To Walk or not to walk? It’s a topic that has been debated in cricket for several years, and came to the forefront again in the ongoing Ashes Test series.
One of the worst decisions in recent memory was made when Stuart Broad clearly nicked the ball to Michael Clarke at first slip in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, and was given not out by umpire Aleem Dar.
Instead of walking off straight away, Broad waited for the decision and when given not out, he stood his ground, marked his guard and continued on.
At the time he had scored 47 runs, and after the non-dismissal, he went on to make 65 runs. Australia ended up losing the match by 14 runs as the Test, fittingly, ended on a DRS review.
The comments, opinions and debates have not stopped a month later. Many have blatantly accused Broad for “cheating” and “not walking”, some even took an aim at the umpire Aleem Dar, while others stated captain Michael Clarke should have used his reviews better than he did.
Two Tests later, to the shock and surprise of almost every cricketing fan, no matter what side they were on, Broad walked off immediately after he was dismissed by Nathan Lyon in the first innings of the third Test.
The amazing thing was, he didn’t hit the cover off the ball; only a tiny but noticeable white spot was picked up on hotspot. When that turn of events occurred, life was sparked into the walking debate once again.
Earlier this week, Australian coach Darren Lehmann attacked Stuart Broad for not walking and blatantly called him a “cheat”.
“I hope the Australian public are the same because that was just blatant cheating. I don’t advocate walking but when you hit it to first slip it’s pretty hard. From my point of view I just hope the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer (during the return series in Australia starting in November) and I hope he cries and he goes home,” Lehmann said.
Consequently, Lehmann was fined £2,700, as he was found guilty of breaching ICC’s Code of Conduct and was also fined 20 percent of his match fee for the ongoing fifth Test.
In response to the incident, Former Australian captain Ian Chappell called current national coach Darren Lehmman a “hypocrite”, after the latter accused England fast bowler Stuart Broad of “blatant cheating” in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.
Chappell also stated that even though Australians were never renowned for walking, Lehmann should be very careful with his choice of words.
In the spirit of Cricket and in terms of sportsmanship, when a player stands their ground after a howler of a decision, it may be considered as a form of cheating. But there is no specific law in cricket that states a batsman must walk when it is absolutely clear that they are out.
Batsmen are entitled to stand their ground and wait for the umpire’s decision. If they are given not out, even if it’s obvious that they are, everyone should say “it’s your lucky day mate”, instead of accusing them for cheating.
Great batsmen of the modern era; Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, to name a few, never walked throughout their long careers and still, were never called “cheats”. So why should Broad be considered a cheat?
Not everyone is an Adam Gilchrist, in fact, realistically, Gilchrist was the only player in cricket that you would put your money on to walk whenever the dismissal was obvious.
If every batsmen in international cricket was to walk when they thought or knew that they were out, then what is the point of having two standing umpires and a third umpire?
Many Australian fans were almost disgusted when Broad stood his ground. But in the hindsight, the umpire is to blame, not the player.
One could even argue that Michael Clarke was to blame for this. Had he not wasted a review earlier in the innings on a half-hearted lbw call, all this debate would not have made the headlines and as a result, Lehmann would not have been fined.
It also shows that the Decision Review System is flawed and not used for the purpose it should be. DRS, throughout its time, has been used tactically on 50/50 decisions.
The point of DRS is to remove the howler decisions, just like the Broad dismissal. This Ashes series proved that both Clarke and Cook have used DRS as a tactic and have wasted reviews most of the time.
At the end of the day, Stuart Broad is not a cheat. Its not the batsmen who should be blamed, but the umpires and users of DRS for such incidents.
Faruk
Guest
Get it Right about Brian Charles Lara Dear Mr. Brian Zhang, Read your article and this is the first time am reacting any article based on sports. You mentioning Lara to be not a walker is absolutely wrong. Gilly did walk in the semi finals of 2003 for the first time after the spirit of sportsmanship woke up in him but not before But Lara has always been a walker right from the beginning. How can you slander him without knowing the facts. In Modern Era Lara is the first batsman I have seen to consistently walk without waiting for umpire's decision if he knew he was out and not if he feels he was out or someone feels he was out. I can site a minimum of ten instances where he walked and mind you sir this all happened before 2003. Brian Lara is the most honest player of the modern era and in my humble opinion the best batsman too. Kindly apologize for the misinformation. If you wish you praise gilchrist but at the expense of Lara who had been doing it right from the beginning. - Faruk, India
ChrisUK
Guest
In the instant of the appeal, not very accurate at all. When you reflect in the following seconds then much more so. Often an appeal is entirely instinctive before you rationalise how close it is. I've definitely appealed loads of times for things that on reflection I think weren't even very close but have been given. What do you do? Call him back? I am certain that if the cameras were there you'd have a commentator saying "why is he appealing for that" and us lot saying "he knew that wasn't out, he's a cheat" but the most honest answer I can give is that in the instant of the appeal I did think it was out, but 5 seconds later I didn't. Which is why you get the likes of Haddin and Prior appealing with certainty, then declining to review. By the way, as a keeper the amusing/infuriating thing about commentators is the utter bilge they talk about wicketkeeping (with the obvious exceptions of Healy and Ian Smith). The way they talk about the keeper reacting to an edge standing up is laughable (Ian Smith once took a commentator to task about exactly this). Unless the batsman is playing miles forward outside of his crease and gets an edge (rare) you don't physically have time to react. You don't actually even realised he's edged it until AFTER it's in your gloves. The brain simply can't process information that quickly.
ChrisUK
Guest
He's a cocky, arrogant little sod, and he's not particularly popular amongst England fans either, who often cringe at his antics. Which is why he will love it.
ChrisUK
Guest
What do you mean "out Australia-ed Australia"? Never heard anyone say anything of the sort.
ChrisUK
Guest
Lara was a walker when it suited him. Many of us remember him edging one behind and standing there - and then going on to get a world record.
SandBox
Roar Guru
by telling Australia that that our way of play is not nice and unpopular, yet boasting they 'out Australia-ed, Australia'. Did you really need me to explain this?
James
Guest
when have england been hypocritical?
Josh
Guest
I agree I personally have always believed walking was cheating , blatant disregard for an umpire doing his job. Now if the umpire asks me if I hit it for example ill be honest but I won't volunteer information.
Jason Gillespie
Guest
In the laws of cricket, it states the umpires on the field are in charge and their decision is final. Good decision or not, it is within the spirit of the game to wait and allow the umpire to make a decision. If you want to get technical, you could rightfully argue that walking is essentially disregarding the umpires decision.
mr sheen
Guest
Exactly. I'm sick of hearing about the nick to slip. Had the wicket keeper had any discernable talent, he would have caught it and there woukd be no accusations of cheating. Having said that, hypocrisy is only one of Lehmann's personality disorders -I assume Khawaja got dropped because he's one of those f****** b**** c**** as Lehmann memorably and hideously described sub-continentals. Of course racism is nowhere near as serious as playing cricket to the same ideals as your opponents. That sort of behaviour deserves an uneducated drunk going on the radio to accuse you of cheating and appeal to other uneducated drunks to assault him. Although this is factual, I bet it doesn't get through moderation.
SandBox
Roar Guru
Interesting point re: LBW appeals from keeper. I'd like to hear from a full time keeper just how accurate you are with LBW. As a part timer I felt I had a fair idea, but certainly not 100%
SiW
Guest
you lost... get over it
Gezza
Guest
Jingoism of the worst kind Smacks of an inability to accept defeat rather than learn and build then improve and win
Greg Biernat
Roar Rookie
The ball deflected enough for Broad to know that he had hit it. He admitted that to the UK newspapers. I don't blame him for standing his ground though as only an umpire can give a batsman OUT. But the on-field umpires need to utilise the third umpire to make a decision in these cases, otherwise they are only creating more controversy.
SandBox
Roar Guru
http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/09/02/richie-mccaw-vs-quade-cooper-best-of-enemies/richie-mccaw-quade-cooper/ Cooper incident has been over-hyped with much hyper-sensitivity shown by the NZ public to McCaw, who is ultimately just another evolved primate like the rest of us. However, I do see a small parallel here, Broad is annoying but no worse than Cooper. If Booing Broad puts him off like it did Cooper, then I hope we Boo him. England have played with the worse kind of hypocrisy in this series, and the Oz public really need to stick it to them when they tour
brian
Guest
Yes he did, and he even walked in big games e.g the 2003 world cup semi final, even in his final odi game when australia were chasing 259 in the tri series final.
James
Guest
even if they do, i dont see broad being affected by it. i think he will kinda like it. hes not shrunk away since the edge. hes not at the level of kevin pieterson where any attention is brilliant and feeds his soul haha but hes not hugely far away either.
James
Guest
my problem with holding gilchrist up as this bastion of sportsmanship is that yes he walked when he was batting but how many times did he jump up in the air when he was behind the stumps claiming an lbw when it was going half a meter wide and to the left.also did gilchrist ever walk when the score was tight?
Gezza
Guest
Greg Chappell against NZ
Disco
Roar Guru
And let's not forget Michael Clarke has been involved in three not-walking controversies, starting in the last Ashes series. Lehmann still thinks he's on the field, sledging, just like Warne.