Bell clanger takes toll on Spirit of Cricket – Atherton

LONDON, (Reuters) – Ian Bell’s controversial “non  dismissal” during the second test between England and India  subverted the laws of the game and had nothing to do with the  Spirit of Cricket, former England captain Michael Atherton said  today.
Bell was run out in farcical circumstances off the last ball  before tea on the third day of the second test at Trent Bridge,  when the England batsman walked off assuming partner Eoin  Morgan’s previous shot had gone for a boundary when in fact  Praveen Kumar had fielded the ball just inside the rope.
With the ball still alive Abhinav Mukund removed the bails  and India’s muted appeal was upheld and Bell given out for 137,  prompting boos from the fans and a show of dissent by the  departing England batsman.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni then chose to withdraw  the appeal when asked to by his England counterpart Andrew  Strauss and coach Andy Flower during the interval.
India’s players were greeted with a chorus of jeers as they  returned to the field for the final session but when centurion  Bell re-appeared, the boos were replaced by an ovation for the  tourist’s sportsmanship.
Atherton, however, believed it was the wrong outcome.
“Dhoni will be hailed as a great sportsman for his actions  and there is no doubt that by withdrawing his appeal, he rescued  what has so far been a hard-fought and good-spirited contest,”  Atherton, wrote in The Times today.
“Things might have deteriorated had he not done so. Which is  not to say he was right to do so. Bell was guilty of doziness  and of forgetting the first rule that any young batsman is  taught: you don’t leave your crease while the ball is still  live.
“In this instance, some spurious notion of the spirit of the  game has actually subverted the laws of the game, and, therefore  the natural progression of the game.
“Dhoni will be congratulated for his sportsmanship… but he  would have been well within his rights not to have withdrawn the  appeal regardless of the unpopularity and possible ramifications  that would have inevitably followed.”
Atherton went further, suggesting that if anyone had brought  the Spirit of Cricket into question, then it was Bell, who was  eventually out for 159 to put England in a commanding position  to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
“Surely, at the heart of the Spirit of Cricket is respect  for the umpires and the decisions they make,” Atherton wrote.
“Through doziness or naivety, Bell took it upon himself to  act as the umpire. He, not umpire (Asad) Rauf, decided the ball  had gone to the boundary; he decided that the ball was dead; he  decided the over had been bowled, and that tea was at hand. That  is not the bastman’s job.
“It was Bell, not India, who made a mistake yesterday and  Dhoni should not have been castigated for initially upholding  the appeal. It had nothing to do with the Spirit of Cricket.