Bat and ball / Frank Gregan / 19 March 2012 /

England's Test series against Sri Lanka doesn't being until next week and they're already become embroiled in controversy. Frank Gregan discusses an unseemly incident that took place at the weekend...

There was a bit of a kerfuffle at the Premadasa Stadium on Saturday during England's warm up game against a Sri Lankan Board XI. It looked like Dilruwan Perera had succumbed to the bowling of Jimmy Anderson edging to Andrew Strauss in the slips. The umpire was unsighted and, with no finger raised, Perera chose to stand his ground which resulted in some pretty ugly scenes with the English players mob-handedly expressing their disgust at the Sri Lankan batsman.

Subsequently, Graeme Swann launched a bitter attack on Perera and cheats in general during an interview. His take on the matter was as usual radical and extreme but deserves closer examination. "The thing that annoyed me was that the batsman stood there knowing 100 per cent that he was out but chose to cheat. He then opened himself up to the level of abuse that was coming to him. To be honest, I'm glad Straussy was there because I think it would have gone further than that had we not had someone with a bit of intelligence and nous to calm things down."

There's so much wrong with that statement that it's difficult to know where to start. First off, let's not forget that the umpire was 'unsighted.' Call me Mr Picky but I would have thought the first thing on an umpire's check-list is to be sighted. Okay, every now and then 'body waste happens' and in this instance Perera chose to cash in his umpire-error-in-your-favour card and stand his ground.

It's not the choice that a lot of cricketers would have made, there are many who believe in the spirit of the game and would have done the noble thing by walking. There are others who believe that 'what goes around, comes around' and, having had their share of bad decisions in the past, decide that they'll take any break that comes their way.

Is there any honour and spirit in surrounding an opponent and verbally abusing him? Swann's comment that he was grateful for Strauss' presence because, "it would have gone further," is very worrying. The next step up from verbal abuse is physical abuse and the fact that an international cricketer is airing that opinion in a press conference is ludicrous.

We all know there are times when Graeme Swann engages his mouth without consulting his brain but let's summarise what he said: the player should have walked and by not walking he was fair game to be verbally abused whilst vastly outnumbered and lucky that the skipper was there to ensure that the batsman didn't get a good hiding. Okay, there's more than a bit of reading between the lines there, but that had to be what Swann wanted us to do when he made that statement.

The England spinner then went on to express his gratitude that he lives in the age of the Umpire Decision Review System. Technology is great and has to be embraced but what happens when it fails, as it often does? In the recent Test between New Zealand and South Africa, the ball tracking system Virtual Eye was performing more like Wonky Eye due to camera calibration problems which resulted in the systems inventor appealing to umpires to over-rule the technology when the error is blatant.

The bottom line is that the umpire is the ultimate arbitrator and when he has made his decision players should adhere to it and get on with the game. Attitudes amongst cricketers are changing, they are much more on edge these days and, if the authorities don't nip this petulance in the bud, we'll soon have football style brawls on the pitch.

England's two-match Test series against Sri Lanka gets underway next Monday and, despite their poor recent record in the sub-continent, the English head the market to win the first Test at [3.15].

Sri Lanka are [3.35] with the draw at [2.62]. For the first time in a while England away from home are the recommendation. The temperature will be red hot, let's hope England keep their cool, especially when decisions don't go their way.

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