Bresnan walks when waiting was wiser

AT THE best of times, the nightwatchman is cricket’s sacrificial lamb, a hapless bowler sent out reluctantly to protect the precious batsmen in fading evening light against bowlers scenting blood.

Tim Bresnan seemed to have taken the sacrificial element of this role to a new extreme when, having been given out caught behind off Peter Siddle, he opted against taking a review, despite replays showing clearly that the ball had brushed his trousers rather than his bat.

So early in the innings, had Alastair Cook, the captain, with whom Bresnan made the decision, ordered his poor, downtrodden fast bowler not to waste one of the team’s two valuable reviews, which might be more profitably put to use by a batsman? Was the game’s great class divide, much bemoaned by bowlers at all levels of the game, rearing its head again?

Apparently not, we were assured after play yesterday. In fact, Bresnan felt that the ball had clipped the bottom edge of his bat on its way through to Brad Haddin.

‘‘It just goes to show that batsmen genuinely don’t know whether they’ve hit it or not,’’ England spinner Graeme Swann said. ‘‘Bres came off and he couldn’t believe the replay when he saw it. He heard a noise and assumed it was a bottom edge.’’ Australia’s difficulties in coming to terms with the Decision Review System had resurfaced when David Warner called for a review after he had clearly edged a ball off Swann, but Michael Clarke, the non-striker at the time, exonerated his teammate from any blame. The Australian captain felt that Warner had hit the ball, which ballooned to slip off the thigh of Matt Prior, but supported the batsman’s judgment.

‘‘My reaction was I felt he had hit it, but in fairness to Davey, he actually hit his pad at the same time if you look at the replay, so he obviously didn’t feel the ball hit the bat,’’ Clarke said.

It just goes to show that batsmen genuinely don’t know whether they’ve hit it or not

Graeme Swann

England spinner

‘‘We had a little discussion and we disagreed [over whether Warner had hit the ball], but I said to Davey I’d back his judgment 100%. That’s the way I feel DRS should be used, if the batsman feels he didn’t hit the ball, his partner should back his judgment.’’

Swann was less sympathetic to Warner’s point of view. ‘‘Normally you get a bit nervous during a review because you aren’t sure which way it’s going to go, but that one was quite blatant.’’

England resumed overnight on 52/2 in reply to Australia’s first innings 527/7.