There Are Two Teams Out There, One Of Them Is Trying To Play Cricket

[archie mac]

Moments in cricket history which have disappointed/upset you, and which you think the game of cricket would have been better off without

Here are three to start us off

1. GSC telling his little brother to bowl the last ball of a ODI at the MCG underarm. I can still see Rod Marsh shaking his head saying 'No mate, don't do it"

2. DK. Lillee kicking Javed Miandad and Javed responding with a raised bat

3. One of my all time favourite bowlers Curtly Ambrose deliberatly over stepping the crease and bowling bouncers at the Aussie batsman on a Perth green-top. He bowled nine No-balls in one over!

[FRAZ]

Hair officiating in the matches involving certain teams PERIOD
And that clown fan who was teasing the playing team's player fielding at the boundry and the player lost it and rightly kicked the hell outta that spectator ... Even Mr Gavaskar said that it was a shameless act by the spectator .. Premature evacuation of spectators from the stadium is always a bad scene and cricket is very well without such incidents ...

[FRAZ]

otherwise team vs team incidents ...
Hmmm Javed almost hitting Lillee due to Lille's attitude and Shoaib Akhtar openly sledging and cursing and abusing a couple of Indian batsmen for no apparant reason i.e. Sharjah 2001 (I think)

[Burgey]

1. Underarm.
2. Ranatunga's actions in the Adelaide one-dayer v England when Emerson no-balled Murali.
3. Gavaskar's walk-off at the MCG.
4. Pakistan's no-show 2 weeks ago.
5. Lillee and Miandad.
6. The pitch invasion that saw Alderman's collar-bone broken, Perth 82-83.
7. The crowd's treatment of Sth African players in Australia last year.
8. Crowds' treatment of Murali - whether you think he chucks or not, he's cleared to play and you are entitled to respect what he's done.
9. Bodyline.
10. The ugly incident between Healy and Haynes, West Indies 1991.
11. Warne's send off of Hudson, South Africa 1993-94.
12. Match-fixing, including the demise of Hansie Cronje.
13. The fusarium pitch, England 1972 - plainly a doctored wicket.
14. 1882 - Grace running out tail-ender Sammy Jones as he stepped out of his crease to do a spot of `gardening,' harmlessly prodding the pitch. It was a typically sharp act by the pioneer of gamesmanship but particularly incensed Spofforth as he had sportingly declined an opportunity to do the same to England captain A. N. `Monkey' Hornby the day before. Grace's actions fired up Spofforth who famously said "This thing can be done" and proceeded to bowl England out as they chased 85 to win. Thus were born the Ashes, and the rest is, as they say, history.
15. Brett Lee bowling bouncers at Perth to retreating tail-enders, deliberately bowling away from the stumps and hitting Alex Tudor.
16. Shahid Afridi deliberately scuffing up the pitch v England, 2006.
17. The West Indies slow over rates in the 1980s and 1990s.
18. Players purportedly throwing the ball at the stumps when the batsman is standing in his crease, minding his own business, hitting the batsman then expecting the batsman to accept their apology as though there were a run out on when it is apparent that they were always wanting to hit the batsman.
19. Greg Chappell not walking when caught on the boundary at the MCG in the same match as the underarm ball.
20. Tony Greig's comment that he would make the west Indies "grovel" - 1976.

[Rajeev]

^^ Ditto as above
+

21) Warne/Waugh Bookie Connection

[Sanz]

Crowd trouble in kolkata in 1996 WC SF and again in 1999 Test match vs. Pak.

[bagapath]

kepler wessells deliberately hitting kapil dev in the shin with his bat while running - and getting away with it!!!!!!!

[nightprowler10]

Akhtar's beamer to Dhoni that followed no apology.

[FRAZ]

Originally Posted by nightprowler10

Akhtar's beamer to Dhoni that followed no apology.

Although Akhtar is the best fast bowler in the world and I have a little respect for him but that was not fair i.e. beemer thingi.. And I remember him swearing at Ganguly quite a few times .. I also remember him being quite slashy upon Dravid during the last champion's trophy I guess ........ ( which was the point when I felt like killing Akhtar because Dravid is one of the only few players whom I respect as being a true gentleman)...

[Langeveldt]

That forfeited NatWest game in 2001(?) when Alec Stewart was captain and the Pakistani fans injured that steward at Headingley

[Slow Love™]

In a one-dayer between Australia and the West Indies in '99 (at Bridgetown), after Sherwin Campbell was run-out, the rioting and crowd behaviour was so bad that Steve Waugh agreed to re-instate Campbell, following advice from the police that the safety of the Australian players couldn't be guaranteed.

That set an appalling precedent (way, way worse than what recently transpired between England and Pakistan), but thankfully, we haven't had anything similar happen since, to my knowledge.

After that, the worst thing I've seen happen in the field of play was in the infamous ODI down here between England and Sri Lanka when Ron Emerson called Murali. It's not entirely related to the incident, although it was certainly the genesis for the sour relations between the teams that day.

The game was heading for an explosive finish, and Gough was bowling, and I think it was Mahamama facing. The ball was dabbed down the middle of the pitch, and as Gough ran in to try and take it, Mahanama literally stood in front of the ball and edged in front of Gough, as if they were footballers preparing for a tackle. Gough moved left, and Mahanama inched across in the way - the same then happened in the opposite direction, before Mahamana charged up the wicket, while Gough stood over the ball, absolutely livid. He then went on to make it even worse by charging into Mahanama's shoulder in a following delivery at the non-striker's end.

Although I could empathise with his anger (as Mahanama's action is still one of the worst things I've ever see a batsman do), it was completely beyond the pale for Gough to react the way he did. I can't remember whether he got a stiff penalty or not, but he certainly deserved one.

Actually, that whole game is probably one of the ugliest I've ever seen. The two sides just despised each other, particularly the captains. Stewart's (well-earnt, IMO) lecture to Ranatunga from behind the stumps just added another layer of surreal to the proceedings.

[Top_Cat]

The game was heading for an explosive finish, and Gough was bowling, and I think it was Mahamama facing. The ball was dabbed down the middle of the pitch, and as Gough ran in to try and take it, Mahanama literally stood in front of the ball and edged in front of Gough, as if they were footballers preparing for a tackle. Gough moved left, and Mahanama inched across in the way - the same then happened in the opposite direction, before Mahamana charged up the wicket, while Gough stood over the ball, absolutely livid. He then went on to make it even worse by charging into Mahanama's shoulder in a following delivery at the non-striker's end.

Although I could empathise with his anger (as Mahanama's action is still one of the worst things I've ever see a batsman do), it was completely beyond the pale for Gough to react the way he did. I can't remember whether he got a stiff penalty or not, but he certainly deserved one.

Actually, that whole game is probably one of the ugliest I've ever seen. The two sides just despised each other, particularly the captains. Stewart's (well-earnt, IMO) lecture to Ranatunga from behind the stumps just added another layer of surreal to the proceedings.

I think you'll find a couple of slight errors in your recollections;

1) The shoulder-charge at Darren Gough was probably a little more blatant than you describe. Mahanama didn't just get in the way, he deliberately dropped the shoulder and pushed Gough out of the way. The slow-mo replays were really quite damning.

2) Gough's retaliation was to walk past Mahanama and pretend to head-butt him. He didn't touch him at all.

3) Alec Stewart, on the other hand, walked past Mahanama at the end of the over and essentially nudged him in the shoulder as he walked past. It 'looked' quite deliberate but, as someone who's obviously far more adept at doing this sort of thing and making it look at accident, there was a slight element of doubt with Stewart. It was pretty funny to watch Mahanama then protest at the umpire. After the earlier incident, if I was Stewart, I would have been tempted to lay him out personally.

But yeah that was one of the nastiest games I've seen. It overshadowed an awesome knock earlier in the day by Graeme Hick and an even better one chasing 300+ by Jayawardene. After that, notwithstanding Jayawardene's great innings, I thought that SL didn't deserve to win the match.

And as always, You Tube provides;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Msqs-iQt4

Watch and be appalled!

(now let's see one person try to defend Mahanama's actions which, in light of his pontificating about fair play and sportsmanship post-retirement, are somewhat indefensible)

[Slow Love™]

Originally Posted by Top_Cat

I think you'll find a couple of slight errors in your recollections;

1) The shoulder-charge at Darren Gough was probably a little more blatant than you describe. Mahanama didn't just get in the way, he deliberately dropped the shoulder and pushed Gough out of the way. The slow-mo replays were really quite damning.

2) Gough's retaliation was to walk past Mahanama and pretend to head-butt him. He didn't touch him at all.

3) Alec Stewart, on the other hand, walked past Mahanama at the end of the over and essentially nudged him in the shoulder as he walked past. It 'looked' quite deliberate but, as someone who's obviously far more adept at doing this sort of thing and making it look at accident, there was a slight element of doubt with Stewart. It was pretty funny to watch Mahanama then protest at the umpire. After the earlier incident, if I was Stewart, I would have been tempted to lay him out personally.

But yeah that was one of the nastiest games I've seen. It overshadowed an awesome knock earlier in the day by Graeme Hick and an even better one chasing 300+ by Jayawardene. After that, notwithstanding Jayawardene's great innings, I thought that SL didn't deserve to win the match.

And as always, You Tube provides;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Msqs-iQt4

Watch and be appalled!

(now let's see one person try to defend Mahanama's actions which, in light of his pontificating about fair play and sportsmanship post-retirement, are somewhat indefensible)

Haha, the memory does play tricks - I haven't seen the footage since the day of the match. Mahanama's shuffle from side to side is almost cartoonish in slow motion, though I'd forgotten the hard contact he makes right at the end as he veers in once again towards Gough. Hard to believe it's even more egregious than I recalled.

I could have sworn Gough did shoulder Mahanama before the threatened head-butt though... Oh, well. I must've mistaken him for Stewart.

A truly filthy game. Were you there? I remember Stewart's little interview after the match - he could barely speak, and his eyes and adam's apple seemed to be throbbing in sync.

[Slow Love™]

And after watching the youtube video, you feel like punching Bill Lawry as he screams "and a wonderful victory for Sri Lanka!!!".

[andyc]

Originally Posted by Slow Love™

And after watching the youtube video, you feel like punching Bill Lawry as he screams "and a wonderful victory for Sri Lanka!!!".

That's the only time you feel like punching him?