England Women beat India Women by five wickets in the second game of the three-match ODI series at Taunton on Wednesday.
Put in to bat first, India Women were positioned at 76/1 in 15.3 overs when Jemimah Rodrigues induced a leading edge off a Kate Cross delivery to Katherine Brunt. Indian skipper Mithali Raj came in next and tried to build a partnership with opener Shafali Verma.
However, things took a turn as the visitors could only make a solitary run in the next six balls. Shafali, in order to release the pump, danced down the track to hit Sophie Ecclestone out of the park.
On seeing Shafali using her feet, Sophie bowled a short off a length delivery, which the former tried to cut but in vain. The ball was grabbed by wicket-keeper Amy Jones, who stumped Shafali as the latter dragged her foot out of the crease.
The instance raised questions in the mind of fans and cricket experts since the authorities didn’t provide LED lights for the women’s contest. This lack of equipment made it difficult for the third umpire to reach a conclusive decision. Finally, after running through the several replays, the TV umpire adjudged Shafali out.
Experts opined that the decision would have been difficult if there were LED lights.
Former Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar tweeted the video of the incident and suggested for the use of bright-coloured bails.
“This is the second time in 2 ODIs that we are making it harder than it needs to be for the third umpire. Be great to get bright-colored bails,” Lisa captioned the snippet.
This is the second time in 2 ODI’s that we are making harder than it needs to be for the third umpire. Be great to get bright coloured bails pic.twitter.com/0bXAdO1jMw
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) June 30, 2021
For the unversed, LED bails light up whenever there is any physical contact. This allows the umpires to judge whether a batter was outside the crease or not at the time of illumination.
Men’s cricket has frequently used LED bails, with their application becoming permanent over a period of time.
During the match, Shafali was dismissed for a well made 44 off 55 balls. India Women lost their second match consecutively in the 50-overs series. Thus, England Women have taken an unassailable lead of 2-0, with a game left in the series.
