Five gentlemen cricketers in recent times
Cricket, for long, has been considered as the gentleman’s game.
Since the 19th century, when it gained popularity around the world, the game of cricket also fostered three key elements around which most modern-day management terms have arisen – teamwork, spirit of the game, and sportsmanship. They would be used to inspire players and teams to achieve much glory.
Now, they are just words that roll off the quicksilver tongues of spin doctors, corporate bigwigs and the like. Today, greed has taken an iron grip on the game, and the values that those terms encompassed seem doomed to oblivion. Cricketers around the globe have become that much more argumentative and expressive on the field.
The infamous Bodyline series of 1932-33 nearly jeopardized relations between England and Australia, with Bill Woodfull admonishing Plum Warner about the lack of sportsman like behavior from Douglas Jardine’s side. Even the late Tony Greig, England’s former captain, would state on-air that one would be considered a cheat if he didn’t walk during county matches.
However, over the past decade, there have been a few who still clung on to the old-school of thought – play with honesty, agree to the umpire’s verdict as final and absolute, and when absolutely certain that you are out despite the officiating authority’s decision, walk.
These players earned world-wide praise as much as for their conduct off the field as for their immense talent on it. Fierce competitors during a game, they knew how to carry themselves once the match was over. Not for them the extravagant, showman tactics on camera; just a quiet, professional and dignified bearing in public, reminding one of Atticus Finch, a central character in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Here is a brief look at five such cricketers who are rightfully considered true gentlemen in the context of the game:
5. Brett Lee (Australia)
On the field, he resembled the fiery Cretan bull of Greek mythology, a lethal pacer with the ability to send down powerful thunderbolts at high speeds. But Brett Lee was not much of a controversial figure like teammate Shane Warne or former player and mentor Dennis Lillee.
He is happy performing for his band Six and Out when not playing, and did not try to intimidate umpires or opposition batsmen during the infamous Sydney Test against India in 2008; the image of Andrew Flintoff consoling him after England’s narrow win at Edgbaston in the 2005 Ashes. He has never chosen to indulge in publicity stunts or hog the limelight, and it is this quality that has endeared him to cricket lovers all around the world, especially in India.
Brett Lee