May 11, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8, 1424

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London, May 10: Cricket and family life have never been easy bedfellows. A relationship which was at odds long before women were given the vote appears to have reached a crisis of late.

Within the game, there has been a spate of well-publicised marital break-ups; outside it, the world is adapting to new rules of engagement between the sexes. The leading players are finding that cricket is making greater demands on them than ever before - and so are their wives.

Even though a successful Test career is now shorter than it used to be, at six to ten years, wives and girlfriends are no longer tolerating their lot as cricket widows and virtual single parents.

The problems appear both generational and cultural, with majority of divorces occurring in England, though a quick check reveals that nowhere is immune.

India, to pick a country with different social mores, has its marital casualties: before he was ever accused of match-fixing, Mohammad Azharuddin caused a scandal by walking out of arranged marriage and settling down with a Bollywood actress.

Javagal Srinath’s marriage broke up and Sourav Ganguly’s touched breaking point when he was photographed at a temple with another film star. Other cricketers caught in full glare of Indian celebrity have been tempted, though many feel it is a honey-trap used by underworld figures hoping to blackmail players into fixing matches.

The absenteeism is felt far more in England, where little more than a few weeks separate hectic six-month home season and the moment wives wave their husbands off on tour in October.

Once a relationship becomes strained, cricket rarely seems able to offer a compromise. Recently, Darren Gough, Graham Thorpe, Mark Butcher and Dominic Cork have all seen their marriages break up while on England duty.

Others are doing the sums, and players who spent last winter with both Test and one-day sides in Australia and World Cup in South Africa did not see their beds for 140 nights. Missing kids growing up is a regret many cricketers cite as downside of their job, but it is one that most do little about.

These days, there are still limits, but are less strict. Providing a player is abroad for more than 60 days, England & Wales Cricket Board allow 30 days’ family provision for players who are in both Test and one-day sides and 16 for those in one or the other.

Some, like Imran Khan, David Gower and Mike Atherton, wait until their careers are all but over before starting a family, but they are unusual. Darren Gough, who moved out of family home last year, said he felt playing cricket for England was becoming a single man’s game.

Given that international programme has doubled in last decade, he may be right, but it would be sad if the game’s player-power were further compromised. The hike in matches has come at the behest of TV, which bankrolls modern game.

Until that is addressed, something ICC has yet to do despite pleas of senior Test captains like Nasser Hussain and Steve Waugh, cricket’s biggest battle will be on home front.—PPI