TNCA League Cricket returns after nine months

Not willing to be tied down, a 65 year old takes the ground on the first weekend as league cricket returns to St Bedes 

Faulty temperature meters, no masks, breakfast from outside caterer, large number of footballers, archers and Silambattam trainees mark this Sunday morning at the St Bedes ground 

Players and officials entered the St Bedes ground over the weekend for the first time in nine months with mixed feelings and under the ‘new normal’ as official cricket kicked off in the city with the restart of the TNCA league matches. For starters, all the players and officials were at the ground at least one hour before the scheduled start of play on Sunday morning for a temperature check. Those that had temperature higher than the prescribed level were to be asked to leave the ground but thankfully all the players and officials were within the limits. And then the two umpires called on the captains of the two teams to lay down the special playing conditions under the new normal.

What was particularly interesting on Sunday morning was the presence of a 65 year old cricketer who has been playing in the league cricket in the TNCA since the age of 15. Former Central Zone and RBI leg spinner S Madhavan, who retired from the bank a few years ago, does not seem to be contemplating cricketing retirement anytime soon. Unmindful of the COVID scenario, he was bubbling with childlike enthusiasm and raring to have a go at the batsmen.

Madhavan has just completed 65years and will be in his 50th year in league cricket next season. He is a role model for all youngsters in the TNCA league. He had already taken close to 20 wickets in the season (2019-20) and has consistently taken over 25 wickets every season. At 8.30am this Sunday (Dec 27) morning at the St. Bedes ground, he is the only cricketer seen in full whites, one hour ahead of the scheduled start of the match. He has just had a temperature check and is ready for the round of exercises and fielding practice. It has easily been his longest period away from a cricket ground in almost half a century with him being tied inside his house for a large part of the last nine months. For a man well past 60, one would have expected him to be spending the Margazhi Sunday at a Kutcheri and not at a cricket ground but he is not a normal man, one whose hands cannot be kept away from the cricket ball, and offers a different perspective “The Sun is out this morning and shining brightly. A full day game under the hot sun is likely to increase your immunity. Bowling and Fielding is also likely to loosen up the different parts in the body. So overall, it could work towards better health.” 

Madhavan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/rbi-madhavan-leg-spinner.html) was quite surprised when his wife proactively wished him well and asked him to give his best and enjoy the match. She had seen how restricted he had been during the period of the lockdown and his hands had been itching to have the red cherry once again. And thus when the TNCA announced last week the resumption of lower division league matches, there was a positive feeling of getting back on the ground once again. His feelings are quite understandable for he has always taken a lot of delight in spinning batsmen out with his leggies and wrong-uns. 

With the outbreak of the pandemic early this year, the lower division matches relating to 2019-20 had to be put on hold in March this year. The TNCA has put in place a SOP document for the umpires and players to follow during the matches. The players will not be allowed to apply saliva on the ball or spit on the ground. The TNCA’s umpiring committee has said that the players shall not handover their caps/sweaters/sun glass or any other personal clothing or equipment during the match to any of the umpires. 

Chairman of TNCA Umpiring committee JR Madanagopal said that he was hopeful of some good games under the new 'SOP' for cricket “It has been a long wait but we are hopeful of seeing some cricket again. Like in other walks of life, the Pandemic will result in a new normal in cricket as well and this will call for a change in mindset of both the cricketers and the umpires. In line with this thinking, the umpiring committee of the TNCA has put in place safety precautions that will assist in the smooth conduct of the matches in these testing times. 

The scene elsewhere at St Bedes is one of varied sporting activity. There are hundreds of sportsmen at the two grounds. While there is a non TNCA match at the St Beds ‘A’ ground (one wonders as to why there is no TNCA league match slated for this weekend at the A ground as well!!!), the footballers in large numbers are seen playing a match at the B ground. At the South end of the B ground are young Silambattam trainees practicing under their trainer. There are also those training archery.

Umpiring after the Lockdown 

The two umpires too have arrived early well before 8.30am, both with interesting backgrounds and were the only ones to wear a mask. Earlier this decade, K Raghuram took the call to turn into a full time professional umpire and is now a BCCI umpire. It has been a long wait for him on the professional front in 2020 with no matches in the last nine months but at home he has seen ups and downs. His 66 year old mother had a stroke a few months back and he had to spend a lot of time in the hospital. He  also had to spend time at the hospital awaiting the birth of his first child. Given this background, the family was a little apprehensive of him officiating in a league match when the COVID is still in the air but he says he has no options “Once I have decided to take this up as my profession there is no choice but to officiate. There is certainly a fear. I have given them the confidence that I would wear mask through the day and maintain social distancing as well. It surely is a tough call to take at this time where everything is uncertain.” 

The other umpire this morning Manu Needhi Chozhan is in the entertainment industry involved in background music recording for movies. To him, there was clearly a message from home to postpone umpiring by a couple of weeks. He himself is not sure how it will be given the new normal in cricket “My family asked me to wait and watch for two weekends to see how the matches in the league unfold and also the overall COVID scenario. But I have taken the call to officiate. I have brought a hand sanitizer from home and will be wearing the mask throughout. At the same time, the players are not likely to wear masks.” 

Interestingly, a member of the TNCA umpires committee and BCCI umpire R Rajesh Kannan(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/06/rajesh-kannan-bcci-board-umpire.html) took a rather bold call earlier this month and informed the TNCA that he would not be able to officiate the first division matches (when the TNCA had announced the completion of the first division matches from Dec 7) citing the presence of his aged mother at home. 

There are no bio bubbles in the TNCA league like the ones in international cricket and most of the sportsmen are not wearing a mask. The temperature meter did not measure up well at the B ground with the gauge even showing 40degrees for one of the cricketers!!! The outside caterer brought breakfast for one of the teams. While there is still some amount of apprehension among a few cricketers, overall a large percentage of them seem to have unshackled themselves and were seen mingling freely with fellow cricketers. 

Aravind Srinivasan, who played first division cricket for SBI and Alwarpet in the 1990s, now captains a lower division team in the TNCA league. He has also been a cricket coach for many years now. His team comprises of many youngsters with most of them aged below 20 and sees the resumption of league matches as a positive development but is finding the parents still treading with caution “In the larger interest, it is important to start playing matches. At some point we have start. Over the last month, the Covid cases in Chennai have seen a downward trend, which is a good sign. We have to look forward to positive things in life. I am currently seeing some initial apprehension from parents in sending their wards for practice or to the ground. Lot of them are still tentative, more so because senior citizens are at home. We have not resumed team practice.”

He has taken an interesting view on how he sees the resumption of the league matches and offers an important message for the cricketing fraternity “If the parents decide not to send their children to play the league matches, that should be respected. We should not hold that against them later on. League restarting is a good sign but you have to respect the free will of the parent and the players and the league team captains and coaches should not blame cricketers for not turning up for an important match. Also, the team officials or the TNCA should not be blamed if any of the cricketers gets Covid after playing in these league matches. In such challenging times, it is really a fine line and parents have to take that decision.”

Official cricket has come back to Madras this weekend after nine months. And life too seems to have returned to normalcy as seen from the activities at the St Bedes ground this morning.