England pass screen test

To walk or not to walk, that is the question. Paul Kelso reports

Almost 70 years ago this ground played host to the opening act of cricket's most enduring moral drama when Douglas Jardine put his Bodyline theory into practice for the first time.

Fittingly, the current Ashes adversaries marked the anniversary of that notorious series with a minor morality play of their own which perfectly encapsulated the pragmatic values of the contemporary game.

In January 1933 Harold Larwood felled the Australian captain Bill Woodfull and wicketkeeper Bertie Oldfield with bouncers, prompting Woodfull to remark to the MCC side's manager Pelham Warner: "There are two teams out there, and only one of them is playing cricket."

On the opening day of this Adelaide Test, both sides played cricket utterly in keeping with the modern spirit. English batsmen stood their ground after apparently good catches, an Australian bowler claimed one on the half-volley, sledging abounded and the umpires were left to clear up the mess.

Like almost everyone in the ground, Michael Vaughan's initial reaction to his uppish drive off Andy Bichel that found the hands of the diving Justin Langer at cover was that he was out.

Fortunately - for England's chances of success in this Test at least - he did not follow that instinct and walk. As any other batsman in the world would have done he waited, aware that this was an occasion when the television replay might suggest either verdict.

He was right. After a delay of almost five minutes the third umpire Steve Davis, confounded by the shadows and blurring peculiar to replays of low catches, adjudged the opener not out.

"At first I thought I was gone," said Vaughan at the close of play, before he had seen a replay. "Obviously there was a suspicion that it might have touched the ground, so I stood my ground.

"It's not criminal. The umpires can refer the decisions, so it's not for me to comment whether these replays are false or not. I just play my cricket and I would do the same again."

Australia's coach John Buchanan backed Vaughan's sentiments, saying that his players, whose captain Steve Waugh received an award for fair play on the eve of the Test, would have done the same.

"The responsibility for the game should be back in the domain of the players," he said. "My view is that Justin Langer genuinely believed he had caught it. But if a player genuinely believes he has caught the ball and the batsman does not, then the umpire has to adjudicate.

"Unfortunately there is uncertainty in the minds of the players because the technology is not proving to be reliable in this circumstance."

Vaughan's reprieve prompted a verbal barrage from Langer and set the tone for a day on which, of the England batsmen to fall, only Marcus Trescothick, bowled off an inside edge, did not wait to be given out.

Earlier, two overs after the catch-that-wasn't, Trescothick padded a delivery back at Bichel, who dived forward and scooped the ball up on the first bounce.

Buchanan said that he was convinced the bowler, like Langer, genuinely believed he had caught the ball cleanly. If so he was in a minority of his team-mates, most of whom remained in their positions as Bichel appealed to Steve Bucknor. The umpire dutifully referred the matter to Davis, who viewed only one replay before ruling it not out.

Robert Key was next to test Bucknor's eye. After scratching around for 39 minutes over his one run he pushed hard at a Shane Warne leg-break, sending the ball cannoning on the full into Ricky Ponting's calf at silly mid-off. Ponting clutched the rebound, and again the Englishman waited.

As Bucknor this time consulted his on-field partner Rudi Koertzen, the frustration of several Adelaide members spilled over. Key was barracked for failing to depart. "Walk, you bloody pom, show a bit of courage," cried one incensed member. Eventually, he did.

Next to go was Nasser Hussain, under-edging Warne into Adam Gilchrist's gloves. As is his way, Bucknor gave the captain plenty of time to walk, and Hussain, as is his, declined to do so. Eventually Bucknor sent him on his way.

Finally there was Vaughan, whose thick edge off the third ball of the last over of the day, delivered by the persevering Bichel, was taken low down by Warne at first slip.

This time there was no doubt and Koertzen did not feel the need to confirm what the batsman, still rooted to the spot, already knew. He simply flicked off the bails at his end, bringing down the curtain on an enthralling opening day.

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