Peter Roebuck

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I have many reasons why I love the game of cricket, test cricket in particular. If you were to ask me for only one, I would say that test cricket is the most Darwinian sport out there. It is not merely an examination of physical endurance over five days, but equally one of mental fortitude. Test cricket requires as much tenacity as talent. A great test match with its mini-battles, hours of toil and belated euphoria comes as close to mimicking the rollercoaster ride of our lives as any sport could.

No living cricket writer captures this element of the game like Peter Roebuck. He is another reason why I love the game. If I lacked passion for cricket, it would only take a couple of hours of reading Roebuck’s articles and essays to make a believer out of me. His influence on my own writing, be it cricket or music related, has been profound. And the following essay by Roebuck, his first in his new fortnightly column for Cricinfo, is probably one of the finest pieces of cricket writing that I’ve ever read.

I read it repeatedly and am still in awe at the incredible clarity of his arguments. The following paragraphs, in particular, are so ridiculously brilliant that I want to shove it in the face of everyone who bemoans Murali’s bowling action or freakish bowling actions in general:

“In the history of the game it is impossible to think of anyone complaining about batting excesses. Yet the willow-wielders have dressed themselves in suits of armour, insisted that the pitches be rolled till all life has left them, changed the no-ball and lbw rules to suit themselves, turned bats into weapons of assault, demanded changes in field-placement rules, complained about intimidation, whined endlessly about imperfect light, and generally conned the game into making their lives easier. Meanwhile bowlers have been accused of ball-tampering, bodyline, appealing, slowing down over-rates, sending down bent-armers, and all manner of other infractions. The wonder is not that an occasional ball is thrown. The wonder is that bowlers did not toss in the towel decades ago.

Bowling actions have always provoked a disproportionate amount of attention and abuse. Batsmen used to enjoy facing under-armers, and grizzled horribly when confronted with round-armers. Not long afterwards, the round-armers raised their hands to the vertical and again the batsmen bleated. Great heaven above, they might get out. Or hurt.”

There is a not-so-subtle inference that the game is becoming too batsman friendly in recent years, one that I completely subscribe to; it is perhaps why I find One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 increasingly hard to stomach.
I won’t say more. Read the piece in its entirety here.

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Filed under 2007, Cricket

Tags: bowling actions, Cricket, essays, peter roebuck