Cricket over the generations has been termed as the Gentlemen’s Game, the sport where any indiscipline, be it on-field or off-field, isn’t expected. However, not to everyone’s surprise, controversies, which have been an undetachable part of the game and haunted its integrity and reputation over the years, have occurred on many occasions.
Courtesy to a civil disorder during the late 19th century, the first possible instance of a controversy appeared on the world stage:
Scene 1
On February 7th 1879, during a cricket match at Moore Park (Now known as Sydney Cricket Ground) in Australia, England who were touring, were against the New South Wales side. Having the liberty to select one of the two officiating umpires during the match then, English captain Lord Harris picked up Victorian George Coulthard while NSW skipper David Gregory choose Edmund Barton, who later went onto to become the President of the country.
England, who batted first after winning the toss, scored 267 runs in their first innings. Harris was given a life early on as his outside edge to the wicket-keeper was denied by umpire Coulthard, leaving the opposition fuming. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Harris made 41 runs. At the end of the day, the NSW were reduced to 53/2. Even after starting well on Day 2, the hosts collapsed to just 177 runs.
With the follow-on mark being decided as 80 runs back then, England had the lead of 90 and thus asked the opposition to bat again.
Scene 2
During their second innings, one of the NSW opener named as Milly Mudorch was adjudged run out by Coulthard. Seemed unhappy with the umpire’s decision, the crowd start hooting as they claimed it was intended, pointing towards the fact that Coulthard was selected by the English team. The Sydney Herald, one of the leading newspaper in Down Under then, spread the rumor that the Victorian had put a large bet on England’s win, which was later denied by both Harris and Coulthard.
Tension seemed to rise as no batsman turned out to the crease after the wicket. Harris then walked towards the opposition’s pavilion and met Gregory at the gate, where the latter asked Harris to change their umpire to which the English captain defended the umpire’s decision and refused to do so. Also, Edmund Barton who was selected by the hosts backed Coulthard’s decision.
Scene 3
In whisker of a moment around 2000 people from the crowd came down on the pitch, cutting short the argument between both the captains. From suffering bruises to taking down the assaulter’s, umpire Coulthard and his supporter Lord Harris had thirty hard minutes on the field to deal with. Hornby, one of the English team member who was also an amateur boxer, grabbed his captain’s assaulter and dragged him back to the pavilion. In return, he was also attacked brutally.
After the ugly chaos came to a standstill, Gregory declared the match to be over when Harris showed no signs of changing his decision to persist with the umpire. The English captain then asked Barton to negotiate the matter with Gregory.
As soon as the game resumed and the batsmen reached the crease, the crowd again surged onto the pitch and stayed there till the end of the day’s play. After having a rest day (i.e Sunday) in between, the match resumed on Monday where the home team added only 49 more runs on the board. England thus won the match by an innings and 41 runs.