England’s shameful behaviour mocked India and the game

England badgers the rest of world cricket about adhering to the spirit of the game. Yet the game’s self-appointed moral compass — and its outspoken captain — can’t even adhere to the laws it made.

England didn’t simply humiliate themselves with their tacky taunting of India on the last day of the Old Trafford Test — they broke the laws.

To many cricket lovers, the spirit of cricket is a hazy, romantic, hard-to-define concept but to the game’s law makers it is much more tangible that that.

There are 42 laws in every cricket match and the law book also contains a special preamble on the spirit of cricket which includes more laws to which players are held fully accountable.

It is placed in the front of the book because it is considered the most important entry.

And England, self-appointed standard setters for the game’s moral compass, pushed those laws beyond breaking point on a day when they taunted and mocked Indian batsmen Ravi Jadeja. and Washington Sundar after they refused an invitation from English captain Ben Stokes to declare the game drawn before they had their centuries.

Here are three examples.

THE LAW: It is against the spirit of the game to direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire.

THE INCIDENT: “F------ hell Washy get on with it,’’ said Harry Brook to Sundar when he was 95 chasing his century.

OUR VERDICT: Normally players caught swearing over the stump mike get fined. Brook appears to have escaped. That’s surprising. Not the worst sledge we’ve heard but the angry tone in which it was delivered went down badly with the Indian team, especially as Sundar had every right to go on and get his century. Guilty.

THE LAW: The captains are responsible for ensuring play is conducted within the spirit of the game.

THE INCIDENT: Stokes was the key architect in making a mockery of the final hour of the Test. He had every right to ask the Indian batsmen if they wanted to finish up but they had every right to reject him. From that point he turned into Captain Salty and his decision to gift them centuries via some “joke’’ bowling from Harry Brook was a demeaning act as far away from the spirit of the game as you could imagine.

OUR VERDICT: Stokes effectively tossed this law out the window had one of his worst days as captain by setting a dreadful example. Guilty.

THE LAW: It is against the spirit of the game to seek to distract an opponent either verbally or by harassment with persistent clapping or unnecessary noise under the guise of enthusiasm and motivation of one’s own side.

THE INCIDENT: Where do we start? The English were as rowdy as a flock of gallahs all day with the stump mike running hot with random observations and needling taunts. On and on it went then, when Sundar and Jadeja approached their tons, the volume level soared again.

OUR VERDICT: Guilty but India can’t whinge too loudly because they babbled on all day when they were in the field as well.

Originally published as England’s shameful behaviour mocked India and the game