Vince defends cricketers

2008-09-05 21:48

London - The newly appointed International Cricket Council official in charge of umpires, Vintcent van der Bijl, on Friday defended the standard of cricketers' behaviour, despite several recent high-profile clashes between players.

He said: "I certainly don't think the spirit of the game has worsened...it's just more visible.

"I saw this job as an opportunity to be part of the process to keep the spirit of cricket strong and healthy.

"What one sees on TV nowadays occurred in the old days, but it was not as visible. Lapses in sportsmanship and aggressive behaviour have been there since the game began."

The 60-year-old South African was hired last month in what has been a transitional period for the ICC. The Dubai-based organisation appointed a new president and chief executive in July.

He will now influence the way disciplinary issues are dealt with by match referees and umpires on the ICC's so-called Elite Panel, and oversee their appointments, assessment and feedback, training and development.

More sympathetic

The biggest issue recently in world cricket has been examples of ugly on-field behaviour by players.

There was the spat between India's Harbhajan Singh and Australia's Andrew Symonds, who said he was racially abused in a claim that was never proved. Harbhajan was later banned for slapping India teammate Shantakumaran Sreesanth during the IPL.

There was deliberate physical contact in a match last year between India's Gautam Gambhir and Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, while England's Paul Collingwood was criticised for a lack of sportsmanship in June when he upheld an appeal to run out New Zealand's Grant Elliott, who had been accidentally impeded by an opponent.

But Van der Bijl, who left a development role with Cricket South Africa to take up his newly created job, is more sympathetic to modern day players than critical.

"When I meet the players and umpires that I know and from what I have seen, I really don't think the game in terms of conduct and behaviour is any different to when I played," said Van der Bijl, whose career spanned 15 years from the late 1960s.

'Balanced and broad'

"There is huge pressure on them to be role models. I do believe that the general public want the perfect human beings from their sports stars.

"Supporters expect players must have tunnel vision and be driven to absolute perfection in their specific art, yet be balanced and broad in their worldly views.

"They want them to be determined and driven yet caring and sensitive. Few (people) like this exist. And in reality it is almost impossible to find these kinds of people, other than a (Nelson) Mandela or a (Desmond) Tutu. The pressure for players to be perfect is very high."

Van der Bijl argued that umpires have an even more difficult job with technology improvements highlighting their every mistake.

"I actually believe, though, that the umpires are under even greater pressure...every ball...as they can make three unbelievable decisions and they can go unnoticed, but as soon as they make a mistake, it is highlighted on televisions across the world," he said.

Van der Bijl, who claimed 767 first-class wickets at the astonishing average of 16.54, is widely regarded as one of the best players never to have played Test cricket as his career coincided with South Africa's isolation because of apartheid.

- AP