When the bails just won’t fall | The Daily Star
10:06 PM, June 09, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 10:41 PM, June 09, 2019

When the bails just won’t fall

In the space of just 10 days there have been five instances of the ball hitting the stumps in the 2019 World Cup where the batsman has survived with the bails simply not going off.

Pakistan former star Shoaib Akhtar was left bamboozled by it all. He simply could not remember seeing such occurances in his entire career.

Shoaib tweeted: "Today is the 5th instance of ball hitting the stumps and bails not falling. 5th instance, WITHIN this World Cup. Whats going on?? In my entire life i have not seen 5 instances like this, let alone in the space of 10 days or a tournament!!"

It has not only been spinners who suffered this fate, express quicks have shared the same fate as well.

Rashid Khan against Quinton de Kock was the first instance at the 2019 World Cup. Trent Boult against Dimuth Karunaratne was the second. Aussie quick Mitchell Starc had thought that he got the edge of Chris Gayle's bat in the game against West Indies and the umpire even raised his finger. Gayle asked for a review and it showed there was no nick, it was simply a case of ball glancing the off-stump on the way through to the wicket-keeper.

Bangladesh's Mohammad Saifuddin also survived an instant like that against Ben Stokes in yesterday's match against England. The latest one took place at the Oval today when Jasprit Bumrah bowled to Aaron Finch.

There have been suggestions that the Zing bails are just a bit too heavy. The game's governing body had said the bails are "lighter than those used by umpires when it is windy", claiming "the lights make any movement more noticeable".


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