Long before Indian Premier League-14 was suspended, cricket tours were aborted and matches abandoned for a variety of reasons. Many of these incidents involved back stories, some of which were tragic and others amusing
RCB players return home after the IPL is suspended. Pic/RCB's Instagram
The suspension of the 2021 IPL tournament because of surging Covid-19 infections and deaths among the public, and a number of participants testing positive, was a reminder of the game’s vulnerability.
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In 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 amusing.
In 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 immediately.
In 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 believe-it-or-not 180 runs in a single session.
His 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 cricket’s great entertainers and characters.
The 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. Pic/Getty Images
In 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 “coming out.” I replied, “Well at least he will have died happy.”
Boxing Day Test called off
In 1970-71, 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 first-ever ODI being played in lieu of the Test in an effort to recoup some of the lost revenue.
The 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 players’ quiver in the build-up to the World Series Cricket (WSC) revolution in 1977-78. 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 signees.
Pitch vandalised
In 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 brother-in-law Peter Chappell.
On 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 he’d leave them at the gate, “If you promise not to dig up the pitch at The Oval.”
Peter 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 recrimination.
Pakistan 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 you’d find in the old American wild west, the Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq could not be coaxed into taking his team back onto the field. After a lengthy delay, the match was awarded to England on a forfeit.
In 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; “To not uphold the laws set a very dangerous precedent.”
In 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.
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