Reading about the expensive divorce, South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs has gone through surely makes people wonder whether a few Indians have this sort of fate in store. Reports indicate Gibbs was married for just a year before his wife filed for a divorce and demanded a financial settlement. When he came down for the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) he was out of form, though much was expected of him by V.V.S, Laxman, his captain. Obviously, his mind was elsewhere.

None expected that the day could come when Gibbs would not be a permanent member of the South African sides, both Test and ODI. Now he has to resign himself to being an ODI player. Considering the amount of cricket every full member has to play in a year, there is a lot of being away from home. This has resulted in a preponderance of ‘cricket widows’. These ladies have to stay back at home when the husbands are travelling and playing.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is well aware of the stress that the players and wives undergo. But then the game has to run and make money for its wellbeing. There are cricketers who have found the strain too much and thrown in the towel like England’s Marcus Trescothick.

Married life must have been difficult for Gibbs, though the reasons for the divorce might not have all to do with travelling for cricket. Many of the cricket boards have adopted a policy of rotating the players, to avoid as far as possible, fatigue and loneliness. These do adversely affect players mentally and they cannot give of their best. India’s ODI captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni skipped the Tests against Sri Lanka, stating that he needed a break. Fortunately, the Indian cricket board saw that he had a case and agreed. Would it have made a difference to the Indian Test team, were Dhoni to be available to play in Sri Lanka? The inadequate wicket-keeping in the three Tests was one of the reasons Kumble’s team was defeated.

There is a feeling that Dhoni took a calculated risk and could have been stretched to retain his position had Dinesh Kartick and Parthiv Patel used the trip to cement their places. This shows that only cricketers who have good credentials can afford to drop a tour.

There are lessons to be learnt from Trescothick, who has admitted in his recently published autobiography, that he contemplated doing away with himself and Gibbs, who has to pay his ex-wife through his nose. The younger Indian cricketers, who are yet to marry, have a lot of thinking to. It is all very well dating attractive girls and making news in the gossip columns, but even such women want assurances. Gibbs has been a loser, but maybe cricket could now make him a winner, if and when he recaptures his best form. There is no more jealous a mistress than cricket.