ZINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER! (OR THERE’LL BE A REAL BAILS-UP)

LEGENDARY commentator David Lloyd has urged cricket’s governing body to ‘get their finger out’ and take action over what has become the World Cup farce of the non-budging bails. Five times already in the first 10 days of the tournament there have been instances of the ball hitting the stumps but failing to dislodge the Zing bails, that light up when hit, but the International Cricket Council continue to insist there is no problem. Not so, according to Sportsmail columnist Bumble, who wants the ICC to act before there is the flashpoint of a wicket being denied at a crucial time of this World Cup by a problem that surfaced during this year’s Indian Premier League. ‘Clearly something is wrong,’ said former umpire Lloyd, now one of the most respected figures in the world game. ‘It’s happened too many times and it appears the ICC have done nothing. So I think they should get their finger out and sort it out.’ Lloyd (below) is not against the flashing equipment, which has been introduced as a viewer’s aid, but believes that nothing can have been done to the stumps being used in the World Cup to cope with the heavier bails. ‘I can see the attraction but it’s no good if the ball hits the stumps and the damn thing doesn’t work,’ said Bumble. ‘It seems to be hitting the stumps hard too in some of the cases we’ve seen so far so something needs to be modified. If you hit the stumps you expect the bails to come off and if they don’t we’ve got a problem. ‘It looks to me that the grooves are too big, whatever the makers are saying. Surely we need to have lesser grooves. If they’ve adapted the bails, which are obviously heavier, have they adapted the stumps? And if not, why not? ‘The Zing bails are particularly good at night time and in Twenty20 matches and it does help the spectator sitting side on to see what is going on if they see them flashing. But it does not do anyone any good if they are not working and it is up to the ICC to act before there is a real controversy in this tournament.’