The square leg umpire had given the batsman out. As far as I am concerned the story ought to have ended there. Period. The law says the batsman has to accept it on the chin and walk.

Clarke’s boundary-line-halt was wrong from the point of view of both the rules as well as the spirit of the game.

But I somehow think nothing will come of it. Afterall, the match referee in question is Chris Broad.

Mohan

Fair points Mohan.

But what about the Clarke incident in which the umpire raised his finger and the referral did not come from the on field umpires.

There is the “right thing” and there are the laws.

What Sreesanth did was within the framework of the laws of the game but may not have been the right thing

What Clarke did was neither within the laws of the game nor the right thing.

But I do not see too many people getting worked up about that.

Good points on the rules on the runout attempt by Sreesanth. I think the predominant interest in this episode was whether or not the appeal was “the right thing”. Sreesanth gave the appearance of being clearly charged up and rattled by the time this episode happened.

He had charged down the pitch. Picked up the ball, stopped Haddin from taking a run, enquired about Haddin’s health in an animated way and then walked back to his run-up. Enroute, noticing that Symonds was out of his crease, whipped the bails and asked the question.

My sense is that a good half-a-minute had passed between when Haddin dropped the ball at his feet off a mistimed pull and when the bails were whipped off by Sreesanth at the non-strikers’ end.

Three questions arise:

1] Was the ball ‘dead’?

In my view yes. The ball was finally settled in the bowlers’ hands — he was making his way back to his run-up start. Moreover, perhaps all the concerned players and spectators would have, in that half a minute, “ceased to regard it as in play”.

2] Could the question have been asked?

Technically yes, because as per the rules any player could ask the question at any point in time. My view is that it is for the players to ask questions and for the umpire to make decisions. The umpire is paid to make decisions. In this case Suresh Shastri dilly-dallied and looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights! If he had immediately declared the ball ‘dead’ the matter would have ended right there. Instead, he smiled and looked like he did not want to be there! Sreesanth asked the question again, and then again, and then again and then again!

3] Should the question have been asked?

I do not believe so and this is a personal view. Most players would have regarded the ball as dead the moment Sreesanth picked the ball up from near Haddin’s feet and the moment he started asking Haddin his post-match dinner plans!

Perhaps the time has come for the umpires to be given a whistle. They could blow on it to indicate when ball is ‘dead’.

– Mohan

The Rules of Cricket

Law 23 (Dead ball)
1. Ball is dead
(a) The ball becomes dead when
(i) it is finally settled in the hands of the wicket-keeper or the bowler.

(b) The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the umpire at the bowler’s end that the fielding side and both batsmen at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.

2. Ball finally settled
Whether the ball is finally settled or not is a matter for the umpire alone to decide.
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If Sreesanth had done a Harmison and Haddin was caught out of his crease, would that have counted as a run out? Or if he had a shy at the non strikers end and the ball traversed to the boundary – would that be counted as runs for Australia?

Sreesanth picked up the ball, exchanged pleasantarieswith Haddin following which Symonds strode out of his crease and then we had the “run out” In this entire episode, at no point did the umpire signal dead ball.

Mind you, Symonds has a history of striding out even when the ball is in play – I remember him trying to swat a ball that had been thrown from the deep and was lying mid pitch ( none of the fielders had touched it and technically the ball was in play).

On one other occassion, he walked out to do some gardening after tapping the ball to a close in fielder.
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And talking of rules, the thing that interested me most about the Clarke stumping ( other than the fact that a wide was called in this instance and wasn’t when Bhajji was stumped similarly) is that after Clarke was declared out and he walked, the time before the next batter came in was nearly 4 minutes.. Wonder what the rules for out “timed out” are!