Oh, go on, lets have a flame war. Pretty please? Pretty please with toasted marshmallows?
I don't personally have too big of an issue with the Mankading; whilst I am not convinced I would have allowed one of my bowlers to uphold the appeal and think that the so called spirit of the game was being stretched, it was nontheless within the laws of the game and Buttler had allegedly been warned so can have few real grumbles.
But Senanayake's action I have real issues with - you say it "looks" like a chuck - well, I've seen it slowed down to near freeze frame and I can assure you it IS a chuck, and as has been discussed at much length on here, chucking is the single biggest threat to the game outside of illegal sub-continental bookmakers and the corruption they bring. It would be heartening to have heard from some Sri Lankan fans to the effect that they feel the same way, or at least some evidence to contradict the allegation, but instead we hear SLCric's assertion that to even suggest that a Sri Lankan chucks is:
1. An insult to the good name of Sri Lanka and
2. Bitterness on the part of someone who can't acheive to the same standard (which is pretty odd because I'm sure most club cricketers have tried bowling with a Murali action in the nets for a laugh and found that, yes, they too can acheive insane revolutions on the ball if they don't worry about the niceties of the rules.
This is exactly the same attitude that was seen when Darryl Hair (quite correctly) no balled good old Muchi some years back, and is trotted out every time an Asian spinner is found to have a questionnable action. The insult to the good name of Sri Lanka is not the suggestion that individual bowlers are chuckers any more than it would be an insult to the good name of England to state that Mervyn Westfield was a match fixer - the insult is that the team and their fans appear to think that they should be permitted to carry on in such a way regardless!
I am surprised the MCC and ECB haven't taken the stumps, gone home and said no-one gets to play until it is done properly...
It is a questionable delivery - that is why he has been reported and sent for tests. However, like Murali, he will adjust his action when being tested. The ball will deviate less, but the arm will be straighter. Testing, as referred to before, is a blunt instrument.
How we can change the situation
1. If bowlers have nothing to hide, ban bowlers from being allowed to wear long sleeve shirts. Everyone knows why, on a blisteringly hot day, some bowlers wear them.
2. The use of technology over a 365-day period (At the expense of the relative cricket board) to analyse a bowlers action in match conditions (heat spots etc).
3. Fines for hiding behind the national or racial 'vail of safety'. In a world where racism is becoming more and more unacceptable (The UK being one of the first societies to make racism socially unacceptable), if we flip this on it's head, why are other countries allowed to 'disrespect' us, our MCC, our ECB, in the name of protecting someone suspected of cheating by the very laws of the game we uphold?
I suggest the ECB/ICC/MCC* (Delete as appropriate) gets tough with Sri Lanka in this case and makes it very obvious that any reference to race being an issue, will incur an large-scale international ban of 12 months. I know this might sound tough, but I am sick and tired of certain countries playing the race card to get away with whatever they see to be a threat.
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Topic: England v Sri Lanka series (Read 33402 times)