The ICC has just about come to a decision on the rules for straightening the arm while bowling. But it looks like it may be quickly called to adjudicate on matters more serious ——how to deal with bowlers who deliberately aim to maim the batsmen. Or to be precise, players who want to literally hurt an opposition player on the field of play.
Of course this is not a problem that world cricket has suddenly woken up to. A John Snow (pushing Sunil Gavaskar) or a Peter Kirsten (hitting Kapil Dev with the bat) or a Dennis Lillie (manhandling Javed Miandad) had been at it from time to time.
But Brett Lee recent beamers, against Pakistan and then against New Zealand, have now taken the matter to a new high. Okay, make it low.
New Zealand coach John Bracewell saying that they would go to the courts adds more pungent twist to a bitter row.
Lee's dubious beamers are not as simple as is being made out by himself and his captain Ricky Ponting. The Aussies, who have a habit of just brushing aside any criticism against their questionable gamesmanship tactics, have almost sneered at the suggestion of going to the courts.
They say a 'minor incident' is being blown out of proportion. This is typical brazen Aussie stuff. Just like their cricket on field, they just browbeat the opponents off it. Ponting is utter callous in his words in not accepting Bracewell arguments.
What makes Lee's beamers questionable is the fact that the one directed at Brendon McCullum on Saturday was merely the latest in a series of violent deliveries sent down by a pace bowler who has a tendency to lose the plot in the mind when the going gets tough. He seems not ready stay within the acceptable limits of gamesmanship.
This is what Peter Roebuck, the man who never misses to spot a trick on the field whenever he sees one, wrote in Sydney Morning Herald after the incident: 'No team seriously seeking to improve its reputation for sportsmanship can tolerate the brutal beamers sent down in recent times by the supposedly amiable competitor. Unfortunately the signs are not promising. After the match Ricky Ponting talked about dew and slippery run-ups. In his heart he knows better. Maybe he has been frustrated by the nonsense spouted by New Zealanders eager to distract attention from the lame performance of their team.
'Lee's head-hunter was the nastiest ball seen on a cricket field since, well, the beamer the same player directed at Abdul Razzaq in the one-day final in Sydney. Moreover the circumstances were similar in that both opponents had irritated the fast bowler. Previously Razzaq had sent two disgraceful beamers to Lee whereupon the umpire had removed him from the attack. Not that he had many more overs to bowl, or chances to nail a fierce opponent'.
That Roebuck, who loves and admires Australians a lot, is so scathing in his criticism means Lee's offence is indeed glaring and sinister.
Lee's 'head-hunters' are never accidental. It is unerringly on the batsman's rib-cage or even higher.
Beamers can indeed be sent down accidentally. But most beamers, though, are deliberate. Manoj Prabhakar had a history of bowling beamers. He was no angel on the field. He used to bowl them and then look at his offending hand, as if to send a signal that it was the grip that let him down. Since he was no express pace bowler, there was no real bodily threat and hence nobody really complained.
But as Roebuck himself says context is crucial. 'Apologies are easy and it is extraordinary that so much significance is attached to them. In 1993 Wasim Akram apologised after delivering the nastiest beamer seen in 20 years at Chris Adams, a county batsman who had accused him of ball-tampering. Astonishingly, no action was taken against him. At the lunch break the pair almost came to blows.'
Beamers are a black spot on the game. Exchanges between batsmen and bowlers are built on trust. Batsmen understand that bouncers may be directed at them and prepare accordingly. Otherwise they may as well take up marbles. Bean-balls are incomparably more dangerous because they elude detection by avoiding the usual channels studied by batsmen awaiting a delivery.
Lee should not be allowed to get away with this violent infringement. His foul is more heinous than straightening the arm while bowling. He needs to be censured. And Australians as a team need to be warned.
Lee should no be allowed to become Bruce Lee.
— K BALAKUMAR