The Shorter Wisden 2013 (34 page)

Fraser Stewart is Laws manager at MCC.

The current code of the Laws appears on the MCC website (
www.lords.org
).

CHRONICLE OF 2012

Australian Test players were irritated when their prime minister, Julia Gillard, told an official reception for the Indian team that her country’s cricket fans were
“looking forward to what may be a very special hundred made in Australia” – meaning Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international century. Michael Clarke said his team hoped the
century would come somewhere else. His team-mate Mike Hussey called the prime minister’s comment “strange”.

The newly elected chief of Sri Lanka Cricket, Upali Dharmadasa, said he had held a puja to drive out demons he held responsible for the board’s cash crisis and the
team’s poor results. “I am a businessman and I know the effects of these evil spirits.”

The German footballer Didi Hamann claimed to have lost £288,400 on a single cricket spread bet. In his autobiography, Hamann – best-remembered as a defensive
midfielder with Liverpool – said he had “bought” an Australian innings against South Africa at 340 for £2,800 a run. Australia collapsed for 237, thus costing him 103 x
£2,800. “The next day, when I looked at the mess that was me in the mirror, I said, ‘Didi, things have got to change.’”

Manchester City Council approved a plan to turn Longsight Cricket Club, where the touring Australians were beaten in 1878, into a housing estate. Eighteen men of Longsight
(including G. F. Grace and W. R. Gilbert) overcame the Australian XI by two wickets. A century later, the club was one of the strongest in the area, but the East Road ground had been closed since
2004 because they could no longer afford the upkeep. The bowling green will stay, alongside 65 houses and 18 flats.

An umpire killed a 15-year-old spectator after he ran on to the field to dispute a decision, according to police in Kishoreganj, Bangladesh. The youth, named as Nazrul Islam,
rushed on after a batsman was given not out, and accused the umpire of bias. An argument ensued, then the umpire took a bat and hit the boy, who showed no immediate signs of injury but died of
internal bleeding next day. The umpire, who was not named, was in hiding.

The waiting list for the Melbourne Cricket Club has now surpassed the population of Hobart and stands at 217,000. It is estimated that it now takes 22–23 years to join the
61,500 full members and gain full privileges at major MCG occasions. About 3,000 vacancies occur each year, but the list is growing inexorably because there are 15,000 new applicants. However, the
club have lost contact with many of those waiting because they have moved so often.

The Melbourne Premier match between Prahran and Richmond at Toorak Park was halted after just nine balls when a fielder became suspicious about the length of the pitch. It
turned out to be at least two metres too long. This was the second such incident in Australian club cricket in the 2011-12 season, and both involved Test players. Ryan Harris was playing in the
first match. This time it was Cameron White, who made 147 – on a re-marked pitch.

World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga condemned the treatment of the trophy Sri Lanka won under his leadership in 1996. It was apparently damaged when on display at an
exhibition, and two gold rivets went missing.

Thirty Colombo schoolboys were arrested after climbing the walls of a nearby girls’ school and demanding money to support their “Big Match”. The contests
between rival schools are an important part of Sri Lankan cricket tradition and have long been accompanied by a student-rag atmosphere. However, police had specifically issued a warning through the
media that girls’ schools were off limits. The boys were given a further warning and released without charge.

The Afghan National Army beat a British military team to win a two-day tournament in war-torn Helmand Province. The British also lost to a team of Afghan interpreters. Lt-Col
Tim Law of the Royal Artillery said the Afghan side turned out to be “absolutely fantastic”. More than 1,500 supporters ran on to the pitch after the soldiers dismissed the British for
75, a 90-run win.

Cricket Australia flew a cup to mark Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international hundred to every venue where he played in Australia in 2011-12, awaiting the moment for
presentation, which never came.

Seven-year-old Charlie Allison from Colchester has become an internet sensation after the release on YouTube of a video of him batting in the nets, driving, pulling and
reverse-sweeping with near-professional aplomb.

A painting depicting the highlights of Tendulkar’s career, by the British-based artist Sacha Jafri, has been sold for $750,000. The proceeds will go to the M. S. Dhoni
Foundation to support poor children.

The Mumbai Cricket Association intends to shower Tendulkar with a hundred gold coins for reaching 100 international centuries.

Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, now an MP, scored a century for the Indian Parliamentarians in Dharmasala to beat a rather less expert team of their British
equivalents, the Lords and Commons, by 56 runs.

Ratilal Parmar, 56, whose hobby is collecting banknotes that have special associations with Sachin Tendulkar, has acquired a new prize: a ten-rupee note numbered 240412, the
date of Tendulkar’s 39th birthday. Parmar wants to present his hero with the notes connected with his milestones, especially 160312, the date of the 100th international hundred. He estimates
he has spent a million rupees building his collection, sometimes by pleading with bank clerks for help.

An off-duty nurse, watching the Second XI match between Burscough and Rainsford in Lancashire, went to the rescue after Burscough’s Carl Lydiate left the field with chest
pains. His team-mates assumed he had indigestion. “I could tell he was in trouble,” said Hayley McCullough, “because he was grey, sweating and saying his chest was feeling
crushed.” She stayed with him until the ambulance arrived and Lydiate could receive treatment for a heart attack. John Williams, chairman of the Liverpool Competition, said: “This is a
timely reminder to us all that coaches need to keep their first-aid certificates up to date.”

Teachers have posted hundreds of complaints on an online forum about the idiocy of school inspectors from the British inspection body OFSTED. One PE teacher was allegedly told
the lesson was “unsatisfactory as there were children doing nothing”. The judgment was overturned after it was pointed out that the pupils were fielding in a cricket match.

Taxpayers have paid £3,000 over the past two seasons so a worker could be employed to throw back balls hit over the fence at Dunfermline Knights’ ground in Scotland.
The club lost part of their McKane Park pitch due to flood prevention work, and the land was never reinstated. Fearful that fielders would injure themselves fetching the balls, Fife Council paid a
member of the contractors’ staff £10 an hour to throw them back. Robert Oxley of Taxpayer Scotland said the affair was “barmy”.

The former England one-day captain Adam Hollioake, 40, achieved a draw on his debut as a mixed-martial-arts cage fighter in Queensland. Hollioake said he loved every minute of
his brawl with Joel Miller in front of a 1,500 crowd on the Gold Coast, though his wife Sherryn did not. After a bad first round, Hollioake outfought his opponent in the final two. He has been
through many travails following the death of his brother Ben, including bankruptcy. He said of Sherryn: “She is a beautiful person and she wants me to follow my dreams. But I just think at
the moment she wishes my dreams were something else.”

David Taylor, Totton & Eling’s new captain/coach, scored 330 not out for the second team against bewildered Southern Premier League Division Three rivals Trojans,
having turned out to get some batting practice when the first team’s match was called off. He hit 31 sixes and 19 fours off 160 balls in a total of 412 for three; Trojans mustered 103.
Taylor, 37, had played for Worcestershire and Derbyshire.

British prime minister David Cameron told how he had found his wife Samantha playing French cricket with a bat signed for him by Sachin Tendulkar in the grounds of Chequers and
had to warn her: “No, darling, put it down; this is probably the most valuable possession I have.” He donated the bat for an auction at Lord’s raising £3,400 for the Rwanda
Cricket Stadium Foundation.

Australian captain Michael Clarke and his girlfriend Kyly Boldy married in secret in the Blue Mountains, announcing the news on Twitter, and taking friends and Cricket Australia
by surprise. This disappointed magazine editors, who would have paid substantially for exclusive rights to the wedding pictures, but won praise from other quarters. “No deals, no media, no
$$$s, just family and class,” tweeted one fan.

Arjun Tendulkar, the 12-year-old son of Sachin, hit his maiden century in the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Under-14 trials, scoring 124 for Khar Gymkhana against Goregaon
Centre.

Settle beat Stacksteads in Division Two of the Ribblesdale League by 452 runs in a 45-over match. Settle captain Nick Cokell scored 275 not out in a total of 467 for one.
Stacksteads were then bowled out for 15, the lowest score in the league since 1931. “I’d never even scored a century before,” said Cokell. “To be fair, Stacksteads were
gracious in defeat.”

The theory that moisture makes a cricket ball swing is false, according to researchers at Sheffield Hallam and Auckland Universities. Tests using 3D laser scanners and an
atmospheric chamber, reported in the journal
Procedia Engineering
, found no link between humidity levels and sideways movement. Altitude and the age of the ball did have an effect,
however.