Poor Vinoo revisited

I (i.e. kinkminos, not Iron Chappel) do believe that the next time Jos Buttler plays for England against Sri Lanka he will warn Kumar Sangakkara at least twice for bounding down the pitch to a spinner who beats him in flight, and will only stump him on the third such occasion.

I also believe that if, in the unlikely event that Buttler gets carried away and whips off the bails and appeals for Sanga’s wicket on the 1st or 2nd instance, Alastair Cook will rescind the appeal and admonish Buttler for his unsportsmanlike behaviour in no uncertain terms, before begging said batsman’s pardon with a bow worthy of a courtier in Akbar-e-Azam’s darbar.

In fact I am certain that all England wicketkeepers playing under Captain Cook in any form of international cricket will adopt such a practice against any batsman of any opposition team!

Having said that, if Cook is to remain true to his pouty stance on Sena’s run out of Buttler then he will NEVER EVER EVER allow any of his ’keepers to stump a batsman. EVER! (Even if Australia beat England in every single test match for the next 97 years.)


The article reproduced below appeared a day after the 1947 “Mankad” incident in the Sydney Morning Herald. It was written by one John “Ginty” Lush, a one-time captain of the NSW cricket team. 

(btw, NSW is the province where Donald Bradman was born, and the first 6 years of the Don’s first class career were spent playing for the NSW team.)

Excerpts from Lush's piece:

Although a run out in this fashion is permissible, it is not regarded as a sportsmanlike thing under ordinary circumstances.

Mankad can scarcely be called a bad sport for trapping Brown.

The first time he had Brown at his mercy he beckoned the batsman back  with a crooked finger... This was hailed as one of the most sporting acts ever seen at the SCG.

In conclusion (*yawn*), if you, like many cricket fans, think that Ian Chappel and random Lushes may not be the best people to comment on matters relating to sportsmanship, then you might want to hear what Bradman (whose sportsmanship, I believe, has never been in question, and who was captain of that 1947 Australian team) had to say on the matter. In his autobiography Farewell to Cricket he writes that following the running out of Brown:
 

...in some quarters Mankad’s sportsmanship was questioned.

For the life of me I cannot understand why. The laws of cricket make it quite clear that the non-striker must keep within his ground until the ball has been delivered. If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out?

By backing up too far or too early the non-striker is very obviously gaining an unfair advantage. On numerous occasions he may avoid being run out at the opposite end by gaining this false start.... [Mankad] was scrupulously fair that he first of all warned Brown before taking any action. There was absolutely no feeling in the matter as far as we were concerned, for we considered it quite a legitimate part of the game.

I always make it a practice when occupying the position of a non-striker to keep my bat behind the crease until I see the ball in the air. In that way one cannot possibly be run out, and I commend this practice to other players.”