True Colours by Adam Gilchrist

Author:Adam Gilchrist
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

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It was always challenging to keep the highs and lows in control, especially if, like me, you find it hard to manage your emotions. At one point I was the most charged player in world cricket and had the worst disciplinary record. Nobody thought I was a bad boy of the game. It was more that I expressed myself before I could apply the emotional handbrake. I couldn’t help myself.

In May 2002 I was invited to a Sunday lunch for 200 people at the Carlton Football Club. Having been a Carlton fan since my Deniliquin days, I obliged very willingly. John Elliott, who was club president at the time, invited me on stage for a pre-lunch Q&A session. After a few friendly questions, he hit me with: ‘Does Murali chuck the ball?’

To say I was caught by surprise is an understatement. I thought for a few moments, and then said, cautiously: ‘I think he does. I say that because, if you read the laws of the game, there’s no doubt in my mind that he and many others throughout cricket history have.’

I will take this opportunity to clarify what I think about Murali and his action. I don’t back away from what I said. Murali is a great bloke with whom I’ve enjoyed many memorable cricket moments, both playing against him and alongside him in a couple of World XIs. I don’t think he’s personally to blame: he bowled the way he bowled, and it was not up to him to do any more than he was asked. I also think the game would have suffered if we had not seen his tremendous career over the last fifteen years. He has a true genius at what he does, and cricket has been a better game for his contribution.

But there is no doubt in my mind that his arm did straighten more than the rules allowed when he started playing Test cricket in the mid-1990s. Therefore, as I said, it was a technical breach of the rules. I’ve heard all the theories about optical illusions, but I don’t buy them. Along with, I think, many if not a majority of international cricketers, I was convinced that his action breached the laws of the game.

It should have been dealt with back in 1995–96 when Darrell Hair and Ross Emerson no-balled him in Australia. There should have been objective technical assessment of how much his arm straightened, and he should have been given assistance in fixing it up. But the real issue – does he straighten his arm? – was railroaded by Sri Lankan cricket authorities, and Arjuna Ranatunga, turning it into a debate over race. They were threatening a walkout, and there was talk of a split in the game between ‘white’ and ‘black’ countries, because the questioning of Murali’s action was interpreted as a racial attack.

This was ridiculous, as is proven when you look at the long list of bowlers, fast and slow, white and non-white, whose actions were scrutinised over the next few years and who were taken away for remedial treatment.

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