The Spirit of Cricket vs Laws of the Game debate is one of the most talked about things in cricket. Recently after England batter Jonny Bairstow's controversial dismissal was effected by Australian wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey, the discussion took life with many England experts calling the Aussies wrong for their actions. However, in a recent incident in T20 Blast 2023, England's own Alex Davies seems to be respecting the laws, keeping the spirit on the sidelines.
This took place in a nail-biter first quarterfinal between Essex and Birmingham Bears when the former needed 7 runs from 6 balls to chase 168. On the final ball of the penultimate over, Essex captain Simon Harmer tried going down the ground towards long-on but he could not time in properly. The ball went behind as he ran for a run. But Harmer had a collision with bowler Dominic Drakes and Bears captain and wicketkeeper Davies threw the ball to the bowler's end, where the batter was caught well short off his crease due to the big collision. Notably, Davies did not withdraw the appeal and as it went upstairs, the decision came against the batter.
Watch the incident Here (from 9 minutes 11 seconds)
Notably, the incident is said to be in the laws of cricket as the batter was well short of his crease as he went to take a run. But with England displaying themselves as the flag bearers of the spirit of cricket, it could have been a possibility to withdraw the appeal or ask the batter to come out to bat.
Essex win thriller
However, Essex went on to win the match despite their captain walking back on 19. With 3 runs off 2 balls, Shane Snater held his nerves and hit the winning runs in style with a maximum down the ground. Essex won the match by just 2 wickets and booked their place in the semifinals of the tournament.
Coming to Jonny Bairstow's dismissal, while there were experts lashing out at Carey for the dismissal, there were some supporting the Aussie wicket-keeper. "Cummins said the dismissal was a fair one and at no stage thought of revoking the appeal and calling back Bairstow. There was certainly no requirement for him to do so. The Spirit of Cricket does not come into it. It was a dozy bit of cricket from Bairstow to allow Carey the opportunity and reflected much of the flabby cricket played by England in this match," England's Michael Atherton wrote in his column The Times.
"There was a huge sense of frustration (in the crowd) but I can’t understand why? It's complete naivety around Bairstow’s dismissal. The ball is not dead at any stage when Bairstow leaves his crease. He was obviously in his own little bubble – and you cannot do that," England's former captain Eoin Morgan said to Sky Sports.
