Chakravarty A: Fletcher's suggestions for better cricket (25Feb94)

From "The Daily Noose", 25 Feb 94

By Anand Chakravarty

In an all too late attempt to stem the rot afflicting the England
cricket    team,  manager  Keith  Fletcher  today  called  for  a
rewriting of the laws of  the  game.  Concerned  about  the  fast
declining  standards  of  fairness  in competition, Fletcher felt
that the laws as they stand are strongly ranged against   certain
teams,  considering the practicalities and conditions under which
test match cricket is played today.

The   main   thrust   of   Fletcher's   new   program,     called
Operation  Teacup  Storm,  is to make bowling overarm illegal and
bring in underarm bowling in all it's past glory. Urgency in this
matter  is necessitated by the ongoing England-West Indies series
in which West Indian cricket authorities have, in defiance of all
international etiquette and sport ethics, wilfully cut the height
of their sight-screen, thereby gaining an  unfair  advantage  and
handicapping  the  English batsmen to such an extent as to affect
the result of the match in WI's favour.

Sightscreen problems, Fletcher pointed out, were not  just  local
to WI, but also prevalent in Australia and New Zealand. The light
coloured ball used in some matches there have been  totally  lost
many   times  by  the  English batsmen, owing to the largely non-
Afro-Caribbean nature  of  their   crowds.    "This  phenomenon",
Fletcher  said,  "has  been  going on for a while and hits at the
roots of the spirit of the game. Cricket was meant to be, when it
was  introduced  to  all these places in the world, an ambassador
for better international ties."

Fletcher  said  that  legalising  underarm  bowling   and nipping
the  evil  of overarm bowling in the bud was but one of his plans
which he would put to the TCCB  and  ICC.  He  opined that having
host   countries  ensure  proper  shaving facilities  to visiting
team  captains  would  go  a  long  way  towards   removing   any
advantages   home   teams   would  have.  Also, Fletcher went on,
test matches should be held only in places  which  are  not  home
to Chinese   restaurants   and shops  selling  vaseline.  "I have
just suggested a new mode of thought",   Fletcher  said.   "Other
right-minded  officials should  build on this and remove the last
irritants towards a bias-free cricket where  only the better team
wins."

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