4th Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, 15 - 19 Jan 2021

[thierry henry]

nah pretty sure it's been this way since well before CTE was a consideration at international cricket. Just a convenient way to apply law 41.6 at international level that doesn't require the umpire to make a judgement call regarding grey areas.

Frankly I think the way forward is to remove this law altogether at the Professional level and instead encourage teams to retire out tailenders who can't cope with short ball safely.

Why would players need to learn to play illegal bowling safely? You are already allowed 2 bouncers an over - or 6 relatively short balls if you prefer.

 

[NotMcKenzie]

It's over anyway

 

[Spark]

Cummins really doesn't know how to just have a swing.

Yep, which is why him turning down singles really doesn't make sense

 

[Spark]

Good for Siraj. Looks a real player based on his series' work.

 

[morgieb]

Well at least it means we'll get some overs in before a potential shower.

Hopefully any rain tomorrow falls outside of the play. Day 5 going to be very interesting.

 

[cnerd123]

SIRAJ! Deserves it! Fitting it's Thakur who takes the catch. Great stuff.

 

[Burgey]

Reckon we have the best 9, 10 Jack we've ever had right now. Can all hold a bat reasonably well.

Happy for Siraj. Shame for my man Thakur though.

 

[Spark]

Why would players need to learn to play illegal bowling safely? You are already allowed 2 bouncers an over - or 6 relatively short balls if you prefer.

It's also not actually the balls aimed at the head that often end up causing the most trouble -- batsmen will duck into balls that don't quite get up as they expect and get clonked on the way down.

 

[honestbharani]

I have watched a ton of this series. You are the one making the bizarre accusation that the umpires have conspired to misjudge the height of Cummins’ deliveries throughout the series - or are you saying they forgot the rules?

There is nothing to accuse here. That is objectively bad umpiring and a bad call. Yeah, I did say it looked like bias because I dont think an international umpire would lack that much common sense. And it is stupid to call intimidatory bowling warning when the ball was wide off stump and not really near the batsman.

And yeah, a lot of above shoulder height 3rd balls in the over were not called because they were only slightly above the shoulder and typically we have seen umpires err on the side of the bowler with those calls. Today was the stupid call and that is why I called it out and did not mention anything on the other calls.

And "a ton" is not the same as every ball like I have.

 

[Spikey]

If a bowler gets warned and then dragged for bowling 2 beamers, tbh doesn’t it make sense to apply the same logic to 3+ bouncers in an over? Might not fit our perceptions of what is dangerous (although bouncers plainly are, even if they are part of the game) but at least that can be logically and consistently applied

this is similar to my stance on the rule. it's quite insane that we apply the beamer rule to an insanely literal extent (every waist high ball is considered dangerous AND the previous leniency to slower bowlers has been taken away) but a bowler can literally aim a ball at the head, hit the head, and not be warned. the whole thing needs a re-write. what they end up with, I'm open minded to, but right now it's a mess

 

[Shri]

how many did we drop today btw

just woke up

 

[thierry henry]

Tbh, if we're really worried about CTE we should probably be banning the bouncer all together and changing the rules/ball/pitches to maintain a balance between bowlers and batsmen. Tbh, I don't think it makes a huge difference if bowlers are restricted to bowling 1 in 3 balls at the batsmen's head or if they skirt the rules by aiming a couple at shoulder/armpit height - batsmen are still gonna duck and (sometimes) get hit, and it's gonna cause problems.

Absolutely. Neil Wagner hardly bowls anything over shoulder and has sconed a bunch of blokes with waist-to-chest high balls. But how the hell do you police that? Wagner bowls one at the belly button and it’s a ‘bouncer’, Cummins for example might be at the ribcage and it’s ‘back of a length’. I can’t see us getting more consistency or coherence in the rules by coming up with some other arbitrary measure of what a bouncer is.

 

[nightprowler10]

Haze bowled Siraj out for his fiver, Siraj returns the favor.

 

[OverratedSanity]

how many did we drop today btw

just woke up

Two by siraj, one difficult one should have been taken. Neither ended up being that costly I think

 

[honestbharani]

Two by siraj, one difficult one should have been taken. Neither ended up being that costly I think

Rohit dropped one early in the day off Siraj too - Warner and there were a couple where Pujara was waaaay too deep at first slip. Dont recall anymore chances or drops though.

 

[Spark]

They're going to get maybe two overs in max before the rain hits

 

[thierry henry]

There is nothing to accuse here. That is objectively bad umpiring and a bad call. Yeah, I did say it looked like bias because I dont think an international umpire would lack that much common sense. And it is stupid to call intimidatory bowling warning when the ball was wide off stump and not really near the batsman.

And yeah, a lot of above shoulder height 3rd balls in the over were not called because they were only slightly above the shoulder and typically we have seen umpires err on the side of the bowler with those calls. Today was the stupid call and that is why I called it out and did not mention anything on the other calls.

And "a ton" is not the same as every ball like I have.

Thakur’s 3 balls were all miles over shoulder height and I don’t believe for a second that you can point me to any similar example from Cummins.

 

[Spikey]

The India bowler being the one warned for ‘intimidatory’ bowling at the GABBA is a pretty good plot twist though

 

[Bahnz]

Been a wonderful series, the best since these two teams played in 2017 imo. Great to be heading into the last 100 overs or so with all 3 results still possible for both the match and the series. Hats off to India, they've been magnificent. Even with their bowling attack whittled down to the nub, it's hard to see England having any chance of being competitive next month.

 

[Starfighter]

this is similar to my stance on the rule. it's quite insane that we apply the beamer rule to an insanely literal extent (every waist high ball is considered dangerous AND the previous leniency to slower bowlers has been taken away) but a bowler can literally aim a ball at the head, hit the head, and not be warned. the whole thing needs a re-write. what they end up I'm open minded to, but right now it's a mess

That's not actually true. The relevant bit of the law:

41.7.2The bowling of a delivery as defined in 41.7.1 is also dangerous if the bowler’s end umpire considers that there is a risk of injury to the striker. In making that judgement the umpire shall:

• disregard any protective equipment worn by the striker
• be mindful of:
  - the speed, height and direction of the delivery
  - the skill of the striker
  - the repeated nature of such deliveries.

41.7.3 If the umpire considers a non-pitching delivery, or a series of non-pitching deliveries, to be dangerous under 41.7.2, when the ball is dead, the umpire shall repeat the No ball signal to the scorers and then caution the bowler, indicating that this is a first and final warning. The umpire shall also inform the other umpire, the captain of the fielding side and the batsmen of what has occurred. This caution shall apply to that bowler throughout the innings.

41.7.4 Should there be any further dangerous such delivery by the same bowler in that innings, the umpire shall (...)

There's definitely room for discretion there, someone recently bowled two in an over in the BBL and wasn't warned, let alone pulled, as they were well wide of off.