Cammie, Dalmiya make a heady combine

Cammie, Dalmiya make a heady combine
Sandeep Dwivedi

Kolkata, March 12: Cammie Smith, Jagmohan Dalmiya and the Eden Gardens. It’s a combination which makes news, no matter what. When the West Indian match referee, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal met last time here for the Asian Test Championship between India and Pakistan there was chaos to deal with. And this time around, it is controversy.

The issue at the centre of this controversy is the suspended sentence imposed on Australian opener Michael Slater. On Saturday, reports vividly quoted the former International Cricket Council chief as saying that Slater will miss the Eden Gardens Test because of a radio interview he gave in connection with his infamous and unsavory on-field behaviour during the Mumbai Test. A fact which, he said, was relayed to him by the match referee.

Dalmiya’s ‘‘jump-the-gun’’ statement to the world about Slater’s non-availability even surprised the Aussie tour party, who were not aware of any such development. The clouds over Slater’s status cleared the next day when Smith said Slater wasn’t banned for the second Test at the Eden but it was just a suspended sentence. Which meant that Slater’s on-field actions will be under scrutiny for the next six months and in case of a repeat of any such behavior a ban could enforced.

But the match referee’s decision to act after the radio interview rather than actual on-field incident too poses a few questions. Is talking about the incident on radio is much bigger an offence than the boorish act itself? Incidentally, Slater’s attitude on field today was a changed one. For every stare the home bowlers gave him he responded with a smile. But the Eden Gardens has been a witness to Smith’s leniency. Last time when the Eden Gardens went berserk with India on the threshold of victory against Pakistan in the Asian Test Championship, Smith gave the local authorities enough time to clear the crowd. Dalmiya then was the ICC chief and a Test being abandoned on his home turf would have been a huge embarrassment.

Eyebrows were raised then as, under similar circumstances, match referee Clive Llyod had taken a totally different view. During the 1996 World Cup semi-final the West Indian legend took the extreme action after the crowd got out of hand. Thus it was Smith’s light approach has saved Slater. A lesson to be learnt from this leniency shown by Smith is that any outrageous act can go unpardoned in case you don’t talk about it later. In case you do, be a nice boy after that!