That's Just Cricket

I grew up sticking Giggs' face into my Premier League sticker book, and the revelation that he had a superinjunction on information about an affair was somewhat heartbreaking. Though I am a Chelsea fan through-and-through there's something about Giggs' spectacular fall from grace that dwarfs the injunction even of John Terry. Giggs was so well-loved and long-serving, he seemed like the least likely candidate for what has become a fair pedestrian occurrence of Footballers-Gone-Wild.

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Yesterday, Matt Prior threw down his cricket bat in the England dressing room, upset over his performance on the field. It is a move of frustration I have witnessed in prep school pavilions a million times. Unfortunately the bat ricochet off other bats lying on the ground, bounced up and broke a window, showing shards of glass over spectators below. Prior, along with England captain, Andrew Strauss, apologised immediately in person to those affected.

These are the heros of sport. Not for cricket the weeping confessions of a Tiger-Woods-style press conference. Not for cricket the hubris of covering frivolous infidelity with legal protection. Instead, just an immediate, humble, and gracious apology. The matter ends there.

It is to be celebrate that there still exists in this country a community of sporting gentlemen. Not to be romanticised, the cliches about cricket, its players and its spectators, have a sense of veracity. It is still a place for civilized sportsmanship.