This one comes on the heels of Rod Marsh’s the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture. Last Tuesday, while delivering his keynote address at Lord’s, the former Australian stumper and current chief selector recounted how he had recalled Derek Randall after being given out by the umpire during the Centenary Test at MCG in 1977. “I recalled him because he was not out. I took the ball on first bounce and claiming the catch would have amounted to cheating,” said Marsh. Ben Stokes’ incident, given out for obstructing the field during the second ODI between England and Australia on Saturday, was not cheating. Period. [related-post] It happened in the 26th over of England’s chase. Stokes played a delivery back to the bowler Mitchell Starc. The England all-rounder was out of his crease, so Starc threw at the stumps. Stokes tried to fend off the throw with his left hand. His arm was extended. Australia appealed and TV umpire Joel Wilson declared Stokes out on referral. Law 37.1 of cricket says, “Either batsman is out Obstructing the field if he wilfully attempts to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action. In particular, but not solely, it shall be regarded as obstruction and either batsman will be out obstructing the field if while the ball is in play and after the striker has completed the act of playing the ball, as defined in Law 33.1, he wilfully strikes the ball with (i) a hand not holding the bat, unless this is in order to avoid injury, (ii) any other part of his person or with his bat. Law 37.2 (accidental obstruction) states: It is for either umpire to decide whether any obstruction or distraction is wilful or not. He shall consult the other umpire if he has any doubt. Wilson interpreted it as a wilful obstruction and decided accordingly. But the fans were not happy as they booed Steve Smith and Starc. Even some experts felt Australia should have withdrawn the appeal. Why? Smith did nothing which was contrary to the spirit of the game. He appealed as per law and Wilson followed the letter of the law. It was not cheating…Far from it. “The umpires are there to do a job and when it went upstairs to Joel Wilson, the third umpire, he made the same decision as we saw,” the Australia captain said after the match. His English counterpart Eoin Morgan, however, claimed he wouldn’t have allowed such a review to proceed had they been the fielding side. He had to stand by his team-mate. Withdrawing the appeal might have earned Smith a big round of applause, but he was under no obligation to play to the gallery. It was a serious game of cricket and Smith took the decision in the best interests of his team. Absolutely fair. Modern-day cricket is fiercely competitive. It allows little very scope for the Victorian ethos.
