Zing bails saved David Warner in the first over of Australia’s innings. (Source: Twitter/)Zing bails have become the talking point of ICC World Cup 2019 with a great mystery surrounding it. The question on everybody’s lips is whether the hi-tech bails used too heavy for a ball to dislodge?
That creepy smile of warner after getting almost out by #Bumrah #INDvAUS #CWC19 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/DUzidkkMVs
— AMIT PRAKASH (@AMITPRA08065822) 9 June 2019
Five times in the opening ten days of the World Cup, the ball has hit the stumps but failed to remove the bails, giving the batsman a lucky reprieve.
The latest incident occurred in the encounter between India and Australia on Sunday, as opener David Warner was saved when the ‘zing’ bails – which contain lights that flash when the ball hit the wicket – were unmoved despite his off stump being clipped by a 140+ Jasprit Bumrah delivery.
The ball hit the stumps pretty firmly, but the bails will not move off its groove – could have had a wicket with the first ball, Warner is very very lucky indeed, short of a length and climbing onto the batsman, Warner hopped across on the defensive push, gets an inside edge and the ball rolled back onto the leg-stump
These zing bails ,something needs to be done. As if applied glue. Lights and stump mic making their mark for probably the 5th time this WC.
#IndvAus— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) 9 June 2019
This was the fifth instance of the ball hitting the stumps and bails not falling-
A Rashid – Q de Kock, Oval
T Boult – D Karunaratne, Cardiff
M Starc – C Gayle, Nottingham
B Stokes – M Saifuddin, Cardiff
J Bumrah – D Warner, Oval
So far, 33 batsmen have been bowled out in this World Cup so far. 5 times the bails have neglected to fall off and that is an 87% success rate for bails to fall off.
The rash of incidents has led many to wonder whether the bails are too heavy to fall when the ball only grazes the stumps rather than smashing into them.
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar expressed disbelief on Warner’s reprieve and wrote on Twitter, “What’s going on?? In my entire life, I have not seen 5 instances like this, let alone in the space of 10 days or a tournament.”
I understand that the electronics in the stumps and the bails make them heavier. Why can’t the groove the bails sit in just be made shallower? Won’t that fix the problem? https://t.co/MXfLWjgHqi
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) 9 June 2019
Despite these incidents, their use will not be reviewed by the ICC. “The zing bails perform exactly as the regular ones and, in fact, are lighter than those used by umpires when it is windy,” an ICC spokesman was quoted as saying by telegraph.co.uk. “The lights make any movement more noticeable,” he added. In IPL 2019, there were similar such incidents of zing bails not moving.
🤣😂#CWC19 pic.twitter.com/qlniwmYTMf
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 9 June 2019
What the rule book says:
According to the ICC, Law 29.1.1 is very clear on what constitutes a dismissal. “The wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground,” it states.
