Manchester: An unusual sight was witnessed on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test between England and Australia when the umpires took off the bails and proceeded with the play, owing to extremely windy conditions at the Old Trafford.
The incident happened in the 32nd over of Australia’s first innings on the rain-hit Wednesday when strong winds led to a beach ball from the crowd invading the pitch as the bails kept flying off their grooves.
This repeated blowing off the bails led to England pacer Stuart Broad getting really frustrated. Following this, on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus took the decision to carry on play by simply taking the bails off on either of the stumps.
This decision taken by the umpires was within the rules of cricket, and the first instance of it happening in an international game was in 2017 during a match between Afghanistan and West Indies.
According to Law 8.5, “The umpires may agree to dispense with the use of bails, if necessary. If they so agree then no bails shall be used at either end. The use of bails shall be resumed as soon as conditions permit.”
Steve Smith on Thursday became the second Australian after Allan Border to score 500 and more runs in the consecutive Ashes series in England.
The 30-year-old reached this milestone after he added 122 runs in the ongoing fourth Ashes Test. In the first two matches of the series, he had 378 runs under his name.
In 2015 Ashes which took place in England, Smith scored 508 runs while this time in his third match he crossed the 500 run mark.
Before Smith only Border had amassed the 500 plus runs consecutively in the Ashes in England. Border scored more than 500 runs in 1981 and 1985 Ashes series.
Smith is making a comeback after missing out the third Ashes Test due to failed concussion test after he was hit by the pacer Jofra Archer in the second Test match.Smith returned to the international cricket after serving a one year ban due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in 2018. (ANI)
