ICC Chief Executive David Richardson reckons that world of cricket requires “larger than life characters” like Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes but it “equally needs”an MS Dhoni or a Rahul Dravid to “stay on the good side of the line”. At the MCC’s 2018 Cowdrey Lecture, Richardson expressed his concerns about the amount of cheating and sledging in international cricket expecting more initiative from the players and coaches.
During the lecture, David said, “On the field, the cricket needs its larger than life characters. It’s Colin Milburns, Freddie Flintoffs, Shane Warnes, Virat Kohlis, Ben Stokes but we equally it needs its Frank Worrells, its Mahendra Singh Dhonis, its Rahul Dravids, its Colin Cowdreys to make sure that we all stay in the good side of that line.”
However, the former Proteas keeper-batsman agreed that ICC “do not have all the answers to the challenges” it faces but are “working collectively to solve them”.
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Richardson explained, “Personal abuse, fielders giving send-offs to batsmen who have been dismissed, unnecessary physical contact, players threatening not to play in protest against an umpire’s decision and ball tampering; this isn’t the version of our sport that we want to project to the world.”
ICC CEO also talked about the steps taken by the ICC to penalise any kind of personal abuse with a six-Test or 12-match suspension in limited-overs cricket. He informed that ICC is working on “educating the players on what it means to play the game within the spirit.”
Richardson also spoke about how a home team should maintain the principles of respect for the opposition during a bilateral series. He seemed a bit disappointed in the manner national team coaches have supported the insensitive behaviour of their players.
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Explaining it further, he said, “Too many coaches or team managers of recent times are too quick to side with their players, blame the umpires for being biased against their team, storming off to the match referee’s room to complain. Winning must obviously be the aim of any game but not at all costs, not when it means compromising the integrity of the game.”
Richardson also spoke about how much sincere a crime is ball tampering in cricket after the recent incidents involving Australia’s Test side which led to the banning of Steve Smith and David Warner.
