After several decisions on their Test tour of India that England have regarded as contentious skipper Ben Stokes has called for the umpire’s call element in the decision review system to be abolished.
Zak Crawley was given lbw after being rapped on the pads by Jasprit Bumrah just before tea on day four of the third Test and a review stayed with the umpire’s decision, leaving England 2-18 chasing 557.
But Stokes argued the ball-tracking image – which predicts what Bumrah’s delivery would have done had it not struck Crawley – was shown to be missing leg stump.
Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum took up their grievance with match referee Jeff Crowe at the conclusion of England’s 434-run defeat and were informed the decision was correct but the projection was incorrect.
“I think when people are in charge of it says something has gone wrong that is enough in itself,” Stokes said.
“You just want a level playing field. My opinion is if the ball is hitting the stumps, it is hitting the stumps. They should take away umpire’s call.”
This is the second successive match in which Crawley has been dismissed in controversial circumstances after DRS surprisingly overturned the on-field ‘not out’ verdict in Visakhapatnam two weeks ago.
“We just wanted some clarity around Zak’s DRS,” Stokes said.
“The ball is quite clearly missing the stump on the replay. So when it gets given umpire’s call and the ball’s not actually hitting the stumps, we were a bit bemused.
“I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning and saying that is why we lost the Test match.”
England were crushed in the third Test after they were all out for a meek 122 in the final innings to collapse to their second ever worst Test defeat in terms of runs and heaviest in 90 years.
Yashasvi Jaiswal followed up his 209 in Visakhapatnam last time out with 214 not out in Rajkot as India became the first side to declare against England under the axis of Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
Joe Root reacts after been given out lbw to Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Jaiswal, who had retired on 104 the previous evening because of a sore back, had recovered sufficiently to equal Pakistan great Wasim Akram’s haul of a dozen sixes in a single innings, also hitting 14 fours.
After India racked up 4-430 to set a 557 victory target England rolled over. Even with the the last three wickets adding 72 they were skittled in 39.4 overs to lose by a whopping 434 runs.
Hometown hero Ravindra Jadeja took 5-41 as the hosts moved 2-1 up in the five-match series.
It was India’s biggest win by runs, eclipsing the 372 New Zealand were thrashed by in Mumbai in 2021. Only once before have England been beaten by a wider margin – against Australia by 562 runs in a timeless Test in 1934 in which Bill Ponsford made 266.
It was not, though, that close to the Test record, when Australia were caught on a ‘sticky dog’ in 1928, the first Test to be played at Brisbane, also Sir Donald Bradman’s debut, and lost to England by 675 runs.
The roots of this crushing setback in Stokes’ 100th Test lay in England imploding from 2-224 to 319 all out to surrender a first-innings lead of 126, before watching on helplessly as Jaiswal, plus Shubman Gill (91) and Sarfaraz Khan (68 not out) ground them into the dirt.
James Anderson went at six an over in an innings where he has bowled more than 10 balls for the first time since 2006, with Jaiswal and Sarfaraz putting on an unbroken 172 in 158 deliveries as England wilted in the heat.
Ben Duckett had bullishly insisted India “can have as many as they want and we’ll go and get them” the previous evening but the first innings centurion was run out for four after calling Zak Crawley for a single his opening partner felt wasn’t there.
Crawley (11) also departed before tea on a tight leg-before. Jadeja then ripped the heart out of England’s middle-order dismissing Ollie Pope (3), Jonny Bairstow (4) and Joe Root (7).
A position of 4-50 before Root’s exit became 7-50 after Stokes (15) missed a sweep to Kuldeep Yadav and Rehan Ahmed (0) slapped to long-on. The tail wagged, with Mark Wood’s buccaneering 33 taking England past 100, but it was of little consolation.
Stokes denied England’s aggressive style was reckless.
“It doesn’t always work out how you want, but we still have a great chance to win the trophy 3-2,” Stokes said.
“Games can be won and loss in the head so we will be leaving all the disappointment and emotion from this week and moving on to the next one.
“Everyone has a perception and an opinion about things but the opinions of the people in the dressing room are the only one that matters to us.
“We wanted to push the game on as much as we possibly could, but sometimes gameplans don’t work out and that is sport sometimes.”
Stokes hinted he could bowl in the final two Tests having previously said he would stick to batting following an operation on his left knee last November.
“I feel really good and I managed to get my first ball down at 100 per cent on day one or day two here,” he said.
“I like to jump the gun a bit too much. Things are feeling really good but I have a whole body to get back bowling again. I am not saying ‘no’ but I am not saying yes either.”
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
I'm at primary school - wow - what a childish comment. Plenty of other people have appreciated my comments on here over the years but obviously they are lost on you and I won't exactly be too upset about that.
Insight Edge
Roar Rookie
Umpires is a bloody long word :angry:
Insight Edge
Roar Rookie
He did admit to having only one GCSE in................PE :silly:
Insight Edge
Roar Rookie
When Stokes says he's not complaining, he's whinging!!! See my write up from 2020 "The case for neutral umpires is clearer than ever" where the Windies were the victims of no less than 12 upires call decisions against them which they overturned. This was just the two test!!! Upires call is a joke which allows umpires to be wrong/biased/not good enough.
Blink
Roar Rookie
So you're still at primary school Geoff. Waste of time reading anything you say. You're smarter than all the tech in the world and as lazy as a couch potato.
Doogie
Roar Rookie
Its cool bro but thanks for the stepping up. He must work for sportsmatik or one of the other licensees of the tech. Gotta defend your patch. Haters gotta hate. We only got the tech because the TV stations used it first to slam umps so they had no choice. Would be ok if it was perfect but has been shown time and again its not. Wasn't Cummins caught behind recently by snicko on a ball he missed by an inch? Lol. Spirit of cricket rule #1 - respect the umpires decision. Now with DRS we don't have to. 99.999% of cricketers happily enjoy playing without it but cannot live without it at first class level? And even then, we only get it when the game being played can afford it. Anyone who has played at a decent level in any sport that has it thinks its a joke and that its only value is to exploit it. If you think differently, maybe train harder? Lol.
The Knightwatchmen who say Nii
Roar Rookie
I can't think of very many English captains in my 42 years of watching the game who have not been turned on by English press at some point. Bob Willis is about the only one I can think of.
carnivean
Roar Rookie
"Mark Waugh was a wonderful cricketer, but I’m not sure he knows much" is a complete sentence. His interests are batting, bowling, horses and how cool Mark Waugh is. Outside those 4 topics he provides much worse commentary than the drunken mumblers in the corner of your local pub. Inside those 4 he's not that strong either.
GWSingapore
Roar Rookie
Some more credit due to India for the way they played the match. Double century to Yashasvi Jaiswal. Shubman Gill 91. Ravindra Jadeja 5 for 41 off 12.4 overs. Contrast that to England. In India's 2d innings, Joe Root and Rehan Ahmed took one wicket each at a cost of 219 runs. A few umpire's calls do not make that difference when you are THRASHED.
carnivean
Roar Rookie
You can take it a step further and get the elite players to spend some of their time officiating at lower levels as part of their training. It has many benefits such as increasing their appreciation fo the rules, helps them understand the challenges of the role, increases their engagement outside their bubble and widens their perspective, increases the community's access to these players, etc. The Benaud aspect of your story is also interesting. It goes to show the additional lengths that journalists go to (or at least used to) to understand the topics that they're reporting on. Contrast that to the talking heads in the commentatry boxes that we're subjected to. Most of them assume that the bubble they existed in gives them all the knowledge they could ever need, leading to wide gaps when actual rules are discussed. I will acknowledge that some of them, Gilly as an example, do try to match the professionalism of the previous generation.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
It’s interesting that an English captain is complaining about the technology that shows that they are indeed out. Before there was any technology, sides toured England . The only answer given for repeated & obviously poor umpiring decisions given in Englands favour by umpires, ‘we have to live here’. Maybe he’s suggesting that they’d like to go back to the good old days?
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Decades ago, I went to a talk with Richie Benaud and he said one of the best things he did in his career was pass the umpires exam. He said it completely changed the way he looked at the game because he could now see it from both a player & umpires perspective. I strongly believe all first-class cricketers should do the same, as well as those coming through the cricket academies. If this was compulsory across the cricketing world I reckon the benefits to the sport would be enormous
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
"Personally I slightly favour removing umpires call and simply ruling if less than the radius of the ball is calculated as hitting the wicket it is not out and more is out." We used to have that system you're describing or something similar, but that too had it's issue from memory. Players weren't happy when they decided the umpires got those measurements wrong, bearing in mind, we're talking about millimetres. I think the ICC has it right for now because they're working on a simple principle - no matter what they do, they won't be able to please everybody, so why waste time and money for the 1%ers?
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I was reading a story about an interview with Brendon McCullum and he said while the team were disappointed, they had no regrets about how they played in the last Test. That strongly supports your suggestion that they're trying to remove all traces of self-doubt, everything you're doing's right, ignoring what others outside the change room are saying, etc. I'm trying to work out how you can improve and move forward if you have no regrets about the way you played when you lost? Seems a very unhealthy way to play sport to me.
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
“I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning and saying that is why we lost the Test match.” :laughing: :laughing: These Salty Poms aren't very good at sportsmanship and giving credit to the opposition. Too funny. :stoked:
Ace
Roar Rookie
Gee Blink. It's not necessary to be so blunt and rude from behind your keyboard That's three times on this article. People are having an opinion . Just disagree but leave it at that But I expect you'll tell me because it's safe at your end
chaukspp
Roar Rookie
Didn't see anything on reprimanding Crawley for his obnoxious behaviour towards the on field umpire. He deserves suspension for a game or two along with monetary fine.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Based on a few DRS decisions on Australian pitches in recent years where balls from a spinner were shown by ball tracker to be going over the stumps – which may have been the case for a medium or fast bowler but not a spinner. The vast majority of the ball tracker decisions I’ve seen in this series between India and England have seemed OK – apart from the Crawley decision.
Dodgy brothers
Roar Rookie
If he gets rid of umpires call it's still out
Tempo
Roar Rookie
On what basis do you claim ball tracking is dodgy? It’s been pretty well tested and calibrated.