Sri Lanka plan Gilchrist protest

Justin

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Sep 13, 2004
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More crap from a rubbish tournament. Ironic that the protest comes from a team consisting of a slinger and bent arm. ;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/6633873.stm

Sri Lanka are planning a protest to cricket's governing body after Adam Gilchrist used a squash ball as a batting aid in the World Cup final.

The Australian, who smashed 149 off 104 balls, had the ball in one of his gloves to improve his grip on the bat.

Sri Lanka Cricket officials intend to raise the matter at next month's International Cricket Council meeting.

"It was not done in the spirit and tradition of the game," secretary Kangadaran Mathivanan commented.

"I don't think it would have given him more power, but it certainly helped his grip.

"I am not trying to say it is illegal. All I am saying is that the game should be played in a better spirit.

"We want to enlighten all the members of the ICC about our views and we don't approve such acts. That is the purpose of wanting to discuss it at the ICC," he added.

Gilchrist had a modest World Cup by his standards prior to the final in Barbados, with just two fifties in the previous 10 matches.

But he came good when it mattered as Australia beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs.

He made no attempt to conceal the use of the squash ball in the final, a tactic worked out with his batting coach Bob Meuleman in Perth prior to the team's departure for the Caribbean.

And in an interview with The Australian newspaper following the final, Meuleman explained that the ball prevented Gilchrist's bat from turning in his hand.

"I've worked with him for 10 years and he has an unusual grip in which his hand goes too far around the back of the bat - [the squash ball] is a great big lump in your glove but it means that you can only use your bottom hand in a V. It is hard to get around the back of the bat with it, which means he improves his grip.

"I went to a squash centre before he went off and got him six squash balls that were a bit broken and were not as hard as a new ball. You don't want it to crush right down but be a bit flexible.

"He had a few hits before he went off for the World Cup. He didn't have the squash ball in and he hit them like he couldn't even play fourth grade. He put it in and he then hit the ball so well."

Cricket Australia, meanwhile, have played down the issue.

"It's a storm in a teacup, or a batting glove. It's been suggested that if shoving a squash ball into your bottom glove makes you bat like Adam Gilchrist, then perhaps the ICC should make it compulsory," said spokesman Peter Young.
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Sri Lanka in "Acting like spastic losers" shocker. What next? A bowler who chucks? Another who slings? A captain who needs a runner because he too fat and unfit to do it himself?
 
A ball you play squash with.

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Australians cheating as always.

Saying that this was totally unnecessary, the board should be looking at other stuff such as finding a new coach.
 
How is this cheating in any way?

At least their bowlers actually bowl.

I used to like Sri Lanka but they have turned into a bunch of odious whiners who use the racism card as soon as anyone dares to say anything that doesn't allow them to do exactly what they want when they want to do it.
 
Why is it that when one of our players sling the ball it is cheating but when one of your greats did the same thing it was all part of the game?

I was only being sarcastic with the cheating bit and that was why I mentioned that the board should have just let go of the past and start concentrating on the future. If you know Sri-Lankans most of us are gracious in defeat and always give credit to the opposition just like what Mahela did after the final.

I think the racist issue came after Darrell Hair's antics against South Asian teams, I don't think there is any racism involved though Hair is a bit of a tosser.
 
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