Farce as no-balls missed
CRICKET’S credibility is on trial in the second Test, following secret videos revealing Australia was no-balled towards defeat in Adelaide.
Incredible footage captured by broadcasters during a dramatic first Test decided by just 31 runs and seen by News Corp, shows India spearhead Ishant Sharma bowling at least 16 uncalled front-foot no balls in just the first innings.
Sharma was called only once for overstepping the entire Test and that appeared to be almost by accident when Geelong’s Aaron Finch went to DRS for an lbw shout that otherwise would have been out.
Commentators reported watching multiple Sharma overs during the Test, where they examined the on-crease cameras used to determine run-outs, and were stunned that, at least twice, the Indian star bowled four no balls in an over and in at least one instance it was every delivery in the over.
No exhaustive study has yet been done of Sharma’s second innings bowling but it’s poss- ible the quick might have got away with the 30-plus runs that ultimately proved the difference in the match. In any event, it was a stack of unpunished deliveries and at least three overs which the big quick didn’t have to re-bowl in the arduous Adelaide heat.
Australia can in no way blame uncalled no balls from the umpires for its loss in Adelaide, where the top order failed badly twice. But confirmation that officials no longer check the bowlers’ front foot has been labelled an embarrassment for the international game.
Broadcasters are forced to foot the International Cricket Council’s $30,000 daily bill for DRS technology and there is growing bemusement that the third umpire doesn’t even bother to check available footage to adjudicate on no balls.
Regulations stipulate that cameras must be situated on the line of the crease on both sides of the field and both ends of the wicket — yet third umpires refuse to use the instant footage, except when a wicket falls. In what shapes as an armwrestle of a series, umpires will be under huge pressure to rectify the mess in Perth.
Test great Ricky Ponting said on Channel 7 that turning a blind eye to blatant no-balls had become a farce.
“There is three or four from him (this over) … he is clearly over the frontline and it hasn’t been called. It’s not acceptable ... to have this many missed,” said Ponting. “I’ve said this for a number of years, I honestly don’t think the umpires look at the front line any more.
“They were blatantly obvious ones. They’ll only ever look at them if a wicket falls.”
No-balls escaping the umpire’s attention was also a massive talking point in the re- cent England-Sri Lanka Test series where Sri Lankan spinner Lakshan Sandakan dismissed Ben Stokes twice, only to have the decisions reversed when the third umpire checked the front foot.
The blunders prompted Sky TV to review footage of his entire bowling innings and the results were unbelievable — with 40 per cent of his deliveries in the opening session on day three clearly front-foot noballs that went unpunished.
England’s Jos Buttler said it should be part of the third umpire’s job in the box to review the front foot every delivery.