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Yellow, yellow dirty fellow

Run-ins between players are common

It is no longer a gentlemen’s game, it is war.

That was the advertisement to sell the IPL matches where one bowler made Rs. 1 lakh for every ball he bowled. And when it is war, obviously there are no rules. Right? Or how else do you explain the brawl involving Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth or Sourav Ganguly’s antics forcing the on-field umpire to refer a decision to the third umpire, or England captain Paul Collingwood’s insistence on a runout even when the batsman was knocked down? It appears like an episode from Ramayana when you hear about Gundappa Viswanath’s decision to recall Bob Taylor back to the crease in the Golden Jubilee Test in Bombay or Courtney Walsh’s decision not to runout Pakistan’s Salim Jaffer in the World Cup.

Trying to clean up the game a little, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is set to discuss a penalty system next month after a trial at three schools. If the trial works out cricketers like Harbhajan Singh or Sourav or Collingwood can be issued a football-style yellow cards by umpires. One as a warning and the second automatically leading to a one-match suspension, ECB’s Giles Clarke has been quoted as saying. The idea of penalties was first floated seven years ago by Cricket Australia but it didn’t workout. But the pace at which cricketers are cussing, sledging and getting physical is forcing the MCC’s hand.

Recently, cricket’s bible Wisden warned it won’t be long: "when a high-profile, televised cricket match will see an outbreak of physical violence on the field".

"Preventing physical violence on the pitch - as more and more matches are played for more and more money - will require vision and leadership," wrote Wisden calling for action. The stakes are rising by the day. When Greg Chappel forced his brother Trevor to bowl underarm to New Zealand’s Brian McKenzie what was at stake was just $ 35,000. Now we have to add a few more zeroes.

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