Profiles / Frank Gregan / 26 March 2012 /

More has been writtten and said about Samit Patel's waistline than his bowling action or batting average. This obsession with being an athlete rather than a cricketer is a all a load of nonsense, says Frank Gregan.

Most of us are a little self conscious about our weight and get a bit prickly when someone points out that we've put on a kilo or two. It must be infuriating to pick a newspaper up and read about your own battle against the bulge but that's exactly what Samit Patel has had to do of late. He's come in for some scathing criticism, most notably from England coach Andy Flower and his team-mate Kevin Pietersen. KP was particularly blunt, describing Patel as "fat, unfit and lazy."

Those caustic comments may not have been the reason that Patel decided to do something about his condition but something stirred him into action. He took it upon himself to train with a world kick boxing champion in Brisbane in order to get himself into shape to play Test cricket and was rewarded with a place in the squad for the current Sri Lankan tour and made his Test debut earlier today.

Good on him. Everyone likes to see people battle against adversity and win but the question has to be asked: why has he got to be in shape? Has the game really changed that much in recent years?

Patel is not entering an iron-man contest, he's going to stroll up to the crease and turn his left arm over at a gentle pace. Sure, the conditions in Sri Lanka (where the heat and humidity are as much as a challenge as anything the opposition can throw at you) are amongst the toughest in international cricket. But then again, when he bats he might have to take the occasional quick single. He won't be asked to run a marathon out there.

The game's history is littered with great players who fall into the 'portly' category. Arguably the greatest ever England cricketer, Sir Ian Botham is nicknamed 'Beefy' not because of his love of Bovril but because of his stature. He's put on weight since his retirement but he's never been an Adonis, he's always carried a bit.

Prior to discovering super-models and Botox, Shane Warne was considered to be one of the best cricketers of his generation whilst looking like he ate the turkey before carving it. David Boon's body mass index must have been off the chart but it didn't effect his hand-eye coordination. Why the sudden infatuation with weight loss programmes?

Patel claimed his first Test wicket during the Sri Lankan first innings when Dinesh Chandimal tried to hammer him out of the ground, only to balloon the ball up into the air and into the greateful hands of Ian Bell. Would that delivery have been any different if it was bowled when he ten kilos heavier? Of course not. We've seen just about every form of discrimination over the years, you just need to pick a word and stick ism on the end of it but this has to be the first time that fatism has been reported in the media.

The 'fatists' will claim that the game has changed so much now and that every player has to be able to field and cover the ground quickly. Tosh! Ian Botham was a superb slip fielder, David Boon was fearless at short leg and took some lightening quick catches. At the other end of the scale you have Phil Tufnell and Monty Panesar who can't muster a beer gut between them and can't field either!

Patel's Test debut has been a long time coming but hopefully he will now kick on and become a regular in the side. A genuine all-rounder is what has been missing from the England line up for some time and the Nottinghamshire man may well be the answer.

England should get into bat sometime tomorrow and there's some great value to be had in the top England first innings bat market. Ian Bell has been matched at [9.4] but [7.8] is probably about the best attainable at the moment and that's the recommendation.

Unless you believe in fairy tales of course in which case Samit Patel is one of the 'Any Other Batsman' (Matt Prior is also included here) in that market and odds of around [6.4] should be on offer sooner or later. If he scores a ton surely the management will let him celebrate with a few thousand calories or so!

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