There are instances where cricket and commonsense are mutually exclusive concepts and yesterday's events at Old Trafford fell into that category.
As 4.30 beckoned, on the penultimate afternoon of an utterly absorbing fourth Test, with Australia in command while they pursued the victory which would preserve their ambitions of regaining the prized Ashes urn, umpires Marais Erasmus and Tony Hill, adjudged that the light was too bad to continue. They marched the players off the pitch, much to the annoyance of the touring captain, Michael Clarke, who was on the field at the time, unbeaten on 30, and would have stayed there if he could have had any say in the decision.
Unfortunately, for those who believe that cricket is a branch of the entertainment industry and therefore has some obligation to reward the investment of the paying public - many of whom had shelled out £120 to watch the contest - the teams' exit, followed by more than half an hour of faffing around, as the prelude to the heavens opening in Manchester, brought the curtain down on what had already been a pretty frustrating experience for Clarke and his personnel.
Even before the skies darkened - and the forecast is worse for today which means England should have retained possession of the Ashes by this evening - Alastair Cook's side had blatantly wasted so much time and indulged in dragging out the proceedings for so long that one suspects Sir Alex Ferguson would have spontaneously combusted if all this had happened at the other Old Trafford.
Cook's men, for instance, only delivered 12.2 overs an hour, which, given that many were bowled by their spinner, Graeme Swann, was absurdly pedestrian. Almost as soon as one player left the arena for a shower or a toilet break, it seemed as if another was heading for the pavilion and a fresh substitute was entering the fray: acts of gamesmanship which incurred the wrath of such greats as Ian Botham and Shane Warne, both of whom wondered why the umpires didn't intervene and tell them to get a move on.
Yet, whatever complaints and grudges the Australians may have harboured, the bottom line was that they had opportunities to turn the screw on their rivals and failed to take them. When play commenced, with the hosts on 294 for 7, they still required another 34 runs to avoid the possibility of being asked to follow on and a better spinner than Nathan Lyon might have orchestrated a late English collapse. In the event, though, Stuart Broad and Matt Prior advanced to safety with relative comfort, and although Peter Siddle eventually wrapped up the innings at 368 - a deficit of 159 - the analyses of the respective spinners told its own story. Swann, despite having the flu, and operating on the opening two days, managed to snare five of the seven Aussie wickets which fell; Lyon, by comparison, only managed one for 94 from 35 overs, a display which allowed his opponents to wriggle off the hook.
To their credit, Clarke's personnel buzzed and bristled with purpose when they sought to amass quick runs in their second effort. David Warner, who has become the pantomime villain of the piece, was booed to the crease, but responded with some beefy belligerence, which allied to the more cultured style of Usman Khawaja, established a sound platform. Broad, the Mr Angry of the Blighty brigade, thought he had removed the baggy green's Dick Dastardly, caught behind, but the DRS review proved futile; so the opener kept biffing away until he struck a Tim Bresnan short ball into the deep and was caught by Joe Root of all people for a rapid 41. As one or two wags observed, it wasn't the first occasion this summer when a hook from Warner had been taken by Root - following their contretemps in the Walkabout Bar in Birmingham in June. But the fellow thrives on channelling raw aggression and that initial burst of acceleration was the catalyst for his country to crack on, as England procrastinated.
To be fair, the officials could have stepped in and issued a warning. But they appeared more concerned about the clouds gathering overhead. In the meantime, there were cameos a-plenty from Khawaja (24), Steve Smith, who looked in particularly good touch, as the precursor to being run out for 19; and Clarke himself, who produced several exquisite illustrations of his talent, only to be denied by a combination of the elements, and the more farcical nature of the ICC regulations on bad light.
The tourists have already progressed to a lead of 331, and will fancy their chances if they can get stuck into their adversaries for any extended period. But, if you take the attitude that all that matters is the result, not the means of achieving it, England have done nothing wrong. It is the game itself which is damaged by these incidents.
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