Ricky Ponting not happy with Alastair Cook's not-out ruling
The first Ashes Test match between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and England may have ended in a draw, but the last day was not without its tensions. One of the bones of contention was the decision to give Alastair Cook not-out after being caught by Ricky Ponting.
The catch went low down on Ponting after Cook flicked it to mid-wicket, but both the batsman and the umpires weren’t convinced. The decision was referred to the third umpire who had to look into the replays and decide on whether the catch had been cleanly taken.
The television replays weren’t conclusive and the decision was tossed back to the on-field umpires who decided that the batsman couldn’t be given out.
Reacting to the incident, Ponting said that the use of technology to adjudicate on hairline decisions wasn’t at the required standards. He said, “I do get a little bit annoyed with it because I think it's a blight on the game, trusting in technology that's
not good enough to show them. I could have thrown the ball up straight away and nobody would have questioned it.”
Ponting also said he was sure he had caught the ball but the umpires told him the replays hadn’t been clear enough. As if resigned to the end result of the batsman being given not-out, Ponting said, "That's about all I could do. As soon as they referred it
you pretty much know what the end result was going to be."
Ponting has been an advocate of accepting the word of the fielders in such cases but he hasn’t had a lot of support from other countries. In 2007-08, India’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anil-Kumble-c44737 had got into this informal agreement that the batsman will walk if the fielder said he
had caught it cleanly, but following a controversially claimed catch by Ponting off Sourav Ganguly, the pact was called off.
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