Alex Carey stumps Jonny Bairstow at Lord's last summer during Ashes 2023. Photo: Ryan Pearce/Getty Images
Mastery of the game has always been a part of professional and, indeed, amateur cricket, despite public relations experts claiming otherwise. This can take many forms: field teams slowing down in the hope that time will run out and deny their opponents a victory; Batsmen disrupt a successful or penetrating bowling attack by sending for new bats, gloves or pads, or requiring prolonged attention from a physiotherapist, or simply engaging in endless conversations at mid-wicket. And there are attempts to intimidate judges by appealing to hopeless pounds; or fielders calling a catch when they know full well that the bat was not near the ball or that the ball touched the ground. International gaming technology has eliminated some of these horrors, but others remain.
The T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies looks set to take the fine practice of the game to a whole new level, in violation of what the MCC, as guardian of the laws, calls the “spirit of cricket”. Australia are considering resting some of their best players ahead of their game against Scotland on Saturday, assuming they win Wednesday’s game against Namibia to qualify for the next stage of the tournament. If they do, Scotland will have an easier time getting through to the next stage than England, whose run rate they vastly outperform. England, already demoralised after last weekend’s defeat to Australia, will effectively be at the mercy of their two rivals and will be unable to do anything about it – other than engage in such a hard fight against their remaining opponents (while beating them, naturally) that they give themselves a chance to improve their low run rate considerably.
Australia would rather face Scotland later than England, who have a chance, albeit slim, of beating them in the play-offs. The Aussie camp may dismiss any claims of skill and claim that if they field a weakened team, they will simply rest the players to ensure they are fresh and injury-free for the second half of the tournament. Additionally, since (under the seeding system) the run rate in the first stage has no bearing on where teams end up in the second, Mitchell Marsh's Australia don't need to beat Scotland by much, if at all. And if Scotland take on a weakened Australian team and maintain a reasonable pace, it may well be impossible for England to advance any further.
T20 is not really about cricket, it is about money, both for those who promote it and for those who play it. Since a cricketer's playing life is short, no one would envy teams that do everything they can to win as often as possible and as much money as possible. However, this is as far from the true spirit of cricket as you can imagine. In a sport without matchmaking, Australia would field their best team, beat Scotland as soundly as possible, but allow England to take a chance and improve their own run rate. But that's not how things work these days, and certainly not in the forest of money trees that is T20.
There is still a bad taste in the mouths of many England fans after Jonny Bairstow was dismissed by Alex Carey, the Australian wicketkeeper, in the 'Test of God' last summer. The ball went past Bairstow, was caught by Carey and the batsman thought he was dead. Carey had stumped him nonetheless and was given out, which was within the law but not the spirit of it. It would seem that this is a chance to atone for that unsporting behaviour, but it remains to be seen whether the Australians will take it.
In 1948 Bradman's Invincibles played Essex in a three-day touring match (those were the days) and famously bowled 721 overs on the weekend and 129 overs (at a rate of over 21 per hour), with Don Bradman bowling 187 and three more centurions. Keith Miller came in and threw his wicket in exchange for a duck to Trevor Bailey. Bradman was furious; and when Miller objected that it was an extremely unequal contest, Bradman told him that Australia always played to win and did not give any favors. They won at Southend by an innings and 451 runs, which proved his point. What would Bradman say if Scotland had gone easy? We have to imagine that he would have been appalled, not least because he would have had no concerns about beating England.
The breach of the spirit of cricket that can be caused by fielding a weakened team to target manipulating the entire competition. will amuse traditionalists. For many of us, T20 is not cricket at all, but increasingly meaningless nonsense, and so the “spirit” is a controversial element in it. What may happen in the West Indies seems to confirm this.
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