Is cheating in cricket approved by God ?

[Ian J]

Did anyone see that blatant bit of cheating by AB De Villiers yesterday in which he claimed a low catch that not only did he drop but he knew that he had dropped. As if his blatant cheating wasn't enough on his own the slip fielders next to him were also aware that he had dropped the catch but still surrounded him and congratulated him in order to try and cheat their way to a wicket.

Leaving aside Asian cricket teams who do mention religion in public none of the other teams ever mention it and I have no idea whether any of the England team are religious as it never comes up but out of all the non Asian teams it does seem that only South Africans like to mention that they are deeply religious and it does often come up in conversation frequently.

The arch cheat Hansie Cronje was a devout Christian and it would seem that AB De Villiers is also similar having stated that "his religion is crucial to his approach to life. He has said ‘Jesus is everything in my life – he’s the man,’ and ‘My faith means more to me than playing for my country. It comes first.’

I wonder if their God approves of their cheating

[Sicknote10]

I would probably get in trouble if I said what I really feel about the South African cricket team & god

[huwg]

It depends if God is on the fielding side, apparantly his offspin is very hard to read, he moves it in mysterious ways.

In all seriousness, an honest man regardless of faith should hold his hands up and be truthful - very difficult to do if you are fighting for wickets. But to be honest, the way England got out there was no need to cheat.

[overkill]

Originally Posted by Sicknote10

I would probably get in trouble if I said what I really feel about the South African cricket team & god

Ditto. We could take the God bit, a certain sector of SA society, and it's past history, further, but that too would be liable to cause trouble.

But then certain footballers have been known to either claim God was involved in their acts, or worse cross themselves before going onto the pitch then promptly proceed to dive around like Olympian breast stroke champions.

Should we perhaps, and God forbid, expect cricketers, footballers and all other manner of sporting cheats to claim 'God is with us'?

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by huwg

an honest man regardless of faith should hold his hands up and be truthful.

One of the reasons why I watch more cricket than I do footie nowadays is because it is supposed to be a more honest game and tends to be played in a better spirit than the Winter game which is why when the last bastion of Christianity cheated so outrageously I couldn't help myself and hurled a mouthfull of profanities at the TV in front of my young son

Next I suppose Mr De Villiers will start coveting his neighbour's ox

[Ian J]

With a probable match winning score of 174 it looks like God does side with the cheats.

When he reached his century you could hear the boos ringing out from the crowd and Mike Atherton commentating wondered why some people were booing.

[kopchoir]

Originally Posted by Ian J

One of the reasons why I watch more cricket than I do footie nowadays is because it is supposed to be a more honest game and tends to be played in a better spirit than the Winter game which is why when the last bastion of Christianity cheated so outrageously I couldn't help myself and hurled a mouthfull of profanities at the TV in front of my young son

Next I suppose Mr De Villiers will start coveting his neighbour's ox

now im not a big cricket fan but do keep up with the jonesy`s with regards to whats going on,
but with all the cash floating about now from the indian league (please correct me if im wrong) greed will set in like it did with the footballers not to the extent finacially, but all these win bonuses and what not im sure cheating and everything else will be part of most games and will be drip fed into the international game sharpish imo