Should England Be Aggrieved Over The Jos Buttler Runout?

[barney15c]

In the latest ODI between England and Sri Lanka, England were aggrieved when Sri Lanka bowler Sachithra Senanayake ran out England's Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end after straying out of his crease. Although perfectly legal was it against the spirit of the game? Apparently Buttler was warned by the bowler once possibly twice in that match and allegedly in the previous game too of possibly gaining an unfair advantage when going for a run.
Before England go on the moral high ground it should be noted that earlier in the match Joe Root stood his ground when he knew full well he had been caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara off a huge glove.
He decided to stand there and hope he got away with it, eventually being given out following a successful Sri Lanka review.
So in that context should England put up and shut up?

[ludwig]

He was out fair and square. I'm surprised there's any discussion about it. Bowlers should start stumping people out of their crease without warning. This 'spirit of the game' thing is nonsense. How is it in the spirit of the game to creep down the wicket so you only have to run half of it, but expect not to risk being out?

It's as ridiculous as letting someone stay in because the ball 'only just' touched the wicket, or letting a batsman have a six because the ball landed a few inches inside the boundary.

Stupid game.

[barney15c]

Talking of sportsmanship / gamesmanship call it what you will, who remembers the B&H world Cup series match between Australia v New Zealand in 1981. New Zealand needed 6 runs of the last ball to tie. The Captain Greg Chappell instructed his bowler (his younger brother) Trevor to bowl underarm (effectively roll the ball toward the wicket) that made it impossible for the batsman Brian McKetchnie to score the 6 to tie the match. It was widely condemned as a blatant gamesmanship, but ironically was within the rules in Australia but not in England (due to an oversight), however the incident provoked an immediate change in the rules. The New Zealand Prime Minister of the time Brian Mulldoon stated it as"the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket", going on to say that "it was an act of true cowardice and I consider it appropriate that the Australian team were wearing yellow". Richie Benaud reiterated this by stating "disgraceful - one of the worst things I have ever seen done on a cricket field."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlHmKmO_WRE

[jno]

credit for Benaud for taking a hard line there, it really was shocking.

Funnily enough, McKechnie was also on the other side of an unpleasant piece of gamesmanship

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/25433887

[askyourgran]

Buttler was warned twice I think - and Senanayake hesitated before taking the bails. He should have heeded the warning, he knew what he was doing and he did step out too far imo.

[Cloverjo]

I agree with others. Buttler was warned, and was out quite fairly. I also agree with the opinions about Michael Vaughan. There were a few times when he was captain that I disliked his behaviour. I didn't like the way he downplayed Jonathan Trott's problems recently.

[jno]

I think he might have been right about Trott, Cloverjo. Trott sort of confirmed later that his illness, whatever it was, was cricket-related stress. Vaughan was protesting that everyone had been led to believe it was general depression, when it was really job-related. It's not easy to draw a clear distinction between the two, but I think he was probably close to the truth there.

[Quizmonster]

As a Scot with no great interest in cricket, though I do watch highlights etc occasionally, I am delighted to see that pretty-well everyone on this thread - most of you English, I imagine - feels Buttler's dismissal was thoroughly deserved.
How very different from the booing English fans at the match itself. Captain Cook claimed Buttler was "only half a yard" out of his crease, whereas he perfectly clearly took two complete steps. English players and fans have short memories indeed!

[barney15c]

I was thinking about the phrase 'against the spirit of the game'.
With recent instances of Sledging, Ball Tampering, Argueing with the umpire and Spot Fixing. It seems trite that the Jos Butler runout should be considered such a heonous crime against the spirit of the game. About time players started waking up to that and their Barmy Army fans.

[ludwig]

// .. recent instances of Sledging, Ball Tampering, Argueing with the umpire and Spot Fixing. //

Exactly. There's no sportsmanship in it anyway. What a load of cobblers. Stupid game.