England had no answer to Gul's reverse swing

A quite brilliant spell of swing bowling from Umar Gul clinched Pakistan the third ODI against England at the Oval. Gul finished with figures of 6-42 which included three bowled dismissals. Through certain parts of the Test series and the previous two ODIs, Gul has looked a shadow of the man who holds the accolade of being the best bowler in Twenty cricket – the form of cricket which is harshest on bowlers. Gul does seem to be one of those bowlers that needs to be near optimum fitness in order to perform at his best. A few niggles whilst he has been over here in England may lay claim to why he hadn’t shown the type of bowling he showed today.

At most points throughout the England innings it seemed as a forgone conclusion that England would knock off the runs and go into a 3-0 unassailable lead. Indeed, Billy Doctrove who saved Andrew Strauss and England in the last game tried his best to do so again today when he for some reason did not refer a stumping appeal to the third umpire. Luke Wright was the batsman and Umar Akmal, deputising for his injured brother behind the stumps, did very well to time the stumping just as Wright’s foot was off the ground. Rather than go up to the thrid umpire and make sure, Doctrove immediately said no as Akmal appealed.

Earlier in Pakistan’s innings, there was a far less convincing appeal by England, and one that would be far less in line with the spirit of the game, when Shahid Afridi took evasive action to a throw which struck his bat and went onto the stumps. Docrtrove walked over to the stumps to replace the bails and seemed as if he wasn’t going to even consider it as a run out until Stewart Broad queried it. After taking a few seconds to think about it, Doctrove went upstairs for the decision and Afridi was given out. The difference between the two events was a clear case of double standards that could probably only be explained by some sort of inferiority complex displayed by umpire Doctrove.

In regards to Doctrove not going upstairs for Wright’s stumping; getting a marginal decision wrong is one thing, but when you have the third umpire as a back up and you don’t use him, it’s criminal. I hope Pakistan raise the issue and Doctrove is reprimanded as this kind of thing cannot happen again at the top level of the game. He has already cost Pakistan the previous ODI, and he almost cost us another one. Of course, this is the same Billy Doctrove who stood back quietly as umpire Darrell Hair decided to act as judge jury and executioner in the infamous Oval Test in 2006.

So onto the fourth game in the series on Monday with Pakistan unfortunate to be trailing 2-1. Should the Stanis take the next one, it will leave an exciting decider at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday.

Aamer turns away as Ponting puts out his elbow

The media release on the ICC website it states: “this was the second time in two matches that Aamer had made physical contact with a batsman”, which is absolutely incorrect. It is quite clear that Ponting made physical contact with Aamer on this occasion and not the other way around, so to suggest otherwise you would either have to be blind or deliberately biased. Apart from that clear injustice, there was no mention of Broad having a word with Ponting who was let off for elbowing an opponent on the cricket field. The Pakistanis will obviously not do anything about it because of their inferiority complex, and will continue being too bloody nice for their own good. Even a simple statement from Captain Shahid Afridi telling Ponting to act his age would suffice and would show him that he is not a law unto himself.

Broad went on to say: “there are a few things [Aamer] still has to learn in relation to how to conduct himself on the field of play”, this coming from  a man whose son, Stuart Broad, has the biggest attitude problem in cricket, consistently showing disgust towards the umpires. Go have a word with him Chris.

And people wonder why John Howard’s candidature for the ICC vice-presidency wasn’t accepted by the Asian bloc?

Captains take a bite. Maybe there was something wrong with the Australian food?

Afridi was being touted for captain in the Test and ODI formats and I would not have minded. He made a good case with his recent performances and showed signs of maturity but his actions here have got me wondering if he really has matured. Yes, every team probably does it Shahid, but I doubt they use their teeth and make it so blatantly obvious. He may as well have gone up to umpire Asoka De Silva and asked to use his dentures. And when quizzed on Pakistani television, why on earth did he come out with the excuse that he was smelling the ball? He would have even been better off saying that he was starving because of the poor Australian cuisine.

Afridi has history of course. In a game against England, he walked onto the middle of the pitch and preceded to do a few pirouettes to scuff up the track with his spikes. Highly subtle once again. Yet maybe he should have used his spikes on the ball this time by stepping on it as it obviously legal as it worked for Stuart Broad in the recent match against South Africa where he got away with it.

Stuart Broad, sinking his spikes into the ball & doing "nothing wrong"

And the difference between what Broad and Afridi did? Nothing. So why did he get away with it? Well it’s obvious, Broad is an Englishman. Broad knew what he was doing and as soon as the allegations emerged, the English PR machine went into overdrive with Broad being “astonished” by the allegations, Strauss calling them “malicious” and Cook being angry since they’d done “nothing wrong”. At the time, Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan and Simon Wilde of The Sunday Times had suggested that the outcome would have been far different if the bowler who did it was from Pakistan. It is clear this difference they spoke of is being shown to some extent in how Afridi’s actions were dealt with. If you look at the effect it has on the ball, surely metal spikes are worse than the enamel that teeth are made of? But I guess in the eyes of the ICC, a Pakistani is worse than an Englishman too.

What Afridi did was wrong and embarrassing, but that and what Broad did shows why it continues to pay to be from certain countries. Just ask Sulieman Benn who was suspended after an incident with Mitchell Johnson and the saint that is Brad Haddin. Haddin, who instigated the clash, and Johnson who clearly makes physical contact with Benn first (at 3 minutes 55 secs), were only fined a fraction of their match fees, whereas Benn was banned, after the match referee had finished analysing his findings. That match referee was Broad’s daddy Chris, by the way. If you don’t want to call it racism, then call it whatever you will, but what it is, is obvious.

His last over against the Netherlands was lovely to watch. Four run-out attempts (three Broad’s) and a dropped catch. Even in the end, Broad just had to hold onto the ball which would have forced a super over in which England must have been confident of getting it right.

How every ball of that over must be playing back in his mind, again and again. Maybe if you was a better behaved human being Stuart, things may begin to go your way. To be honest England fans, he’s not that great a bowler anyway.

The Dutch win is great for cricket. Had the Netherlands lost, their fans would have gone home thinking “ah well”. Now, they become addicted to the game of cricket and the win over England has probably got many more in their country watching. It would have woken up the other minnows in the tournament also. With a positive attitude like the one shown by the Netherlands, any 11 can do well on a given day in this form of the game.

Next up for England is Pakistan. Next up for Broad, an eye test. Three days into the tournament and the hosts could already be out. At least they won’t have to fly home I suppose.