Cricket’s practices are held together by a set of tacit agreements

The badminton great Prakash Padukone once pulled up a youngster for literally toying with an opponent, playing trick shots, pretending to smash and occasionally holding his racquet in the wrong hand.

The badminton great Prakash Padukone once pulled up a youngster for literally toying with an opponent, playing trick shots, pretending to smash and occasionally holding his racquet in the wrong hand. It was a friendly match, yet Prakash called the youngster aside and told him that a sportsman should never disrespect an opponent. All sports have ways of dealing with unsportsmanlike conduct. The ‘diver’ in football, the racquet abuser in tennis, the player showing dissent at an umpire’s decision in cricket all have to pay the price. Whole books have been written about golf etiquette. There are rules and then something called ‘spirit’. What is legal may not always be acceptable. When Trevor Chappell bowled an underarm delivery to the New Zealander Brian McKechnie to prevent him from hitting a six to win the match, it was within the laws, but it caused a scandal. The Australian skipper Greg Chappell said later that all his frustrations had boiled over on that day. The authorities quickly banned the underarm delivery.