75A
Established Member
Couldn't agree more, you wouldn't see someone like Max Verstappen or Alex Fergusson giving anyone a second chance.There seems to be a general acceptance that what Carey did was completely lawful, and normal practice by wicketkeepers at every level of the game from juniors right up to international matches. There was no pause in his actions, no attempt to wait to see if a foot was lifted like in numerous stumping situations by keepers when spinners are bowling, and at the time he released the ball the umpires had not moved, and crucially had not called 'over' therefore there's no question that the ball was dead. Incidentally I think that the idea that because it's the end of the over makes a difference is a rather interesting one. You might consider that between balls in an over it's not readily obvious when the ball is dead whereas at the end of an over it's absolutely obvious. It's when the umpire says 'over' which is pretty black and white. Anyway I digress, and getting back to the point of Carey's actions being completely normal. If we accept this and many ex-professionals from both England and Australia have, then the argument about whether it was a justifiable dismissal comes down the fact that Bairstow was essentially naive, was not paying close enough attention, and made an assumption that the ball was dead without actually checking that it was, either with the umpire, or with the opposition. So in essence Cummins should've rescinded the appeal and given Bairstow a warning because he made a stupid mistake. That's a pretty thin argument for mine. Are there any other sports where because an opponent has made a dopey mistake there's an expectation that they should get a second chance?