The squash ball and World Cup Cricket

WORLD CUP: Cricket is rated as a gentleman's game and rules and regulations have been laid down with field umpires, third umpires, game referees and the International Cricket Council as a controlling body to ensure fairplay in this so called gentleman's game.

Apart from the exact wording of the written laws and regulations in interpretation of these and precedents, important principles are established. Among these the most important covering the conduct of players are the banning of drugs which enhance performance and the use of any equipment by players which could enhance their performance.

Citing the exact wording of the laws and regulations is not important here as there is ample evidence of the spirit and intension of such rules to convince any impartial person that the use of a squash ball hidden inside his lower hand glove by Adam Gilchrist knowing that such action would enhance his performance and advised and recommended by his coach amounts to cheating and a flagrant violation of accepted and established principles of the game and as such, the Australian World Cup win is questionable and under a cloud.

In this particular case, we have evidence to prove that the use of the squash ball secretly hidden inside the lower hand glove, that is the hand that gives the power to a strike was with the knowledge and with the intention that this would enhance performance.

The fact that the coach recommended the use of the squash ball to improve the players grip on the bat and thereby naturally adding power to a strike and enhancing the players performance and the admitted fact that the coach was so sure of such result that he required Adam Gilchrist to raise his hand and indicate to him that he used the innovation successfully when he reached his hundred, is damning evidence of the secret use of an extraneous gadget knowing that it would enhance performance and as such is as bad as using a drug to enhance performance.

A bowler is debarred from having even a small strip of plaster covering a wound on his bowling hand as this could improve his grip and enhance bowling performance, and if not removed by the bowler, the umpire personally removes it. If a small plaster by the bowler is so serious, what about the use of a more effective enhancer by the batsman?

The dishonesty of this action is evidenced by the fact that the secret was kept until he achieved the expected target by the secret use of this enhancer. If action is not taken in this glaring and provable case of the use of a gadget to enhance batting ability and thereby getting record runs and victories, all batsmen in the future should also be allowed the use of gadgets such as squash balls in their glows or other equipment not specifically banned to enhance their striking power.

International cricket by our national team concerns all Sri Lankans and interests cricket lovers worldwide. The ICC and other 'expects' were quick to question the bowling actions of our 'Murali' and some even refused to accept results of scientific evidence clearing him.

In this instance, we have a clear cut case with evidence of the use of a power and performance enhancing unauthorised gadget by a player knowing that such use would enhance his performance and a coach who apparently had tested the system in his cricketing days and encouraged Adam Gilchrist to commit this offence.

Dhanapala Weerasekera