England vs. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 - the controversies
Ever since the initiation of international cricket between England and Pakistan, controversies have sprouted everywhere. Starting from the legendary cricketing time period of the mid 1950’s when Pakistan first took up the bat in international cricket till present day - controversial events have occurred on regular intervals for these two giant cricketing nations.
The most famous controversy between England and Pakistan is undoubtedly the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shakoor-Rana-c89573 feud - caricatured as ‘the evil umpire’ by the British press by former English captain Mike Gatting. Gatting’s outburst came after growing tensions on the pitch largely due to the controversial umpiring decisions by Rana favouring the Pakistani players in the 1987 Faisalabad test. Both umpire and captain swirled into a heated exchange of words in the middle of the pitch which led to the test being abandoned for a day. An unconditional apology by Gatting was later accepted by Rana and the match was restarted.
Allan Lamb went to court against Pakistan’s veteran fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz after Lamb accused him of ball tempering. The case was ruled out and the charges were dropped against Nawaz. Historians acclaim Nawaz to be the inventor of reverse swing. Years later, captain of the 1992 World Cup winning team Imran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 was also taken to court by English all-rounder Ian Botham in 1996. It was when Khan had publicly claimed that everyone in county cricket tampered with the ball.
Another famous encounter of the same capacity took place in August 2006 when fast bowler Umar Gul started to curve the delivery. And the sign of the bizarre phenomena of reverse swing was again in action. Minutes after the reverse swinging deliveries were being artistically bowled by Gul; Darrell Hair called over Billy Doctrove. After some discussion, the two umpires began to scrutinise the ball. Normally, this is done when the batsman complains that the ball has been knocked out of shape via a blow from the bat. Hence no complaints were launched from either sides but even then the umpires were on the radio to the pavilion telling Trevor Jesty, the fourth umpire to bring out a box of replacement balls. When Hair changed the ball, accusing the Pakistani bowlers of tampering with the ball at the Oval, the Pakistani team walked off and refused to complete the game.
The series of controversies continued on 13th August, 2010, when fast bowler Stuart Broad was fined by the match referee for throwing the ball at Pakistani wicket-keeper/batsman Zulqarnain Haider in the second test of the series. The issue has reheated, since the latest X-ray report confirmed that there is a hairline fracture on Haider’s little finger. But is Broad the only one to be blamed. Haider who top-scored at Edgbaston was certainly struck on the right hand by Broad’s medium powered throw from 15 yards. Despite that, Haider stood as the wicket-keeper for the entire English innings against the searing pace of Pakistani pace man.
This has added to the controversies that England and Pakistan have gone through. One should also throw some light on the fact that players sometimes do have clashes due to the heat of the moment. But it is the umpires of the ICC who have to maintain a certain standard and try to avoid substandard decision making.
Despite all these controversies, Pakistan and England will continue to play cricket with each other. As a result, it is important that the spirit of the game is not disturbed. Cricket is supposed to be a global game, which brings together people of different art and culture under one umbrella. It is only time which would be a better judge of all these controversies experienced by the two cricketing nations and how it has troubled the focus of international cricket players of the world. One can only hope that the game of cricket is played in good spirit and a certain level of mutual respect is shared amongst the players themselves.
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