Drop Dr. Jeckyll

Previously, I discussed the root of cricket’s problems. What is to be done?

Have more triangular contests, even for tests. Rotate the strike, don’t let chauvinism settle into a rhythm by bowling at the same batsman.

Throw as much technology at it as possible – hawkeye, snicko, the works. The solutions many cricketers and commentators keep proposing betray the yearning for a receding nobility – bring in high quality home umpires, take the fielder’s word on catches! What people fear isn’t human error but human bias. There is no point in trying to “get it right” in the God’s eye sense. What breeds resentment is the gap between the decision and the replay induced perception. Remove it.

But above all, cricketers must be relieved of the duty of being cultural ambassadors and moral examples. Peg on them your nation’s pride, but not its honor. Let them be ill mannered jocks and discipline them like errant kids. Allow all chatter and remonstrations. In soccer, red cards and suspensions are commonplace, and while often contentious in a technical sense, are rarely taken as a national slight.

If one team is playing in the old “spirit of the game” it is one team too many. It just isn’t cricket any more, but in many ways, this liberation from upper class stuffiness is a good thing, a refreshing and democratic change.