Death of a Gentleman

Two cricket journalists - Sam Collins and Jarrod Kimber - set out to see whether Test cricket has a future. In so doing they discover a conspiracy which starts at the highest echelons of cricket administration and politics. The conspiracy is borne out of self-interest and putting commercial interests ahead of the good of the game. This spells disaster for Test cricket.

Well made documentary. Starts as a harmless examination of the future of test cricket and turns into a massive expose of the mismanagement of cricket by the ICC and BCCI. Some quite startling, and depressing, revelations.

Fairly wide coverage of everyone concerned, from the top brass at the ICC, BCCI and ECB, to cricket journalists and broadcasters, to former players and current players. Having painted T20 and IPL as the threat to Test cricket, and international cricket in general, what was missing was interviews with players who are having to make a choice between playing for their country and playing for the money. We have an interview with Chris Gayle, but he is a cricket mercenary - he chose money over country in a heartbeat - so no soul-searching involved.

The Ed Cowan angle was interesting - showing a journeyman cricketer making his way at the top flight. Not an established player, so not much room for him to have to choose money vs country, but still gives a perspective on why people play the game, and the trials, tribulations and triumphs of a cricket career.

On a negative note, Collins and Kimber are no Woodward and Bernstein - they are cricket writers not investigative journalists, and it shows. Some of their investigations seem rather clumsy.

Overall, a must-see for lovers of the world's greatest sport, Test cricket, and for anyone who cares about the future of cricket, in general.

Death of a Gentleman starts off as an observation of the health of Test cricket and segues into the murky world of its administration and administrators. Giles Clarke of the ECB comes across as an incompetent and arrogant man at best, N Srinivasan does slightly better than him but anyone following Indian cricket for long enough know about his shadow of murk. All this is sandwiched between a tenuous hook in the form of Ed Cowan who enters and exits international cricket.

I felt the two different worlds, that of the cricket of the players and its fans and that of the political playground of the sport never quite gelled well enough (like in real life). While Cowan's story was an affecting one, it just feels too feeble because of the sinister machinations the films begins to follow on the side. Once Sam Collins and Jarrod Kimber get into the investigative part of the film, there really is very little room for the emotional core.

I also found the slight dramatisation of the nexus a bit weak and it is not too difficult to see why. The story of the boards need not be dramatised. It is very clearly a game of politics and manipulation at the administrative level. These are minor quibbles though.

For someone who has known this game for most of my life, this came as a reminder of what is wrong with the sport. Clarke at one point hedges his bet on the sub-continent loving cricket in the future too. He, and administrators like him, are like ostriches with their head stuck in sand; except, they're also searching for gold at the same time.

This film may have been made better had they planned for it, but I doubt it would have done any more than what it does now. This is film for every cricket fan to watch.