David Warner fifth batsman at World Cup to survive with bails not removed after stumps hit
Last Updated: 09/06/19 8:45pm
David Warner became to fifth batsman to get a World Cup reprieve due to non-dislodged bails during Australia's defeat to India at The Oval.
Warner inside-edged India quick Jasprit Bumrah onto his stumps in Australia's ultimately-failed pursuit of 353 in South London on Sunday but the zing bails remained in place.
South Africa's Quinton de Kock, Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne, West Indies' Chris Gayle and Bangladesh's Mohammad Saifuddin have also encountered the same fortune, with the latest incident prompting responses from Nasser Hussain,and Shoaib Akhtar on Twitter.
"This can't keep happening with the bails!!! Hard enough being a bowler nowadays... needs changing," wrote Sky Cricket expert and former England captain Hussain.
Ex-Pakistan seamerAkhtar wrote: "What's going on?? In my entire life, I have not seen five instances like this, let alone in the space of 10 days or a tournament."
Australia captain Aaron Finch - whose side lost to India by 36 runs - said: "We were on the right end of it today, but it's a bit unfair at times isn't it? I know it hit the stumps pretty hard.
"It does keep happening more and more, which is unfortunate. You'd hate to see something like that happen in a World Cup semi-final or final, if you've done the hard work in setting up a batsman and it not be rewarded.
"But I'm not sure what you can do, I'm not sure how much lighter they can make the bails."
India skipper Virat Kohli added: "This is not something you expect at international level. The technology is great, it's very precise when you make something happen with the stumps.
"You literally have to smash the stumps pretty hard. These are fast bowlers, it's not like they are medium pacers or anything. So I don't know what's wrong with the outer coating of the stump, if it's too thick or too rigid.
"But no team will like to see that, if you bowl a good ball and you don't get a guy out. I haven't seen that happen so many times in the past."
Kohli also gestured to India fans not to boo Australia's Steve Smith at The Oval after they had given the Australian a hostile reception as he fielded.
Kohli says Smith must now be allowed to move on from the ball-tampering scandal, which saw him handed a year-long suspension by Cricket Australia.
"I think what's happened has happened, long back; the guy is trying to play well for his side. It's not good to see someone down like that to be honest," said the India captain.
"We've had a few issues in the past, a few arguments on the field, but you don't want to see a guy feeling that every time he goes out to play.
"There were a lot of Indian fans here and I just didn't want them to set a bad example. He didn't do anything to be booed, he was just playing cricket.
"If I was in a position where something had happened to me, where I had apologised, accepted it and then came back I wouldn't like it either.
"I just told him 'sorry' on behalf of the crowd. In my opinion I didn't think that was acceptable."
You can watch every match of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup (channel 404), continuing with South Africa versus the West Indies, from 10am on Monday.
