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The asininity of cricket reinforces Shakespeare’s philosophical point

Jul 27, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
When you study philosophy, you tend to prefer Macbeth as Shakespeare’s best play. For me it is. I taught philosophy for twenty six years at UG, and on my reading list was Macbeth. Here are the words of Macbeth as he nears the end of his life
“And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
I looked at most of the cricket matches in the Caribbean Premier League and I came face to face with the asininity of that game. The asininity of the rules of cricket must make you wonder if life has logic and makes sense. You look at the rules of cricket and you know that Shakespeare had to be right about life.
Surely the asininity of cricket rules has no parallel in the ancient and modern world. For humans to accept those rules it means the mind has no meaning
When a batsman is out, the umpire communicates with the other umpire who is using the monitor up in the pavilion. He asks the “technology umpire” to check to see if the bowler stepped over the line on delivery of the ball. If the technology shows he did, then that is classified as a no-ball.
The batsman is allowed to remain even though he was out because actually you cannot be out off of a no-ball. The on-field umpire also communicated with the “technology umpire” if he is uncertain if a ball touches the boundary. So he needs to know if four runs were scored.
At this point cricket rules make sense. But things become bizarre as you continue to watch the game. A bowler and the wicket-keeper appeal for a catch, meaning that the batsman is out.
The umpire decides that there wasn’t a catch. The bowler and the wicket-keeper are incensed. The wicket-keeper says he took a catch. The bowler said he saw when the catch was taken.
Commonsense, rationality and logic would dictate to any sane mind that you resort to technology the way you do for a bowler who steps over the line and the way you do to determine if a ball reached the boundary. Why in the same manner you cannot ask the “technology umpire” to see if the wicket-keeper took the catch. Surely that has to be the asininity of life.
Frederick Kissoon 

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