8 most disgraceful acts in the history of Cricket

Cricket is called a Gentlemen's game.

Why do they actually call it so?

In the 17th century, when the English aristocrats started playing the sport, they agreed that it would be played in 'a gentlemanly manner', according to which a player should not sledge his opposition, cheat etc.

But sledging has become part and parcel of the game of late. Sometimes, the players have friendly banters but sometimes, they really try to get under the skin of the opposition. The ICC always keep a close eye on these things and have the tendency to punish if a player is found guilty of sledging or doping or cheating.

In spite of that, there have been several disgraceful incidents that have tarnished the image of the sport. Let us take a look at eight disgraceful acts that have taken place in the history of Cricket.

When Aluminium replaced a willow

During the Perth Test of the three-match Test series against England, Australian pacer Dennis Lillee, the overnight batsman at the end of day one, walked out to bat on day two with a bat made of Aluminium.

The bat was manufactured by the company of Lillee's good friend and business partner Graeme Monaghan and the former Aussie pacer used it in a match as a marketing stunt.

When Lillee drove the fourth ball of the second day for three runs, there was a disconcerting metallic noise that came when the ball hit the bat. Australian captain Greg Chappell thought that the shot should have gone for four and blamed the metal bat for the ball reaching the boundary. He sent the 12th man Rodney Hogg out to the ground with two conventional bats for Lillee to use and Hogg was asked to go back to the pavilion by Lillee.

While this was going on, England captain Mike Brearley complained to umpires Max O'Connell and Don Weser about the bat damaging the ball and the officials consulted and instructed Lillee to change it for which the latter refused.

The argument continued for almost ten minutes before Chappell walked out from the pavilion with a bat in his hand and marched towards Lillee, making it fairly clear that the game had to go on.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack said that "Lillee's 'unsavoury' behaviour partly overshadowed other individual performances more in keeping with the spirit of the game. The incident served only to blacken Lillee's reputation and damage the image of the game as well as, eventually, the Australian authorities because of their reluctance to take effective disciplinary action".

Sammy Jones-WG Grace

WG Grace

Whenever an Ashes series takes place, one can easily expect a lot of sledges and controversies. The rivalry between both the teams started way back and the players give more than 100% for the bragging rights.

Controversies were a part and parcel of the rivalry even in the 19th century as legendary England cricketer WG Grace and Aussie batsman Sammy Jones were involved in a bitter incident.

Jones hit a Grace delivery to the point fielder and took an easy single. He grounded his bat at the other end and then turned to pat down a bump in the pitch. The fielder, Lyttleton threw the ball to Grace and the latter removed the bails and appealed for a run-out for which the umpire Bob Thoms raised his finger.

This incident spurred the Aussies as they went on to win the Test by dismissing England for just 77.

Chappell brothers' underarm ploy

After the best-of-five finals between Australia and New Zealand for the 1981 Benson & Hedges World Series Cup was tied 1–1, New Zealand needed 15 runs to win in the last over and take a lead. Bruce Edgar was still batting on 102, an innings that has been called "the most overlooked century of all time".

Aussie skipper Greg Chappell gave the ball to his brother Trevor and he delivered by taking two wickets and conceding just eight runs off the first five balls. New Zealand needed six runs to tie the match from the final ball. Greg then went to Trevor and instructed him to bowl underarm in a bid to prevent New Zealand's number 10 Brian McKechnie from getting under the ball with enough elevation and power and hit a six to tie the game.

After defending the ball, McKechnie threw his bat in anger as the teams walked back to the pavilion. Back then, bowling underarm was within the laws of cricket but this incident was perceived as unsportsmanlike.

Cricket is indeed a battle between bat and ball

There are moments when Cricketers lose their cool on the field and get involved in verbal and physical altercations. But, there are a few occasions when the batsmen threw the bat at the bowler in anger. Here are a couple of them.

In a match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mitchell Starc fired in a bouncer at Kieron Pollard and the big Trinidadian failed to connect the bat to the ball. Starc whispered something at Pollard and the batsman asked the Aussie to walk back to his bowling mark and bowl the next delivery.

Following a verbal altercation, Pollard, for some reason, shied midway through Starc’s run-up and an annoyed Starc continued with his delivery stride and bowled the delivery angling at Pollard. The West Indian became furious at what happened and threw the bat at him.

There was one more similar incident in the past involving Marlon Samuels and Shane Warne during a BBL game between Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars. It all started when Samuels tried to tug the shirt of David Hussey and impede his run when Stars were batting.

When Samuels walked out to bat, Warne bowled three dot balls at the West Indian before verbally attacking him by saying, "C'mon Marlon. Do you want to grab some more people? F**k you, Marlon" in spite of being live on the microphone that was connected to the commentators.

Later, Warne appeared to softly toss a loose ball at Samuels's back when he was supposedly aiming for his wicketkeeper, prompting Samuels to angrily fling his bat towards Warne.

Bodyline bowling

What is a bodyline bowling? It is a tactic where the bowlers bowl at the body of the batsman in an attempt to get him injured and hoping that when he defends himself with his bat, there are chances that he could be caught by one of several fielders standing close by.

The tactic was devised by the visiting English bowlers during their 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia to keep Australia's Don Bradman at bay.

This was considered by critics to be intimidatory, physically threatening and disgraceful. However, as time passed by, the ICC changed Laws of Cricket and now, the bowlers are allowed to bowl two bouncers an over and not more than two fielders can be positioned behind square.

This is cricket, not kickboxing

When Australia and Pakistan met each other in 1981-82, Aussie pacer Dennis Lillee and Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad were involved in one of the ugliest on-field fights in the history of the Gentlemen's game.

Pakistan were staring down the barrel in the 1st Test at Perth when Javed Miandad came in to bat in the 2nd innings. The hometown boy Lillee was fired up and with the crowd behind him, he made sure that both Miandad and his partner Mansoor Akhtar played in a hostile atmosphere.

But the duo saw through that phase without losing their wickets.

While completing a single, Miandad collided with Lillee as the pacer was blocking the batsman’s way, something that was clearly evident in the video footage.

When the batsman was having a chat with the umpire about the incident, Lillee tried to kick Miandad and the Pakistani almost threw back the bat at Lillee. Umpires had to intervene and take control of the situation.

The only 'Suraj Randiv' moment in international cricket

During the third ODI between India and Sri Lanka in 2010 at the Rangiri Dambulla stadium in Dambulla, Sri Lanka were dismissed for just 170, thanks to Pragyan Ojha's 3/36 and a brace each from Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma.

Chasing a modest total, India lost the wickets of opener Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma early before Virender Sehwag took charge. The Nawab of Najafgarh stitched two crucial partnerships worth 50 and 80 with Suresh Raina and skipper MS Dhoni respectively.

With just one run needed to win and Sehwag batting on 99, he danced down the track and slammed a Suraj Randiv delivery over long-off for a six. Sehwag celebrated what would have been his 13th ODI century, only to be told later the six didn't count because Randiv overstepped and India won the match with that extra run.

After the match, a furious Sehwag said Randiv had bowled the no-ball deliberately, and that the move "has no place in good cricket". Eventually, Randiv was banned for a match for his poor sportsmanship by bowling a no-ball and his skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan was fined 50% of his match fees.

This incident is probably the only reason why a majority of the cricket fans remember Suraj Randiv.

Cricket matches for sale

The cricketers give their 100%, sometimes more than that, to win a game for their team. Any fan would be frustrated if a cricketer fixes matches for money.

The sport has seen several instances when the players fixed matches. Right from the 1990s to the darkest hour in Indian Cricket which involved the likes of late Hansie Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Herschelle Gibbs etc., Pakistan's spot-fixing where captain Salman Butt and pacers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif took money to bowl no-balls, IPL spot-fixing scandal in which Indian pacer S Sreesanth, spinners Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandela were convicted and later acquited, the "Gentlemen's Game" has seen several incidents where the players took money to fix matches.

Not one or two incidents, every single player who has been caught in match-fixing is a disgrace to the sport and doing this is the most disgraceful act in the history of any sport, not just cricket.