Cricket can be a game of fine lines, but England fans were irked that Moeen Ali was judged on the wrong side of a bulging one when the all-rounder was stumped on Day 4 of the series-opening Ashes test yesterday.
Battling with Jonny Bairstow to push his team to a respectable total, Moeen’s back foot strayed forward as he played and missed at a ball from spinner Nathan Lyon, with wicketkeeper Tim Paine sharply whipping off the bails.
The decision was referred upstairs and after lengthy deliberation using an array of angles, the third umpire Chris Gaffaney of New Zealand gave Moeen out for 40, with no clear evidence that the player’s foot was behind the line.
Photo: AFP
While it appeared a marginal decision, there was no benefit of the doubt given and English fans at the Gabba greeted the dismissal with jeers as their team slumped to 155-6.
England then lost their last wickets for 40 runs to be out for 195 before Australia openers David Warner and Cameron Bancroft pushed their team to 114 without loss, and needing only 56 runs for victory.
England’s “Barmy Army” and a host of media pundits queried the integrity of the line on social media, as it did appear to be slightly wider at the middle of the pitch than at the edges.
The decision was quickly dubbed “Shoddy-line,” “Bulge-gate” and other epithets, but Moeen was loath to question it.
“If I was bowling, I would want it out,” the bearded all-rounder said. “I guess it depends what angle you look at it from. You’ve got to respect the umpire’s call and what he saw. You’ve just got to move on. I thought I was alright personally, but the replay did look very tight.”
INDIA VS SRI LANKA
AFP, NAGPUR, India
Skipper Virat Kohli stood tall with a double century as India cornered Sri Lanka with an imposing first innings lead of 405 yesterday on Day 3 of the second Test.
India declared their innings on 610-6 after Rohit Sharma completed his hundred as they seek to go one up in the three-match series.
Sharma made 102 with wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, on two, for company in Nagpur.
However, the day belonged to Kohli, who hit a majestic 213 before falling to off-spinner Dilruwan Perera as he walked back to a standing ovation from a raucous home crowd.
It was the star batsman’s fifth 200-plus score in his 62nd Test.
Kohli and Rohit put on 173 runs for the fifth wicket to pulverize a deflated Sri Lanka attack that sent down 176.1 overs in about six sessions of play.
It was Kohli’s 183-run third-wicket stand with his overnight partner Cheteshwar Pujara that took the steam out of the opposition attack.
While Pujara was bowled by paceman Dasun Shanaka for 143 in the first session, Kohli continued to score quick runs in his team’s expected bid to bat just once in the match.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS