After the English, it is the turn of the South Africans to be embroiled in a drinking controversy. It is alleged that after their loss to New Zealand, South African cricketers were seen drinking in a bar till 4 am. Right or wrong is another issue and with the South African team making an emphatic entry into the semi-final, it may just be overlooked. But what is the problem with the young cricketers?

Graeme Smith has said that the team follows a 48-hour curfew policy. This means that the team members may not party 48 hours before a game. The New Zealand loss was on April 14, Saturday and the England match on April 17, Tuesday. So the players may well have been within their rights to party. But the issue here was should they be partying after a loss? Captain Graeme Smith backed the involved players saying that they were entitled to letting off some steam in a high-pressure tournament and after an especially difficult loss.

This, however, isn’t the first time (nor will it be the last) that a team has been in trouble. Some years ago, there was the incident involving the Australian team in a bar in India. More recently and in this World Cup itself was the English team’s shenanigans. Andrew Flintoff has been caught with his pants down (metaphorically) once too often and if reports are to be believed, he has lost his chance of being England captain.

If, however, such outings are going to help a player unwind and not affect his performance in the next match, is it entirely wrong? Is just the impression they give of not caring after a loss that affects fans? As professionals, cricketers would know that they have lost and they need to buckle up to win in their next match. They would have gone through their analysis and known where they went wrong. Should the fans even have an opinion about this?

After the South African incident, some fans were quoted as saying that this behaviour was not welcome since the team wasn’t performing as expected and the money (good money, mind you) the fans had paid to come all the way and support the team was not being repaid by the players with on-field performance. But isn’t loss a part of any sport? The extreme reactions of the Indian and perhaps Pakistan fan apart, most other countries react moderately to losses in cricket. But their fans do seem to expect appropriate behaviour.

As for the question about who the bad boys of cricket are, it would be England. Based purely on off-field behaviour and linked to on-field performance!