Bordering on the pathetic

IT IS a different sport, but professional tennis misery-guts Andy Murray’s persistent cramping at the start of his career illustrated the point that such a condition can be down to a lack of fitness.

Having clearly spent plenty of time in the gym since, the painful problem rarely occurs for the Scot these days.

South Africa cricket captain Graeme Smith presumably doesn’t quite agree. Having been on the field of play for most of his side’s crucial Champions Trophy defeat to England, the opener bashed his way to a century when batting in reply to a huge total of 312, only for cramp to strike late in his innings.

Asking for a runner to do the dirty work in between the wickets — lightning quick AB De Villiers was lined up to step on to the field — Smith’s request was refused by opposite number Andrew Strauss, after consultation with the umpires.

Strauss argued it was Smith’s problem and nobody else’s.

The England captain shouldn’t be viewed as a demon figure here. Only two days earlier he showed he isn’t averse to a show of good sportsmanship, calling Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews back for another chance after he was run-out following a mid-pitch collision with bowler Graham Onions.

Smith felt that the England captain was in the wrong, even though he was only endorsing the decision that had already been made by the umpires — the only people, according to the laws of the game, who can rule on such matters.

In any case, you would have thought that a tough bloke like Smith would have been able to see it through.

You couldn’t imagine someone like former Australia captain Allan Border making such noises.

A true hard nut, Border responded to batting partner Dean Jones’s struggles against India in debilitating heat 23 years ago with a very Aussie slice of sympathy.

Completely dehydrated and frequently vomiting on the Chennai pitch, Jones — who had to spend time in hospital after the match — told his skipper that he wanted to retire through illness.

To which the response came, “then let’s get a real Australian in — a Queenslander”. Greg Ritchie, who hailed from the same state as Border, was next to bat. Jones went on to score 210.

Far be it for me to accuse Smith of being soft. But in one-day cricket, his side don’t tend to show up well under pressure.

And is hard to imagine AB pleading for such assistance with his side up against it.

mattchambers@oldham-chronicle.co.uk