9:44PM BST 31 Jul 2011
Ian Bell could only be honest. “I was naive and I have learned my lesson,” he said about his moment of madness that almost soured relations between England and India.
Bell was only reprieved after a meeting, almost a high tea, on Sunday afternoon that saw England coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss plead to Indian consciences and ask for another chance.
MS Dhoni led a team meeting during the interval and his players unanimously agreed to reprieve Bell, who had got wind of what was happening and was one of three batsmen padded up waiting to go out for the final session.
Billy Bowden, the third umpire, gave him the good news he could start again after tea but word only spread to the crowd, who booed both India and the officials back onto the field, when Bell walked out alongside Eoin Morgan.
“If you’re going to go right down to how the rules stand, then yes I was out,” admitted Bell. “It was a completely honest mistake to assume the ball was dead.
“I think the end decision was right for the spirit of the game and they’ll probably admit that, but it was very naive on my behalf to assume the ball was dead. Just to walk off for tea was a bit stupid. There wasn’t something quite right about the initial decision.
“The right decision was made in the spirit of the game and I think both teams would have done the same thing in the same situation. It is difficult to say what we would have done if we had been in the middle. Would we have gone for the run out? Probably not. But now it is time to move on and I have learned my lesson.”
India looked sheepish when appealing for the dismissal but gave umpire Marais Erasmus a clear indication they were appealing for the run out when he queried their call. But Dhoni’s meeting led to a change of heart.
“Dhoni led the team meeting and there was unanimity that we should reinstate Ian Bell,” Rahul Dravid said. “The general feeling in the team was that it was the right thing to do. We would have been disappointed if somebody had done the same thing to us. There was a feeling while it was out in the laws of the game, it wasn’t out in the spirit of the game. We accept the fact that he wasn’t attempting a run.”
Former players in the commentary box were not quite as generous, criticising Bell for making such an error in a crucial innings. “The ball is alive and that is basic schoolboy cricket,” former England captain Nasser Hussain said. “He has got to stay in his crease, that ball is alive unless umpire calls it dead.”
Bell was guilty of being hungry. He thought Morgan had clipped the ball for four and it was tea. “Morgy’s clipped one off his pads right down to the boundary, the fielder’s dived, it looked like it had gone for four,” he said. “His [Praveen Kumar’s] body language suggested it had.
"I touched down for the third run, Asad Rauf [umpire] pulled out his jumper and looked like he was going to hand it to the bowler. I was certainly not attempting a run, but probably just a little bit naive, but I thought everything was just meandering towards tea. It wasn’t until we got to the boundary rope that we realised something had changed.”
Bell appeared to mouth to Tim Robinson, the fourth umpire, that Rauf had called tea but in the press conference admitted he had not heard the call.
The crowd booed angrily when Bell was given out and even Shane Warne, a graduate of cricket’s toughest school, thought India had made a mistake. “It is an ordinary moment to be honest,” the former Australia spinner said. “If you go on the letter of law, they walked out of their crease but as far as the spirit of the game is concerned that is not on.”
There is some doubt the umpires were able to change their decision with law 28.8 stating a dismissal cannot be changed once a player has crossed the boundary rope. But there will be no comeback for the officials.
A relieved International Cricket Council quickly released a statement praising their decision, and no doubt also for saving them from having to defuse a diplomatic incident between their two biggest powers.
For Bell, the incident eclipsed his best century for England. No more can he be criticised for not delivering when his team are in trouble.
“Hopefully I’ve shown another great example that I’m moving in the right direction as a Test cricketer,” he said. “It would be nice for this hundred to be remembered as a good hundred against a good team and helping set up a great Test match. It was a good hundred because I really admire this team.
“They have some world-class players not just with the batting but with bowling. It was nice to score a hundred in this situation, under pressure and wanting us to get back in the game. It is right up there for me in terms of hundreds scored for England.”
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