The “Spirit of Cricket” is sleeping restlessly once again, tormented by an insufferable lot.
In what is becoming a sorry habit, the nation that claims to have saved Test cricket is at odds once again with the very tenets that make this such a fascinating and revered sport.
England bang on about the The Laws of the Game, as written by the MCC at Lord’s.
But when opposition teams follow those laws to the disadvantage of England? Time to awaken the “Spirit” again. Give it a prod. Shake some sense into them. Play fair, old boy!
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The furore that unfolded in the final hour at Old Trafford on Sunday has again cast the spotlight on an English team that frequently lays claim to cricket’s higher moral ground.
As evidenced in the petulance shown by Harry Brook and some teammates, when things are not going England’s way, this team is more than capable of getting as down and dirty as their rivals.
The decision by Indian batters Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to continue batting at Manchester when within reach of significant milestones has England’s “Spirit” spinning.
The quickest of recaps about another saga involving an English team trying to define what it stands for, one that wants to be known for its “humility” yet considers itself “too nice” as well.
When it became clear England could not secure a triumph that would have clinched what has been a gruelling series on the final day in Manchester, captain Ben Stokes offered the Indians a chance to shake hands, call stumps and head for an early shower, as is his right.
But Jadeja, who was not out on 89, and Sundar, resilient on 80, had batted brilliantly and bravely to keep India’s hopes alive and were happy to forge on for longer. As per the laws of the game, that was their right. Both captains have to reach a mutual decision to walk off.
To their credit, both Sundar and Jadeja reached their centuries in what proved a triumph in particular for Sundar given it was his maiden ton after a couple of near misses in his 12 Test career to date.
While the Manchester pitch proved lifeless in a series where the Dukes ball is giving little after the first 30 overs, this was still an immense batting performance by India.
The trio of centurions led by skipper Shubman Gill, who is having a series for the ages, demonstrated fortitude and conviction to keep the series alive heading to The Oval.
Imagine what it will do for Sundar’s conviction the next time he reaches the nervous 90s? That is reward enough.
As Gill said later, this draw felt like a win for India given what was at stake. To witness the manner with which some English cricketers behaved in the final hour suggests that they, too, understood the opportunity lost after failing to put the series to bed.
But a week after Brook revealed that coach Brendon McCullum, the architect of “Bazball”, had told England they were being “too nice”, and just three months after the side had resolved to be more humble, sportsmanship was tossed out the window in the final hour.
Brook was at the forefront of what is considered by pundits a shameful bid to cheapen a significant moment in Sundar’s career in the latter stages of a gripping Test match.
As reported by Cricket et Al, the star batter whinged to the Indian all-rounder when he was on 95 from 200 balls; “F***ing hell, Washy. Get on with it.”
The subtle art of sledging to disrupt the concentration of a cricketer has been much discussed, so too where the line sits on what is and is not considered acceptable.
But this was defeatist nonsense. So, too, the suggestion by the English skipper that reaching 100 against the bowling of Brook late in the match somehow lessened the deeds of the pair.
“You want to get a Test hundred against Harry Brook? If you wanted to score a century, you should have batted like you wanted to get it,” Stokes said to Jadeja.
What rot. This English attack featuring Stokes, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes, who secured two wickets in the first over of India’s second innings, had 143 overs to bowl their rivals out. Brook bowled three of those overs.
This “Bazball” team claims not to play for individual milestones.
That may be true when it comes to Stokes, who earned Man of the Match honours for his deeds with bat and ball in a match where he, ahem, passed milestones and joined other greats of the game. His emotion after breaking a century drought tends to suggest otherwise.
“You could tell by the way that Ben Stokes has reacted that if they were in the same seat, they probably would have shook the Indian captain’s hand if it was offered,” ex-England cricket Jonathan Trott said
“That’s what Test cricket’s about. It’s played hard. It’s played fair. But there’s also a code and a sort of ethos that the game is played with equal respect for each other.”
The code and ethos? That’s England’s ownership of the “Spirit”. Where was the equal respect for Sundar and Jadeja?
It is indisputable that milestones matter in cricket. Why else do honour boards exist?
In the recent World Test Championship Final at Lord’s, which frames itself as the Home of Cricket, Kagiso Rabada, Pat Cummins and Aiden Markram were proud to add their names to the honour boards in the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) rooms. As they should be.
Cricket treasures its traditions and its statistics. Don Bradman’s 99.94 average is universally known by cricket fans. So, too, Muttiah Muralidaran’s 800 Test match wickets. Sachin Tendulkar’s 51 Test tons and 15,921 runs has been in the news this week.
A maiden Test century is an immense feat. Every Test century is special. The only reason it will be remembered Brook was bowling is that England made it about themselves. Again.
Gautam Gambhir, the Indian coach, can be combative when defending his team, as anyone journalist who covered the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia last summer will be aware.
But his point after the draw in a series that has turned testy was sound.
“If someone is batting on 90 and the other is batting on 85, don’t they deserve a hundred?” he asked.
“Would they have walked off? If someone from England would have been batting on 90 or 85 and had the opportunity to score their first Test hundred, wouldn’t you allow them to do it?
“It’s up to them. If they want to play that way, it’s up to them. I think both of those guys deserved a hundred, and they got it.”
In this same Test match Joe Root’s feat to pass Ricky Ponting and move to second on the all-time Test runs list was feted, so too Stokes’ brilliant batting and bowling performance after he scored a century and took a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
The question could be asked of England as to why it decided to bat on and on and on in the first innings to reach 669, its fifth-highest ever Test total? Tactics would be the answer.
By batting on so long, England felt it had put itself in a position to win the Test and series while also breaking the spirit of its rivals. They fell short, but they gave it an almighty crack.
Why then should India, realising its rivals were as exhausted as they were irritable as Day 5 progressed, not be able to press on to stretch the English bowlers further?
It is a tactic India used to great effect against Australia in 2021 when, after holding the fort bravely against the odds at the SCG, they scored a famous final day win at the Gabba against a tiring Aussie attack to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
With the final Test of the current series starting on Thursday, and with Stokes clearly struggling for full fitness despite his bravery on Sunday, there was merit in its method.
India, as former England captains Alastair Cook and Nasser Hussein told the BBC after stumps, got it right.
“It was the right decision for them to carry on from the momentum they will gain from it,” Cook said.
“When you are out in the field, and you have been out there for 140 overs, you get frustrated, so there is a little bit of frustration from England. But I understand why India (did) it.
“Five years down the line, you look at the scorecard and you see two brilliant hundreds to save the game, plus Gill as well. It will be forgotten about, Brooks 37mph (59kmh) ball.”
There has been much talk throughout this series about England maturing as a Test team, with the adjustments it has made to its “Bazball” approach considered a step forward.
As Steve Smith, who is painfully aware of the ignominy that comes with breaching the Laws of the Game and crossing the “Spirit”, noted, England look to be playing to win, not just to entertain.
Fine. Good on them for that. It would explain their crankiness at the end. Cricket is a competitive and, at times, combative game, as the current series has proven again.
Should they bring the same feistiness and batting form to the Ashes, it shapes as a spicy series as well. A compelling series with the Urn on the line would be a gift to cricket.
But claiming the moral high ground after a contentious moment every time? Spare the cricket world.
