Oh those roadblocks!

The suspension of the 2021 IPL tournament because of surging Covid19 infections and deaths among the public and a number of participants testing positive was a reminder of the gamersquos vulnerabilityIn the past tours have been aborted and matches abandoned for a variety of reasons Many of these incidents involved back stories some of which were tragic and others amusingIn 1969 England toured a bitterly divided Pakistan where the series was haunted by protests from the beginning However when a riot brought the third Test in Karachi to a premature halt the England team flew home immediatelyIn the match Colin Ollie Milburn had completed his second Test century after being recalled from Australia where he was enjoying a prolific Sheffield Shield season with Western Australia In one Shield innings he smoked a scintillating double century against Queensland where he scored a believeitornot 180 runs in a single sessionHis excellent Shield form and subsequent Test century looked to have cemented his spot in the England team but sadly he never represented his country again On returning home Milburn was involved in a serious car accident which resulted in him losing sight in one eye It was a sad career end to one of cricketrsquos great entertainers and charactersThe author then captain of Australia with England skipper Tony Greig examines the devastated Headingley wicket at Leeds in 1975 Vandals dug holes over the pitch and poured oil over one end of the wicket The abandoned day led to the match being drawn PicGetty ImagesIn 1990 a mate called to tell me the bad news that Ollie had collapsed and died in a hotel car park at age 48 I asked whether he was going in or coming out of the pub When the response was ldquocoming outrdquo I replied ldquoWell at least he will have died happyrdquoBoxing Day Test called offIn 197071 the MCG Boxing Day Test between Australia and England was abandoned without a ball being bowled after heavy rain ruined any chance of a competitive match That led to the firstever ODI being played in lieu of the Test in an effort to recoup some of the lost revenueThe match was agreed between officials of both countries without reference to the players and this angered many in the England camp This was yet another arrow in the playersrsquo quiver in the buildup to the World Series Cricket WSC revolution in 197778 WSC is portrayed as an Australian uprising but that belies the fact that more than 50 players from many different countries were among the original signeesPitch vandalisedIn 1975 the third Test at Headingley between England and Australia was delicately poised after four days when it was abandoned because the pitch was vandalised This act of bastardry was a protest over the incarceration of convicted armed robber George Davis with one of the vandals being his brotherinlaw Peter ChappellOn the eve of the fourth Test at The Oval Greg Chappell received a call from the unrelated Peter In his very distinctive accent Peter asked for match tickets and Greg said hersquod leave them at the gate ldquoIf you promise not to dig up the pitch at The OvalrdquoPeter promised and the Test went ahead unhindered by vandals At the same ground in 2006 the fourth Test between England and Pakistan came to a premature end with much recriminationPakistan forfeited the match after refusing to take the field when the team was accused of ball tampering and penalised five runs Despite cricket employing more sheriffs than yoursquod find in the old American wild west the Pakistan captain InzamamulHaq could not be coaxed into taking his team back onto the field After a lengthy delay the match was awarded to England on a forfeitIn a disgraceful attempt at compromise the ICC subsequently declared the match a draw in 2008 However integrity finally won out in 2009 when the decision was reversed at the behest of the MCC who quite rightly claimed ldquoTo not uphold the laws set a very dangerous precedentrdquoIn the current disastrous Covid climate the suspension of the IPL could also produce a precedent It may lead to the World T20 event programmed for India later in the year either being postponed or moved