An Englishman And A Beamer

Michael Atherton, that selfless defender of batsmen's livelihoods and bane of the cunning and evil band of beamer bowling bowlers, has not been heard from in that curious case of the Chris Tremlett beamer. We all know Atherton's expedience in lambasting India's Shantakumran Sreesanth when the bowler's post-beamer apology simply did not cut it with the former England captain.

The furore that Sreesanth's bouncer created in the Kingdom says as much for how flustered the commentators and the media were by the barrage that had just hit their national team. Atherton's double standards have been well exposed by all and sundry. For a man that has never worn a fast bowler's boots, his outburst seemed rather ill-informed, callous and sensationalist.

Sreesanth's beamer did not look good from any angle, but then beamers seldom do. As quick as the beamer was bowled, so was an apology tendered to a diving Kevin Pietersen.

It takes an extremely cynical washed up ex-player pundit to presume that any one of Brett Lee, Sreesanth or Chris Tremlett would ever intentionally bowl the most hideous of deliveries one can be witness to on a cricket pitch.

I have deliberately not added the name of one express Pakistani fast bowler to the list of three names above. I wonder what venom Atherton would spew if the said bowler happened to send an Englishman crashing unceremoniously to Earth with a tasteless ball that simply knows not how to bounce.

If you support Team India click here to purchase a Team India Nike ODI cricket shirt