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-------- Raman Subba Row ---------

He is a quintessential English cricketer, but with an Indian back ground. Having played for England in 13 Test matches about 40 years ago, Raman Subba Row now calmly dons the mantle of International Cricket Council’s match referee. From his first assignment eight years ago in a series between South Africa and West Indies to the just concluded Test series between India and South Africa, Mr Row has seen the sea of changes that the role has gone through.

During his visit to Bangalore, Mr Row was pleasantly surprised to know that he was related to Karnataka governor V.S. Ramadevi, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, by marriage. “It is very strange and rather nice, I am very flattered,” Mr Row told Online Bangalore.com Mr Row, who played 13 Tests for an average of 46.85 runs with three 100s and four 50s from 22 innings, also spoke about matters relating to cricket. Excerpts of the exclusive interview:

How do you perceive the role of the match referee?
It has gradually changed. It started about 1990-91 and it really came about after a very bad series between West Indies and Australia. They had a nasty series. Viv Richards and Alan Border were the two captains. After that the International Cricket Council said that it would have somebody at every international match, who didn’t belong to either side. But, of course duties at that stage weren’t specified. And when I went out to do the West Indies versus South Africa series in 1992, eight years ago, I had coffee with the committee, lunch with the committee, tea with the committee and drinks with the committee. It was generally keeping an eye on things.

Over the years, that (the role of match referee) has developed into a proper job. The match referee  very rarely sees the committee, except may be at the end of the match. Otherwise, it is a job with specific functions which are set out. The match referee is incharge of what we call a playing control team. There are two umpires on the field, there is a television replay umpire and a fourth umpire, who has massive duties to do. All these duties are laid out. One has to make sure as match referee that they all understand what their responsibilities are and during the course of the match to make sure that they do what they should do as well as to help them as much as possible in what they are doing. The match referee is the team leader. It is his job to do that and to try and ensure that the ICC regulations in respect of discipline, behaviour, advertising on equipment and clothing as well as various other things are all adhered to. That’s the quickest summary I can give without talking for a couple of hours.

The crowd behaviour is generally sparked by the reaction of the players, how can this be curbed?
I keep saying, so far as discipline on players is concerned, there is a very thin line between disappointment and dissent. It is judgmental on the part of the person who is making the judgement watching cricket. What I think is indiscipline, other people would say no it is pure disappointment. It all depends on the person who is looking at it. I think, one has to bear in mind the fact that cricket is a different game from the cricket that I played 40 years ago. We just played it in a different manner and different spirit.
The world was a different place 40 years ago and the people of the world were different. Now most things in the world have become much more competitive and cricket is just part of that exercise. It has become more competitive. That’s not an excuse for saying that players can get away with anything, because they can’t. I have had my fair share of reports and disciplinary proceedings, which a match referee will have to do. It is really about keeping some sort of balance. If you see something that you don’t like, you have make it known to the officials of the particular team, the manager and the captain and get them to put it right. If they don’t put it right or if the person offends again, then clearly something has to be done. It is an assessment job.

Do you advocate a World cup for Test cricket?
We already have a World Cup of cricket every four years. We have a World Cup, which goes around various countries and has been immensely popular. It is a question of what form of competition cricket should take in the future. Many people have their personal views on that. I personally feel there must be an international Test match championship where sides play each other over a period of say three years and points are awarded for every match that takes place. If a team plays five matches against another country and wins the first three, then numbers four and five are as important as number one, two or three. I also think there should be an One-day championship as well, which again would be structured so that it is done on a planned basis from the centre. In the past cricket has been organised by countries getting in touch with each other, which would ask would you come and play three Tests and seven One-day internationals in two years time. But, we are now getting to the stage where a lot more central planning is needed.

Given the present context of the game, would you prefer a five-day Test or the One-day version?
I think there is a place for both games. They are very different. Test cricket does not really attract the numbers that the One-day game does. We get full houses and packed grounds when we get the One-day games, on the other hand Test cricket is a fascinating game. Millions of people who do not actually come are intrigued to know what is going on in the Test match scene. They study newspapers and watch the television. I think there is a place for both games. Time is coming fairly shortly when the fixtures need to be properly structured. I don’t think it is right to have One-day matches every other day with big distances to travel in between. I don’t think that’ll last much longer. You can’t play two, four, six, eight, 10, you can play three, six, nine, 12 or 15. Those sort of things need to become a standard practice.

Do you subscribe to the view that there should be two different teams for both versions of the game?
The games is cricket. They are both cricket aren’t they. Although some people say there is cricket and cracket and therefore you need different people. They are increasingly different as games and as such I can well understand that some players are better in cricket than in cracket and some people are better in cracket than in cricket. If that is the case, then you have to pick the right people for the right games. Some people clearly are very good at both. But, you get some who lean towards one rather than the other.

Do you think that the changes that have taken place over the years are good for the game?
Cricket has got to keep pace with the way the world has changed. It has to do that, it would be a great shame if it didn’t do that. Changes need to be brought about in a controlled, structured way. You can’t put changes back, you got to get on as the world changes. Look at the arrival of the aeroplane and the changes that it has brought. I went to Australia from England by boat. It took four weeks (28 days) to get to Australia. It is the longest journey that I have ever under taken. We came back by air in a series of little hops. People flash around the world now in no time at all. This just one example of how things have changed.

Is it possible to popularise cricket in more countries of the world?
ICC’s plan is to extend the game as far as possible. I was very interested to see that Mohinder Amarnath is going to Morocco in Europe in order to promote the game of cricket. ICC is generally trying to get the game developed in as many countries as possible. We have to give countries a chance to enter the scenario. We have seen over the years since cricket began, some people who came in at the start weren’t very good. India in the 1930s weren’t very good, New Zealand weren’t very good, West Indies weren’t very good and Sri Lanka as well. But given a chance, we suddenly find them beating the other people, who were their seniors. I am greatly in favour of extending the game and also giving countries a chance to come through.

In due course of time, do you expect teams from say the US or Europe playing in world competitions?
It depends on what other sports take place in those countries. Some sports are very difficult to break in say if cricket is competing with baseball in the US, which is their traditional game. It is not easy to get in with cricket. We can only do that slowly. It is very important to start and then the development process begins. I gather there are quite a number of clubs in Japan these days. The Japanese Cricket Association and the Italian Cricket Federation are playing their cricket. Spain are starting to develop their cricket. Who knows in the future what might happen.

What are your cherished moments...
I think the most cherished moment is when one is picked to play for the country. If you ask the fellows out there practising now (the Indian and South African players at the nets), they would all say the first time that they heard that they were playing for the country is the most cherished moment.

...disappointing moments?
The most disappointing moment was the last year that I played Test cricket. I didn’t play for very long. We had a wonderful series with the Australians in 1961. We were level going into the fourth Test match. We had a marvellous Test match which finished on the fifth day towards the end. When we came to the last day, we were winning it at the start. And then got into a bad position and looked as if we were going to lose it. Then we got into a better position and again got very close to winning it. It was a dramatic day and we finished up losing the Test. It was up, down, up down and we ended losing it. It was a wonderful game of cricket played in a very good spirit.