Cowdrey's Code Of Conduct Would Put The Game Back On Its Pedestal

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday January 10, 2008

As the powers-that-be struggle to rescue cricket from the morass into which it has sunk, they should take another look at a proposed solution that has lain in their files disregarded for almost a decade.

That solution was put forward by the former England captain and president of the MCC and the International Cricket Council, Colin Cowdrey, in 1999.

Sensing that standards of behaviour were in danger of slipping in the direction that they have now gone, he put together a group of players and administrators to try to stop the rot. Their solution was a code of conduct that players should voluntarily pledge to adhere to.

They introduced it as a preamble to the laws of the game in 2000 and called it "The spirit of cricket".

The code opens by noting that "cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its laws but also within the spirit of the game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play rests with the captains."

After stating that the umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play, it goes on: "The spirit of the game involves RESPECT [Cowdrey's capitals] for your opponents, your own captain and team, the role of the umpires and the game's traditional values.

"It is against the spirit of the game to dispute an umpire's decision by word, action or gesture, or to direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire.

"It is against the spirit of the game to indulge in cheating or any sharp practice, for instance: to appeal knowing that the batsman is not out; to advance towards an umpire in an aggressive manner when appealing; or to seek to distract an opponent either verbally or by harassment ...

"Captains and umpires together set the tone for the conduct of a cricket match. Every player is expected to make an important contribution to this."

Had this code been followed, sledging would have been finished. Nor would we have had to put up with such antics as Harbhajan Singh's ridiculous cartwheels of joy on dismissing Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds's failure to walk despite being fully aware that he had been caught, and the Australian team's orgy of self-congratulation at the end of the match while India's captain, Anil Kumble, was allowed to leave the field without a hint of congratulations or sympathy from his opponents.

It's not hard to imagine Cowdrey, who died in 2000, looking down on this sorry spectacle, shaking his head and thinking that whatever game they were playing in Sydney last weekend, it certainly wasn't cricket.

Les Anderson Wahroonga

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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