T Becca: One last chance for David Lloyd (9 Sep 1998)
England's cricket coach David Lloyd is a lucky man
09-Sep-1998
9 September 1998
One last chance for David Lloyd
Tony Becca
England's cricket coach David Lloyd is a lucky man. Instead of
preparing to accompany the England team to Australia later this year
for the Ashes series, he should be job hunting.
A quiet, pleasant man on the surface, Lloyd is a poor loser, his
outbursts following a number of England losses have embarrassed the
leaders of English cricket, he has been warned a few times by the
English Cricket Board to keep his mouth shut, and when he launched a
broad-side attack on Muttiah Muralitharan during Sri Lanka's march to
victory in the recent one-off Test match at The Oval and was summoned
to a meeting by the ECB, it appeared that his days as the England
coach were over.
Fortunately for Lloyd, he got away with another warning. This time,
however, he was told there won't be a next time.
No one likes to lose, and Lloyd is no exception. Good manners,
however, dictate that one accepts defeat graciously - and Lloyd was
far from gracious when he criticised Muralitharan's bowling action
after the offspinner had taken seven wickets in England's first
innings and was on his way to nine in the second.
Like Lloyd, there are many in cricket who believe that Muralitharan's
action is wrong and that it gives him a decided advantage. Unlike
Lloyd however, they no longer talk about it, much more complain about
it.
Two years ago when the Sri Lankans were in Australia, Muralitharan
was no-balled for throwing, he became the centre of a controversy,
the International Cricket Council, the game's governing body, called
in its experts - umpires and coaches - and had them look at tapes of
the bowler in action.
The ICC then got medical tests done, the medical tests showed the Sri
Lankan's unusual action was due to a rare condition which prevented
him from straightening his arm, and the ICC cleared him as a
legitimate bowler.
That was good enough for everyone - including umpires around the
world and it should be good enough for Lloyd. His outburst in the
midst of a great performance by Muralitharan was simply not cricket.
Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)