A Letter to ICC

R. George Manuelpillai A cricketer and an enthusiast .from Sri Lanka

R. George Manuelpillai
Jawatha Gardens
Colombo 05

April 30, 2007

The President
The International Cricket Council
World Cup Tournament
P.O. Box 5000/70
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates

Dear Sir,

Subject: 2007 World Cup winners -Australian Cricket Team be
Disqualified and the Sri Lanka Cricket Team be declared
as the winners, because Adam Gilchrist admits concealing
a performance enhancing device, inside his bottom hand
glove a squash ball.

Adam Gilchrist, the opening batsman for Australia admits to the correspondent, Bridgetown, Saturday, AFP of using a squash ball concealed inside his bottom hand glove, a performance enhancing device, to catapult the cricket ball. Using a squash ball enclosed inside the glove is considered as an illegal practice, resulting in catapulting and/or catastrophic consequences, thereby assisting Gilchrist to accumulate an induced score of 149 runs in the one day cricket finals at Barbados.

The Laws of Cricket 2000 Code 2 Ed. 2003: The Preamble to the Laws- specifically states that "the game of Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that; it should be played not only within the rules, but also with the spirit of the game. Any action thereof, that is seen to abuse this spirit cause injury to the game itself. The major responsibility of ensuring the spirit of fair-play rests with the Captain".

Based on the information related above, the opening batsmen Adam Gilchrist used a performance enhancing device in his bottom hand glove, a squash ball, challenging not only within its laws of Cricket, but also within the 'spirit of the game'. Any action which is seen to abuse the spirit causes injury to the game itself. Based on the Preamble, the Australian Cricket Team should be disqualified for the illegal practice of concealing a squash ball in the glove, a performance enhancing device. In lieu, the Sri Lankan Cricket Team be re-awarded the Cricket World Cup 2007.

The Captain was aware of the fact that Adam Gilchrist did practice wearing the spring loaded squash ball, concealed in the glove, a prohibitive exercise, with his friend, a squash player - Bob Meuleman, Western Australian Cricketer. So, the Captain in the 'Spirit of the Cricket Game', should have brought it to the notice of the

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Umpires, and obtained prior approval, before the Cricket game got started. Therefore it is pertinent that the ICC Committee take disciplinary action against both Gilchrist and the Captain-as they are jointly and severely guilty of the illegal device that was employed, and should be suspended for life. Furthermore, the Australian Cricket Team be disqualified from the World Cricket Cup 2007, and the cup be re-awarded to the Sri Lankan Cricket Team.

The characteristic of the squash ball indicates that the ball is made of vulcanised rubber with additions of polymers and synthetic material to achieve a degree of fairly low resilience. The lower the resilience of the object the higher the proportion of energy used in deforming it. Thus when a batsmen hits the cricket ball, the air inside the squash ball gets pressurised or deformed, releasing a spring load of energy, that is transferred directly to the bat, resulting in a catapulting effect on the cricket ball, as evidenced by the spectators, watching Gilchrist's batting spell bound.

In this context, it is evident that wearing a performance enhancing device (Squash ball) is prohibitive against the 'Spirit of the Cricket Game' and is analogous to an Athlete using performance enhancing drugs to win his event. Furthermore, the Australian Cricket Team should be disqualified from the World Cup 2007 and in lieu Sri Lankan Cricket Team be re-awarded the World Cup 2007

Laws' the Bat: It defines that the bat should be made solely of wood and the hand and glove be part of the bat The specification of the glove is not defined, but it is prohibitive to enclose a performance enhancing device in the glove. Tampering the glove is synonymous to the tampering of the cricket ball, thus the practice is not allowed/acceptable. Moreover, it is explicit that no outside appliance/device can be introduced into the glove; more specifically a spring loaded device as evidenced in the squash ball and is prohibitive.

In conclusion, I write with a firm hand that the ICC conduct disciplinary hearings and the 2007 World Cricket Cup re-awarded to the Sri Lankan Cricket Club and a decision that both Adam Gilchrist and the Australian Captain be banned for Life.

In the event I do not hear from you, Legal Action will be meted against the ICC.

Soliciting your assistance,

Yours sincerely,

R. George Manuelpillai
A cricketer and an enthusiast .from Sri Lanka
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CC: 1. The President - MMC - I would appreciate the views from your office, and
your actions with the ICC and the Australian Cricket Board..
2. The 16 Cricket Teams - Please be reminded that Adam Gilchrist did admit to
concealing a squash ball in his glove. What assurance is there that other
Australian Cricketers too may have used the same technique in recording big
scores in the tournament just concluded? I suggest that in the 'Spirit of the
Cricket Game' that all the teams that did loose their matches to the Australian
Team should take legal action individually or in unison against the ICC and/or
the Australian board, for the use of a Performance Enhancing Device, a
catapulting effect to register big scor