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England's Ian Bell (right) hits a shot off the bowling of Australia's Steve Smith as Brad Haddin (left) looks on during play on day 3 in the Fifth Ashes Test between Australia and England at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
No wonder Ian Chappell dislikes Sir Ian Botham so much. The cricket knight is an irresponsible prat. Botham was wrong when he accused Phillip Hughes of ‘cheating’ for half-claiming a catch against Alastair Cook.
The ball, in fact, did not carry to Hughes who was fielding at silly mid-on. The Australian opener caught the ball which came to him in a blink of a second. He held it up as a catch, momentarily. Then he motioned to his captain and exultant team-mates that he wasn’t sure whether he had caught it on the full.
There was none of the leaping around that generally goes on when a catch is taken. Most of the emotion was shown by Michael Beer, the bowler.
But what was Botham’s comment on the Sky television broadcast? ‘Terrible. Cheating. How much do you want it to bounce into your hands. He knows he hasn’t caught it.‘
Well, no, Sir Ian. He was unsure and he made this clear. Cook told journalists after the day’s play that Hughes had said straight away, ‘I’m not sure.’
Now we come to the real cheating incident in a Test where England has totally out-played an Australian side the Daily Telegraph is suggesting is our ‘worst ever.’
Ian Bell is batting determinedly to ensure that he – finally – gets Test hundred against Australia. Then he nicks one to the wicket-keeper Brad Haddin. Umpire Aleem Dar gives him out. This is the correct decision. Bell looks to his partner. He gets a non-committal look back. Then Bell challenges the decision.
This sort of delayed decision was clearly a gamble on the snick being so fine that it is not picked up by Hot Spot. In fact, Hot Spot (according to Michael Slater) does register a very small white (indicating a snick) spot. I reckon I saw the spot Slater was referring to, in the replays showed on television.
But the third umpire for some reason gave Dar the advice that he was unable to confirm his decision. Dar then, incorrectly in my opinion, over-ruled his previous decision.
The gamble has worked. But let’s not mince words here. In my opinion, Bell cheated. He knew he had snicked the ball. Snicko, as well, indicated the snick. But Bell did not immediately challenge Dar’s decision as Cooke did when he pushed the ball into Hughes’ hands.
Bell waited a few seconds. And it is this wait that gives his game away, I believe. And why did he let Cook present his defence to the media rather than front up himself?
Several of the Australian players refused to clap his century. I don’t blame them. I don’t blame Bell, either. He took a chance. And it came off.
In a sense, this incident is a sort of metaphor for the Test series. England have invariably shown more gumption and nous throughout the five Tests than their naive opponents.
Yesterday this gumption and nous came through very clearly, once again.
The England tail-enders and Matt Prior (who incidentally has spent the series appealing for catches that did not go near the bat – cheating Sir Ian?) belted the inept Australian attack all over the SCG.
Then when Australia batted there was an abject collapse. Shane Watson became involved (his fault again) in his third run-out of the series. The England bowlers got reverse swing that tormented and then knocked over the Australian top order once again.
What was interesting and instructive was that the reverse swing came from a superbly organised team effort in creating a ball that would reverse swing. As the Channel Nine commentators explained, the rough side had to be kept totally dry. The shiny side had to be loaded with sweat and maintained by constant polishing.
Here comes the interesting part, though. The England player at mid-off or mid-off getting the ball back from the wicket-keeper dried his hands before catching the ball. The ball was polished hard and then passed on to the bowler.
This attention to detail, like the Bell incident, came from a meticulous preparation. England out-played Australia throughout the series, except for the Perth Test, because their coaching staff totally out-coached their Australian counterparts.
The players, in turn, were smart enough to absorb this great coaching and put it into operation.
As I watched Steve Smith and Peter Siddle bravely play out time and delay the inevitable defeat until the last day of play, I thought of the aptness for this series of the adage from the legendary Chinese warrior-philosopher Sun-tzu: ‘All battles are won before the battle is fought.’