Per the ICC rules, there were a minimum of 98 overs to be bowled in the stipulated period of time on the fifth day of the Cardiff Test ( to make up for time lost to rain).
So it is incumbent on the bowling side to get atleast those many overs in in the stipulated period to avoid penalties.
There is no binding on the batsmen to play any more than the stipulated overs.
That is the way it is.
The Physio and the 12th man made their appearance in the 102nd over of the innings ( the 94th over of the day). Australia bowled 3 more overs after which there were 10 minutes remaining in the days play.
No one defaulted on the overs - they were completed within the stipulated time. Which is exactly what the law ( as it stands today) stipulates.
Now here are the laws on time wasting -
9. Time wasting by the fielding side
It is unfair for any member of the fielding side to waste time.
(a) If the captain of the fielding side wastes time, or allows any member of his side to waste time, or if the progress of an over is unnecessarily slow, at the first instance the umpire shall call and signal Dead ball if necessary and
(i) warn the captain, and indicate that this is a first and final warning.
(ii) inform the other umpire and the batsmen of what has occurred.
(b) If there is any further waste of time in that innings, by any member of the fielding side, the umpire shall
either (i) if the waste of time is not during the course of an over, award 5 penalty runs to the batting side. See 17 below.
or (ii) if the waste of time is during the course of an over, when the ball is dead, direct the captain to take the bowler off forthwith. If applicable, the over shall be completed by another bowler, who shall neither have bowled the previous over nor be allowed to bowl the next over.
The bowler thus taken off shall not be allowed to bowl again in that innings.
(iii) inform the other umpire, the batsmen and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of what has occurred.
(iv) report the occurrence, with the other umpire, as soon as possible to the Executive of the fielding side and to any Governing Body responsible for the match, who shall take such action as is considered appropriate against the captain and team concerned.
10. Batsman wasting time
It is unfair for a batsman to waste time. In normal circumstances the striker should always be ready to take strike when the bowler is ready to start his run up.
(a) Should either batsman waste time by failing to meet this requirement, or in any other way, the following procedure shall be adopted. At the first instance, either before the bowler starts his run up or when the ball is dead, as appropriate, the umpire shall
(i) warn the batsman and indicate that this is a first and final warning. This warning shall continue to apply throughout the innings. The umpire shall so inform each incoming batsman.
(ii) inform the other umpire, the other batsman and the captain of the fielding side of what has occurred.
(iii) inform the captain of the batting side as soon as practicable.
(b) if there is any further time wasting by any batsman in that innings, the umpire shall, at the appropriate time while the ball is dead
(i) award 5 penalty runs to the fielding side. See 17 below.
(ii) inform the other umpire, the other batsman, the captain of the fielding side and, as soon as practicable, the captain of the batting side of what has occurred.
(iii) report the occurrence, with the other umpire, as soon as possible to the Executive of the batting side and to any Governing Body responsible for the match, who shall take such action as is considered appropriate against the captain and player or players and, if appropriate, the team concerned.
Now, if the bowler was not ready to bowl at the end of the over, how does what the batsmen ( or the substitutes did) amount to time wasting or contravening the laws of the game?
And speaking of laws, here is one
2.4 Public criticism of, or inappropriate comment on a match related incident or match officialAnd here is the Ponting quote
"It was pretty ordinary," he said of England's tactics. "They can play whatever way they want to play. We will do everything we can to play by the rules and the spirit of the game. I don't think it was required. They had changed gloves before, so I'm not sure they were going to be too sweaty after one over. I am not sure what the physio was doing out there. I think a few guys were questioning the umpires. I think a few guys were also questioning the 12th man. I am sure others will be taking it up with the England hierarchy as they should."Furthermore, on
Day 3, with Australia in the lead and with 5 wickets in the hutch, Australia were offered the light ( or rain) which they promptly took. England wanted to play on and yet play was suspended.
There were people in the ground and outside who had paid good money to watch a full day's contest. Who were denied because Australia did not choose to play on.
Wonder what happened to the spirit of cricket then?
19 comments:
What pisses me off is how Ponting is such a cry-baby. This is classic bully behavior. No scruples about playing dirty, but if the opposition even try to do something minor, start crying crocodile tears. Pathetic!
Krish,
"The Spirit of Cricket" is such a handy catch phrase - use it when it suits you, abuse it when it doesn't.
Cheers :),
Homer, I agree that Ponting needs to stop being a cry baby and accept the fact that his bowlers could not dismiss England in the stipulated time period. England did try to waste some time and as per Hauritz, Australia would have done the same thing. It did not affect the end result, so lets just move on and hope for a better wicket.
Strange game this, that it required England's ineptness to create a game out of nothing.
Sailesh,
Blame that on the Cardiff wicket.. And yet the ICC will hold it up as a shining example of what a Test wicket should be!
Cheers,
lage raho homer bhai. Australia ke lena chalu rakho.
Anon,
Just upholding the spirit of cricket, or what remains of it.
Cheers,
Australia had more than 10 overs left with Anderson and Panesar at the crease. They were not good enough to take that last wicket. Period.
We are condemned to listen to Ponting's inanities till the time he is Aussie captain. Strange that he says - He does not want to talk about England's time wasting tactics- and ends up talking a great deal about them.
Well played Collingwood (the unsung hero), Anderson and Panesar...
If England was really more concentrated on wasting time then it is really a bad news.Cricket should be played with right attitude.
and here is the hard hitting Duncan:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/SPORTS-Cricket-Top-Stories-Whos-Ponting-to-lecture-on-spirit-of-game-asks-Fletcher/articleshow/4775271.cms
very colorful.
Hey, give the Prick some credit! Didn't Kumble copy his phrase over 15 months before he used. Maybe he can sue Kumble for copyright infringement? (Actually, wasn't the phrase first used by a Aussie batsman - Ponsford? - during the body line series?)
lol Late Inswing.. Thats reverse reverse psycho babble for you :)
Cheers,
Naresh,
Thanks for the link...:)
Cheers,
adverbin,
The Prick used the same phrase at Nagpur, much after Kumble. Seems to be the flavor of the season :)
Cheers,
Cricketonblog,
Time wasting? How? Why must a team play more overs than it is mandated ? And what happens when the reverse is true - if my team is doing well, can I ask the opposing captain to bowl 100 overs in the day instead of 90?
Thanks for your comments and welcome to the blog.
Cheers,
I am not in a position to comment on what happened on the last day of this match (apart from anything else, I am in Japan), but I really don't understand the way the mandated minumum over rate has taken over people's thinking.
Test cricket is 5 days of 6 hours play, not 450 overs (or even 450 overs minus deductions for wickets etc.) Since long before there were any mandated over rates, time wasting has been understood as anything which deliberately delays the next ball, unless there is an acceptable reason. The fact that minimum rates (imposed to cut down on time loss even more) have been exceeded does not absolve either team of the responsibility to use all available time for the game.
But, somehow it is only fines that speak these days - a captain has even been heard to say that they had to slow down because they were exceeding the 90ov/day rate - not even understanding the concept of "minimum"!
THere are many reasons Ricky should keep his mouth shut, but that doesn't mean that everything he says is wrong...
Jonathan,
Whichever way you cut it, England's priority was to play as little as possible, thus facilitating the draw - whether in terms of time or overs.
Now, if Australia had been behind the over rate, isnt there a provision to tack on an extra half hour to the day's play to get the overs in ( or is that rule applicable only for the first 4 days) ?
Given this, bit rich for Ponting to invoke the "Spirit of Cricket" no?
Cheers,
Homer, the interaction between the over rate conditions and the laws relating to last days and last hours is confusing enough when you actually need to implement them - I couldn't say off the top of my head what the situation is at Test level.
Most things Ponting says are a bit rich, even when "correct", but I don't quite see what you're getting at. The point of the rule (or spirit, if you prefer) is that playing as little as possible shouldn't be an aim. I'm not convinced that England were any worse than anyone else often is, but in general I don't see why the fact that there is a minimum over rate should stop a bowling team from benefitting when they have got through the overs more quickly.
Jonathan,
"The point of the rule (or spirit, if you prefer) is that playing as little as possible shouldn't be an aim. " - but this is what all teams teams aim for. Ever seen a team push thru 100 overs in a day with the opposition playing ball?
Cheers,
Yes, everyone does it, but it's not allowed and so they do it by pretending that there are necessary interruptions. Ponting is hardly in a position to complain, but I don't mind questions being asked about whether such dishonesty is a good part of the game.
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