Not ‘cricket’s darkest hour’

Leo McKinstry

23 August 2006

Leo McKinstry says that the Pakistani players have behaved like spoilt children and that the sport has survived far worse controversies than this flurry of feeble pique

In the post-war history of English cricket, there have been few more universally respected figures than John Lever, the Essex left-arm bowler. Modest, friendly and hard-working, he was regarded by both colleagues and cricket followers as the ideal professional. But when he made his debut for England during a tour of India in 1976, he found himself embroiled in the kind of ball-tampering row which brought the last Test to a farcical conclusion and plunged the sport of cricket into a major crisis.

Unaccustomed to the sweltering heat of Delhi, Lever came up with the unorthodox idea of attaching a number of gauze strips to his forehead to stop the sweat running into his eyes. Fixed in place by Vaseline, the gauze appeared to have a remarkable effect on Lever’s bowling, as he ripped through the Indian line-up by swinging the ball prodigiously. The Indians accused England of using underhand methods to achieve victory, with Lever all but labelled a cheat by Indian captain Bishen Bedi.

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