Cricket World Cup bails controversy under the microscope as India and Australia call for action

India captain Virat Kohli and Australia skipper Aaron Finch have called for cricketing authorities to take action after yet another controversial incident involving the stumps at this summer’s World Cup.

Australian batsman David Warner edged onto his own stumps early in his innings during Sunday’s defeat to India at The Oval, but was given a reprieve when the bails failed to dislodge, and went on to make a half century.

It was the fifth such incident in just fourteen matches at the tournament, following several occurrences at this year’s IPL.

There has been debate over whether the technology which makes the wickets light up when struck has contributed to making the bails more difficult to shift, and when asked whether it was something that needed to be looked at, Kohli said: “Definitely.

“You literally have to smash the stumps really hard and I’m saying that as a batsman! These are fast bowlers. These are not your medium-paced bowlers.

“I don't know what's actually wrong with the stump, the outer coating of the stump. I have no idea what's going on due to the lights coming on, if the stump is too thick or too rigid, I have no idea.

“But I'm sure no team would like seeing stuff like that when you actually bowl a good ball and then you don't get the guy out.”

Australia were themselves on the receiving end when West Indies star Chris Gayle was let off the hook during their meeting last week, while England have twice been unlucky, missing out on the wickets of South African opener Quinton de Kock and Bangladesh’s Mohammad Saifuddin because of stubborn bails.

Controversy: Warner hit the ball onto his own stumps but the bails failed to dislodge early in the Australia innings
AFP/Getty Images

None of the incidents have yet proved crucial to the final result, with the unfortunate bowling team going on to win the match on all five occasions, but Finch, who was batting with Warner at the time of his escape, believes action needs to be taken now before it’s too late.

“We were on the right end of it today,” Finch said. “But I think going forward – it’s a bit unfair at times, isn’t it?

“It does seem to be happening more and more, which is unfortunate because you’d hate to see something like that happen in a World Cup final or semi-final.

“You’ve done the hard work as a bowler or a fielding side to set a player up or get the mistake and it not be rewarded.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in