9 June '11 - Do you have to be passionate to be a Glass act?

I was scratching around for an easy place to start for week one. After much careful consideration I decided to give the readers an insight into the female rating system adopted by members of the Springfield First X11. Unfortunately I misread the email and realised this rating system didn’t come under the topic header of Sport. So while flicking through the thousand or so channels sky has to offer, I noticed that England wicket keeper Matt Prior had been reprimanded for breaking a window during the second test at Lords.

Those of you who did not see the incident Prior was run out on 4 while trying to push the rate along so England where in a comfortable position to declare. Although Prior was sold down the river by Bell, it does not condone the fact that upon entering the changing room, Prior managed to shattered a window which coincidently created a very small cut on a innocent member of the lords crowd below. “An announcement in the media centre during Sri Lanka's second innings claimed a glove had broken a pane of glass moments”. The announcement suggests that Prior entered the changing room and threw his gloves towards his bag smashing the nearby window.

The announcement clearly shows Prior didn’t purposely attempt to smash the window, but the fact remains the incident happened while prior was seeing red mist following a dismissal. This is much like a similar incident from another star wicket keeper batsman slightly closer to home. The story is covered in haze much like the Prior incident but the bare facts remain the unnamed "star" was keen to help Jimmy Perchard out with the construction of farmers new changing room and tested the strength of the plaster board wall by gently tossing his bat towards the wall after a debateable decision. Unfortunately Jimmy had decided to save some pennies and had used the thinnest plaster board possible, resulting in a warning and a bill to repair the away changing rooms at farmers.

The bill for the changing rooms totalling a not to hefty 50 quid, unlike Matt Prior who is expected to be docked up to 50% of his match wages. But should players really be punished for showing passion ?

The only reason these outbursts come about are through passion and love for the game. Should batsmen and players really be punished for showing a will to win? If batsmen showed no distaste after being dismissed no doubt other players and onlookers would question there will to win. Does cricket really have to be whiter than white so long as hands are shaken after the game and the game is played in the right spirit should players really be penalised for situations such as these. My views of course are that of a “gobby young upstart” with very thin ties to the laws of the game, but I hole heartedly do not think players should be penalised for showing will to win and love for the game.

Finding a balance between passion and rage is something that only players with the greatest temperaments have, and I’m sure we can all admit to loosing our cool at some point whether it be following a dodgy leg before decision, a missed chance off your bowling or even dropping a simple catch. So personally I think the ICC should impose the least possible ban on Matt Prior: as lovers of the game nobody wants to see the game lose its passion.

That’s all I’ve got for week one hopefully it wasn’t too bad as this is all brand new to me I hope to get better before next week, thanks for reading.