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| Phil Hughes |
The funeral service of Phil Hughes
was held the other day. A precious and promising career in cricket was lost to
Australia’s own “chin music”. “Chin
music” is nothing but bouncing a fast ball to literally shave the chin, if not
hit it, of the batsman facing him. Admittedly a difficult ball to bowl and also
to play as the ball rises rapidly off the pitch. A batsman needs to have very
quick reflexes and needs to be very quick-footed to put it away. Initial
reports said that Hughes was quicker than necessary in negotiating the ball
which proved to be lethal. He was playing in a Sheffield Shield match of
Australia’s domestic tournament like our own Ranji Trophy.
“Chin Music” is also used in the game
of baseball. The ball is pitched aiming at the batter or near about his face.
The intention is naturally to intimidate the batter or to force him away from
the ball. But in baseball there is a difference; if a pitcher overdoes it the
umpire can eject him from the game. In cricket there is no such provision. There
is only one provision that a bowler can bowl only two bouncers that are
essentially part of “chin music” in an over in one-day cricket matches. In test
matches there is apparently no such condition.
That reminds one of the “Bodyline”
controversies that raged around eighty years ago when Bradman, the God of
Cricket, was in top form. England having been defeated by Australia in the 1930
series mainly because of Bradman’s unfailing form while touring England, the
English team devised a strategy for its Australia tour in 1932-33 to attack the
Australian batsmen’s bodies. Bouncers were being directed at the batsmen and
Bradman, as indeed others, were repeatedly hurt. Despite unavailability of any
protective gear other than leg-guards and gloves it was a life-threatening
situation that led to a diplomatic row between the two countries. Bradman
seemingly was intimidated and his rate of scoring fell to an average of around
50 whereas in 1930 he averaged 100 per
innings in England. Soon, however the laws of cricket were changed to ensure
that “bodyline” bowling was made illegal.
Apparently, the changed laws seem to
have now been given up, as in place of “Bodyline” we now have “chin music” that
is as bad. With the untimely and unwarranted death of Phil Hughes there is now
an international discourse going on whether to ban the bouncers or to restrict
them. Many cricketers feel that banning bouncers will take the thrill out of
cricket; after all, a pull off a bouncer is a delectable sight. Even Bradman as
far back as in 1930s, though he got the ball several times on his ribs and
back, soldiered on dealing with the short-pitched fast rising deliveries
stepping back hitting them on the rise to the off-side, seldom giving a chance
to the fielders in the leg trap set for him to hold any of his catches..
Besides, there have been very few fatalities because of the short-pitched fast
deliveries and Hughes’s fatal injury was, apparently, of a one off kind.
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| Nari Contractor |
Even our own Nari Contractor having
had two ribs broken in a Test against England in 1958 played on to make 81.
While leading the Indian team to West Indies in 1961-62, he got a severe hit on
his head by a beamer, not a short-pitched one but a ball that never touches the
ground and is aimed above the waist, from the young fast bowler Charlie
Griffith. Contractor collapsed in a heap on the pitch and later had to undergo
surgery. And yet I recall seeing him only around two years later in Ahmedabad
in 1964 opening the innings for India against England. Two severe injuries
seemed to have made no difference to his psyche. He is still around celebrating
the eighth decade of his life.
Perhaps, cricket administrators expect from
cricketers such guts, fearlessness and determination to prove themselves as world-class
cricketers.
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Photos from the WWW
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