COLOMBO: Umpires warned England batsman Kevin Pietersen twice for changing his stance to attempt a switch-hit during the second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
The flamboyant Pietersen was spoken to by Bruce Oxenford and Asad Rauf after bowler Tillakaratne Dilshan had to stop twice in his run-up as the batsman turned around in his stance.
The laws of the game say that the eye-catching switch-hit -- a right-hander playing a shot with a left-hander's grip -- is legal but a batsman cannot change stance before the bowler has delivered the ball.
The 31-year-old Pietersen, who smashed an explosive 151 off 165 balls studded with 16 fours and six sixes, played down the incident, which ended with him walking up to the umpires to clarify the warning.
"There was no altercation at all," he said. "I was just finding out what it was and they were telling me what it was.
"It was just timing. No drama, no issue."
Match referee Javagal Srinath ofIndiaconfirmed that Pietersen had been warned twice for time-wasting under Law 42.10.
A third offence by any of theEnglandbatsmen would have resulted in five penalty runs being awarded toSri Lanka.
Oxenford explained the ruling and emphasised the International Cricket Council (ICC) was not trying to discourage switch-hitting.
"The ICC think switch-hitting is an excellent innovation," the Australian official said.
"But when the bowler sees intent on the part of the batsman prior to delivering the ball and stops, we can get a stalemate situation.
"The bowler won't deliver because he wants to change his field if he thinks the batsman is going to switch-hit.
"When we get to that situation the way to move forward is to give the batsman an informal warning, then a formal one for time-wasting.
"If it happens again, it's a team warning under time-wasting by the batting side and it's an automatic five-run penalty."
England, who lost the first Test inGalle, need a win to draw the two-match series and retain their number one Test ranking.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.