A very happy Pakistan coach, the Aussies undone by an obscure DRS rule and Sarfraz Ahmed gets schooled. It’s all in our diary from day three of the First Test between Australia and Pakistan in Dubai.
Mickey’s revenge
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur spent a short and unpleasant tenure as coach of Australia before being unceremoniously dumped in 2013 in favour of the recently departed Darren Lehmann.
During the day’s play the camera kept cutting to Arthur who was having a hard time containing his glee as the Australian wickets tumbled, at one stage losing seven for just 41 runs.
Much of the Australian collapse was credit to Arthur who applied the screws perfectly after lunch using accurate paceman Mohammad Abbas and Wahab Riaz, and a well set field, to first dry up the Australian scoring rate, which allowed Abbas to get the crucial breakthrough of Aaron Finch’s wicket.
Once the breakthrough was made, Bilal Asif was then brought on to cut a swathe through the Australian top order.
And Mickey was smiling all the way with a grin as big as a famous Disney character who shares his first name.
The “three-metre” rule in action
There’s a “three metre rule”?
A hot topic around the Test, especially with the Australian contingent, was the review of Haris Sohail’s LBW decision on Monday, when the Pakistan batsmen was on just 51.
Richard Illingworth was in the action again after turning down a big appeal Nathan Lyon against Sohail when he appeared be struck in front.
Tim Paine sent it upstairs and replays confirmed that the ball had hit Sohail in front and was going on to hit the stumps but according to “the three metre” rule, the umpire’s original decision stood.
The obscure “three metre rule” states however that if the batsmen is struck more than three wickets away from the stumps the decision cannot be overturned by DRS.
The Australians were not even aware of this rule as a confused Marnus Labuschagne admitted at the end of the day’s play.
But Aussie commentator Mark Waugh for one thought the rule was one that definitely needed to be looked at.
“As soon as you don’t play a shot I reckon you should be able to be given out on the DRS even if it’s outside the three metres,” said Waugh on Foxsports Australia.
“Fair enough if you play a shot, OK, I’ll happily live with that but if you don’t play a shot I reckon you should be given out otherwise you’ll have blokes running down the wicket and padding up to balls knowing they won’t be given out.
“It should be given out anyway.”
Richard Illingworth (right) is well known to Australia
Pakistan captain gets “schooled”
The microscope was trained on the Australians in terms of behaviour coming into the Test but instead it was the hosts who were drawing the ire of the umpires on day three.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed was very unhappy with an unsuccessful review and let umpire, and former Abu Dhabi school teacher, Illingworth knows all about it.
Illingworth then returned fire displeased about the regular appearance on the field of Pakistan’s water bearers.
The two kept up a lively banter for the rest of the morning with shouting from both parties being clearly heard on the boundary ropes.
The Australians for their part have been well behaved apart from a few taunts which Haris Sohail said he heard, and ignored, during his maiden Test century on Monday.
And Illingworth is if course well known to the Australians as he was one of the umpires in Cape Town who uncovered “sand-paper” gate.
