England's practical jokers need to grow up - Derek Pringle

[King]

Sweets have long been a source of power and influence among children, but not cricketers. Not at least until the infamous jelly bean incident left an unsavoury taste on the Trent Bridge Test between England and India, writes Derek Pringle. More... England's practical jokers need to grow up By Derek Pringle Last Updated: 1:49am BST 01/08/2007 Have your say Read comments In pics: Indian batsmen in buoyant mood Audio: Derek Pringle on jelly beans and sledging Derek Pringle: India outclass England | Trent Bridge scorecard Sweets have long been a source of power and influence among children, but not cricketers. Not at least until the infamous jelly bean incident left an unsavoury taste on the Trent Bridge Test between England and India. That some of England's cricketers should seek to distract the Indian all-rounder, Zaheer Khan, by leaving jelly beans scattered about the crease, is a new one to me but it came as little surprise. Since the inception of England's Cricket Academy (now re-branded as the National Performance Centre), younger and younger cricketers have been sucked into a system that has little contact with the real world. The England bubble, as many have dubbed it, produces good cricketers but mono-dimensional people that seem to take longer to grow up than their contemporaries out in the real world. It is unlikely to improve either if Leicestershire's chairman, Neil Davidson, gets his wish of ensnaring talented youngsters by the time they are 17. Although Tests tend to be sacrosanct, pranks have always gone on in cricket, especially in the county game, but most possessed a content that could be shared with spectators and wouldn't make adults cringe. The Essex team of the 1970s and 80s were famous for them and I remember John Lever bowling an orange to Glamorgan's John Hopkins in a county match first ball after tea. Simon Hughes: Zaheer's guile gives England a headache Alastair Cook: Sweet revenge is wide of the mark Geoffrey Boycott: Too much talk from England The batsman didn't spot it until it exploded on his bat and there was a moment of silence before the crowd realised what had happened. Happily, both Hopkins and the umpire saw the funny side, especially when Lever pointed out that its failure to take a wicket meant it couldn't have been a Jaffa. Sledging is not new either, though the constant noise generated by today's players - especially by the wicketkeeper and the younger members of the team - is a blot on the game. Yesterday, the constant blather from Matt Prior contained the gem to Wasim Jaffer: "Come on lads he's only playing for a red inker", a reference to the batsman's desire to finish the game not out and therefore boost his average. It is fairly harmless stuff, though Jaffer might not agree as he was dismissed soon after. But when something similar issues forth almost every ball, it becomes tiresome. With captains loath to admit their teams are at fault, one solution would be for the umpires to step in but as most have been brought up with the noise they probably can't tell when it's become excessive. The argy bargy used by Shantha Sreesanth on Michael Vaughan was unnecessary and was rightly punished by the match referee as was James Anderson when he tried something similar recently on West Indies' batsman Runako Morton. Unfortunately there was no censure available for the beamer Sreesanth bowled to Kevin Pietersen, other than the warning he received from umpire Ian Howell. Most bowlers claim head-high full tosses are accidents, but if you were to measure the distance between one of Sreesanth's bouncers pitched and where that beamer would have touched down, the distance would be more than 30 yards. But if no Test bowler should lack control to that extent, sympathisers might point to Steve Harmison and the moment he sent the opening a ball of last year's Ashes straight to second slip.

[King]

I fail to believe the beamers are not accidents. I've seen a lot of good bowlers sometimes end up bowling beamers at wicket keepers or even slips :omg_smile: I guess what made Sreesanth's one a bit suspect is that the ball missed Pietersen by not much.