brought the balance of poetic justice to full measure. Richard Dwight who has schooled beyond book learning and lucre has made an eloquent tribute to Dhoni’s stance.

If I may, as a person who spent thirteen fruitful years in the two largest Ad Agencies in the country, labour the point made by Elmo Rodrigopulle we now have a personality shifting allegiance from one product to a rival product because of a bigger pay cheque. David Beckham shaved his head when he was the paid model for Brylcream. Would Denis Compton have ever thought of such improper conduct.