Stubborn bails trouble World Cup captains

LONDON: Limited-overs cricket, they say, is a batsman’s game. More so, at the ongoing ICC World Cup, where five times in 13 games, the bails have refused to fall despite the ball hitting the stumps.

On Sunday, at The Oval, Australia opener David Warner was the latest beneficiary of the firm World Cup bails in their game at The Oval. He edged Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah on to his leg stump but the electronic zing bails stayed firm.

Aaron Finch, Australia’s captain, though pleased that his team wasn’t at the receiving end, stressed that it was unfair on the part of the bowlers.

“It’s a bit unfair at times, isn't it? It does seem to be happening more and more, which is unfortunate, because you'd hate to see something like that happen in a World Cup final or a semifinal. You've done the hard work as a bowler or as a fielding side to set a player up or get the mistake and it not be rewarded. There may be something, but I'm not sure what you can do. I don't know how much lighter they can make the bails,” Finch said.

Virat Kohli, his Indian counterpart, agreed.

“This is not something which you expect at the international level. I think with the technology it's great. The lights come on and you know it's very precise when you actually make something happen with the stumps. But you literally have to smash the stumps really hard, and I'm saying that as a batsman. “If I see something happening like that, I'd be very surprised, also. And these are fast bowlers. These are not your medium-paced bowlers. I don't know, and MS (Dhoni) said we checked the stump hole, as well. The stump was not in very hard, it was actually loose.

“I'm sure no team would like seeing stuff like that when you actually bowl a good ball and then you don't get the guy out, the ball hits the stump and the lights don't come on, or the lights come on and the bail comes back on to the stump. I haven't seen that happen so many times in the past.”