SLEDGING A PART OF CRICKET

I watched, on the eve of the second Test match between England and South Africa, a replay of several altercations between Michael Atherton and Allan Donald 20 years ago at Trent Bridge after Atherton did not walk and was given not out by the umpire for a bat/glove catch to the wicketkeeper.

Donald went berserk and bowled some of the fastest balls since the heydays of the West Indian quartet a decade before.

During his 45-minute spell you could lip read many of Donald’s abusive language taunts and although Atherton’s mouth was more or less hidden behind the chin piece of his helmet he must have given ‘as much as got’ and had there been stump microphones then I am sure both would have had suspensions of a lengthy period.

Move to the same venue in 2017 and an up-and-coming young fast bowler called Kagiso Rabada couldn’t play in the game because he swore when dismissing Ben Stokes in the first Test at Lords and the stump microphone picked it up.

I am not condoning bad behaviour but to ban Rabada for the second Test seemed a bit harsh. I am aware he was carrying three points from a previous Test [and that was far too severe] so the accumulation of four points put him out of the Nottingham Test.

If stump microphones mean causing a ban because there is a swear word, get rid of them. There is no need for stump microphones, let umpires deal with onthe-field misbehaviour if the they deem fit. George Alberts

Pattaya