Stuart Broad said he had been told by umpire Kumar Dharmasena that if zing bails had been in use for the Ashes
Steven Smith would have been given out on the second day at The Oval, but he was comfortable with the borderline decision having gone Smith's way.
What could be a vital moment in the Test - and crucial to whether the series ends 2-2 - occurred in the 78th over when Smith, on 42, took on the arm of substitute
George Ealham, the son of former England allrounder Mark, who sprinted in from deep midwicket and produced a rocket-like throw which was collected by Jonny Bairstow.
Initially, it appeared that Smith was short of his ground - and with Ricky Ponting on Sky Sports commentary mentions of
Gary Pratt soon followed - but on subsequent replays umpire Nitin Menon ruled that the bail was not completely dislodged from both grooves until Smith, who had pulled out a full-length dive, was in his crease. There was also debate about whether Bairstow had dislodged the stumps fractionally before taking the ball.
"I honestly don't know the rules," Broad said. "I think there was enough grey area to give that not out. It looked like benefit of the doubt sort of stuff, first angle I saw I thought out, and then the side angle it looked like the bails probably dislodged.
"
Kumar said to me if it was zing bails it would been given out, I don't really understand the reasoning why."
Under the Laws, the bail has to be completely removed. Law 29.1 states: "The wicket is broken when at least one bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or one or more stumps is removed from the ground
