“It is the spirit of cricket – of the game itself – that glorifies everything connected to it” – KS
Ranjitsinhji, “The Jubilee Book of Cricket” (1897).
In the 125 years since the Indian Prince and England Test cricketer wrote these words, much has
changed in the world and in the game of cricket. The spirit of cricket is the invisible and undefinable
conscience which hovers over every match at every level of the game. Although we cannot fully
describe it, we recognise it the moment it shows itself: the batter who walks when given not out, the
fielder who signals “four” when her arm, unbeknown to all but herself, touches the boundary rope,
the guard of honour for the great of the game as he enters the field of play for the final time.
None of these actions are required by any laws of the game. There is no reward for doing them.
There is no punishment for failing to do them. Yet we somehow instinctively recognise that our
glorious game would be diminished without such gestures.
Equally, we think we can recognise the opposite of the “spirit of cricket” the moment we see it –
play and conduct which goes against the “spirit of the game”. However, there is always going to be
great cultural variation in defining what this is.
On 24th September 2022, there was the opportunity to see both sides of the “spirit of cricket”.
England played India in a Women’s One Day International match at Lord’s. As retiring Indian cricket
legend Jhulan Goswami came into bat, England’s players formed a guard of honour, making sure that
the non-striker, Deepti Sharma, was included in this gesture. That elusive and intangible spirit of
cricket was there for all to see. And yet, only three hours later, with England’s final pair of batters
stubbornly accumulating runs, Deepti Sharma had no hesitation, in a pre-meditated act, to pull out
of bowling the ball in her delivery stride in order to run out England’s Charlie Dean at the non-
striker’s end, thus preventing an unlikely comeback victory for England.
So what does this tell us about the “spirit of cricket”? Firstly it tells us that the laws of the game are
supreme. Law-makers cannot run a global game on ethereal concepts and unwritten conventions.
Laws need to be clear and understood by all participants. Charlie Dean was definitely out.
And yet, the feeling that day at Lord’s was one of sadness that Goswami’s final match was somehow
tainted by its controversial ending, that the spirit of cricket so evident earlier in the day was lost in
the desire to win. Many have rightly pointed out that a batter leaving her crease a second too soon
also goes against the “spirit of cricket”. This game served as a reminder that all participants at all
levels must learn how to live by both the spirit and the laws of the game, even when the outcome of
the match is at stake.
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