The Unthinkable has happened on the Cricket Field. Phil has been
laid to rest but his memories will be everywhere in the Cricketing Fraternity.
From players putting their bats out, from Kiwis exceptional tribute to Hughes [1],
from Clarke’s emotional speech, from Cricket Australia retiring the Number 64
jersey & many more tributes pouring from around the world cutting across professions
& boundaries shows the pain experienced by the world at his untimely
demise.
While there have been many debates and a difference of
opinions among past legends about continuing the series, the decision to
continue the series has been a good one. The steps taken by both the boards
denote respect to both individual and Cricket at large. It was great to see the
respect for Phil overtaken by financial commitments, that honoring and mourning
somebody who died was considered more important than honoring other commitments.
But then, Cricket is a great healer and in time, this will
only help heal the wound of the players. The time away from the game may act as
salt in the wound for some of the players close to Phil. Moreover, it will be a
tribute to the way Hughes led his life; accepting the reality in the face and
moving on.
The aftermath of the incident has generated responses
questioning the safety concerns of the game, and bouncers are the new “elephant
in the room” for the Cricketing World. Phil’s instance has been tragic to say
the least and no amount of word jugglery can justify the loss. However, any
decision which might be taken by the concerned authorities after this incident
needs time to be properly thought of and covering every aspect of the game.
While more safe design of the Helmets is the obvious step,
there have been calls of eliminating the bouncers which may not necessarily be
a good step. While Cricket should involve a fair contest between bat and ball, everyone
will accept that the advantages for batsmen have been increasing day-by-day and
it is becoming more of a batsman game. Be it the ground size, the bats, new
formats coming up, everything is suited to batsman. Bowlers too must be given
their space to make the game more competitive. Bouncers are one of the main weapons
in bowler’s arsenal and any attempt to curb their freedom of use will only make
the game more lop-sided. Moreover, these are weapons which help in getting the
adrenaline running for both batsmen and bowlers, and in many cases results in
getting the best out of the batsman. The absence of bouncers will surely
deteriorate the quality of game. In the process, it will be the game that will
be poorer.
And all this in tribute to a person for whom everything in
life was love for the game will not be entirely justified. Nobody with that
zest & love for something will want to make the game poorer.
While it was nice to see New Zealand bowlers not using a
single bouncer in their series-leveling win against Pakistan in the aftermath
of Phil’s death, it was equally pleasing to see the Australian Bowlers giving
the Indians a taste of the bouncers in their practice game. The use of bouncers
by Australian & Indian bowlers was surely a great sight for the game.
We as fans will accept this reality and move on. The show
must go on as it is and Phil will always be in our memory.
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