Don’t cry for batsmen in odd run outs
Recently we’ve witnessed both ends of the batting self-preservation spectrum, ranging from high-class to downright stupid.
In the high-end category, Virat Kohli again showed his class in scoring a brilliant century, becoming the quickest man to 10,000 ODI runs. It was his determination to put a high price on his wicket – he remained undefeated despite being fatigued – that stood out.
In stark contrast, there were two examples of batting devoid of any care for self-preservation in the Pakistan-Australia Test series.
Firstly, Marnus Labuschagne watched transfixed at the nonstriker’s end — feet out of the crease and bat in the air – as the
ball touched Yasir Shah’s fingers and trickled on to the stumps.
Labuschagne was then trumped by Pakistani pair Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, who contrived to out-do his performance with an act so careless it was beyond stupidity. They stood in mid-pitch chatting while a streaky shot pulled up centimetres short of the boundary. Both seemed stunned when Mitchell Starc hurled the ball to wicketkeeper Tim Paine, who whipped off the bails to complete the most needless run out in the history of the game.
Some listeners called a radio station to complain that the Australians’ performance was “poor sportsmanship”. How is it that examples of cricket carelessness always invite sympathy?
Captain MS Dhoni was on the receiving end at Trent Bridge after Ian Bell was run out in a Test.
Bell failed to ascertain the ball had reached the boundary before leaving his crease for the tea
break and Dhoni – correctly – assisted in completing the run out.
Following boos from a section of the crowd, Dhoni was persuaded in the tea break by England captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower to rescind the appeal and Bell resumed his innings. Strauss and Flower should’ve been told to go to their dressing room and explain to Bell that if he’d valued his wicket more highly, he wouldn’t have been dismissed.
It seems the fielding side always gets the blame for the batsman’s thoughtlessness, going back to the original run out in 1947 of Australian non-striker Bill Brown by Vinoo Mankad. Despite Brown being the player in error, the dismissal was and still is described as a ‘Mankad’, as though the bowler is to blame.
Following Labuschagne’s brain fade, I called former teammate Ian Redpath and joked; “That’s the worst backing-up since Adelaide Oval 1969.”
On that occasion, Redpath was Mankaded by West Indies fast bowler Charlie Griffith, after he wandered out of his crease without ensuring the ball had left the bowler’s hand. Nearly 50 years on, Redpath still referred to Griffith as “bleedin’ Charlie”, despite having repeated his mental error in the next Test at the SCG, only to be reprieved when fast bowler Wes Hall refused to remove the bails.
If a batsman puts a high price on his wicket and is always aware of the laws of the game, he can easily avoid being run out in bizarre circumstances. Until this lesson is learned the public should cease feeling sympathy for a batsman’s carelessness.