{"id":27637,"date":"2025-07-28T14:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/27637\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T14:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:11:11","slug":"the-spirit-of-cricket-is-a-myth-and-on-sunday-churlish-england-proved-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/27637\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Spirit of Cricket\u2019 is a myth. And on Sunday, churlish England proved it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), self-appointed custodians of the sport and its London-based lawmakers, probably thought they were being helpful when, 25 years ago, they introduced a preamble to the laws they oversee highlighting \u2018the Spirit of Cricket.\u2019<\/p>\n

It talks of respect being central to that spirit. Play hard and play fair. Accept the umpire\u2019s decision. Create a positive atmosphere by your own conduct and encourage others to do likewise. Show self-discipline and congratulate the opposition on their success.<\/p>\n

Cricket is unique in this regard. There is no Spirit of Football in the UK. No Spirit of Baseball or Basketball in the U.S. Cricket likes to consider itself somehow morally above other sports. The phrase \u201cit\u2019s just not cricket\u201d, used to denounce some piece of skullduggery, has been part of the English language since it was used in the 1851 book The Cricket Field by James Pycroft.<\/p>\n

Of course, the reality is rather different. Cricket has never been morally superior. That has been true ever since WG Grace, cricket\u2019s first famous figure in the 1800s, was said to have replaced the bails on his stumps after being bowled, observing \u201cIt\u2019s a bit windy today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cricket has a rich history of controversy, which is added to on a yearly basis \u2014 whether in the English moral outrage at Australia\u2019s Alex Carey running out Jonny Bairstow in the Ashes at Lord\u2019s in 2023, or Sri Lanka\u2019s Angelo Mathews being \u2018timed out\u2019 for not arriving quickly enough to begin his innings against Bangladesh later that same year.<\/p>\n

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Jonny Bairstow\u2019s dismissal against Australia at Lord\u2019s in 2023 sparked a huge row (Ryan Pierse\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

India captain Shubman Gill was the latest to invoke the Spirit of Cricket before the fourth Test at Old Trafford when he accused England\u2019s openers of being 90 seconds late to begin their innings on the third evening in the previous Test at Lord\u2019s as they tried to run down the clock before the close of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not what I would think comes within the spirit of the game,\u201d said Gill, who had earlier in that third Test spent eight minutes on the outfield holding up play receiving an unauthorised massage for his sore back.<\/p>\n

But if the Spirit of Cricket was broken at Lord\u2019s then it was shattered at the end of India\u2019s remarkable rearguard at Old Trafford<\/a> on Sunday when England captain Ben Stokes reacted angrily to the refusal of Ravindra Jadeja to shake hands on a draw with 15 overs left and no chance of a win for either side.<\/p>\n

India wanted to continue until both Jadeja and Washington Sundar had reached centuries, cricket\u2019s all-important milestone. Stokes, for his part, felt that the result was everything and it was time to rest up given the fifth Test was beginning just four days later at The Oval.<\/p>\n

What followed was high farce, with Stokes turning to the joke bowling of Harry Brook to usher in both landmarks and call a halt to proceedings.<\/p>\n

There was some spiky sledging thrown India\u2019s way by England\u2019s frustrated players \u2014 Stokes was heard asking Jadeja whether he really wanted to get a hundred off \u201cHarry Brook or Ben Duckett (another non-bowler)\u201d \u2014 but the most barbed comments came afterwards, from Indian and Australian media commentators.<\/p>\n

It’s fair to say the England players were not impressed with Ravindra Jadeja’s century \ud83d\ude2c<\/p>\n

India refused to end the Test early, and only accepted the proposal once Jadeja and Washington Sundar reached their centuries. #BBCCricket<\/a> #ENGvIND<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Kd0IYhfxm0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Test Match Special (@bbctms) July 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar led the charge, telling TV channel JioHotstar: \u201cOkay, he\u2019s unhappy that the players haven\u2019t walked off, he\u2019ll have to manage his overs carefully with the main bowlers exhausted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut throwing lollipops in the air and showing a bit of grumpiness out there, that was Ben Stokes behaving like a spoiled kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian observers, who never to miss the chance to stick the boot into England, especially in an Ashes year, were beside themselves. Headlines such as \u201cSpare us the whinging, England. The only thing embarrassing was your tantrum\u201d, \u201cMoral hypocrites England decide tons are anti-cricket\u201d and \u201cSpirit of what? How pompous England exposed Bazball\u2019s great double standard\u201d summed up the mood, while veteran commentator Jim Maxwell called Brook \u201ccocky and arrogant\u201d and suggested he \u201cneeds counselling.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, did England act against this nebulous Spirit of Cricket? Are they too quick to try to take the moral high ground in the name of Bazball entertainment? Are they, as Australia believe, a little too pious in their pronouncements on what is good for the game?<\/p>\n

There is no question India were perfectly entitled to bat on, with 15 overs left of a long five-day contest, rather than call it a day when \u2014 in accordance with the laws \u2014 Stokes was allowed to suggest it.<\/p>\n

At that stage, at 5.20pm on Sunday, Jadeja was on 89 and Washington 80 and they had repelled everything England had thrown at them. They had earned the right for Washington, in particular, to try to reach his maiden Test hundred, a special landmark for any player.<\/p>\n

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Ravindra Jadeja reaches his century off the part-time bowling of Harry Brook (Stu Forster\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

If India really wanted to rub England\u2019s noses into the dirt and try to gain another advantage before the final Test they could have batted on for the remaining overs and put more work into the legs of shattered bowlers.<\/p>\n

While Stokes was equally entitled to turn to part-time bowling once it became clear no positive result could be reached, he and his side were churlish in their reaction and did their best to spoil the moment for Washington and India, both with their comments and Brook\u2019s joke bowling.<\/p>\n

At the centre of this latest flare-up is something of a culture clash. Indian cricket has traditionally cherished individual achievements more than any other nation while the whole Stokes-Brendon McCullum philosophy is based on putting the team first and being selfless.<\/p>\n

I genuinely believe Stokes would have walked off had the situation been reversed, as he intimated on Sunday when he said: \u201cThere would have been no less satisfaction walking off with 80 not out than 100 not out.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was context to England\u2019s reaction. They have bowled 894.2 overs in this series so far \u2013 more than in the first four Tests of any series since 1951 \u2013 and were out on their feet after enduring another unsatisfactory pitch which was more sub-continental than English in its character.<\/p>\n

They were exhausted and tetchy and the captain, who has now added a shoulder problem to his array of injuries, had given everything he possibly could.<\/p>\n

Stokes and England did shake hands with Jadeja, Washington and all the India players and management when play finally did finish and the whole affair has only served to add another layer of interest and intrigue to one of the great Test series.<\/p>\n

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Stokes shakes Jadeja\u2019s hand at the end of the Test (Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Yes, England could have reacted better. There was a similar situation at the end of the 1984 Test between West Indies and Australia when Allan Border was on 98 not out towards the end and a draw could have been declared.<\/p>\n

Viv Richards, Border\u2019s opposite captaincy number, was purported to have said, \u201cAB, get your hundred and let\u2019s get out of here.\u201d Which is exactly what happened.<\/p>\n

That would have been the way to end the fourth Old Trafford Test. As it is we just had another example of why there really is no Spirit of Cricket. Whatever the MCC say.<\/p>\n

Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read more cricket stories on\u00a0The Athletic, and follow Global Sports on The Athletic app via the Discover tab.<\/p>\n

(Top photo: Clive Mason\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n