Sky Sports Cricket pundit Nasser Hussain criticised the match officials missing front-foot no-ball calls after Shannon Gabriel got away with a significant overstep on the fifth morning of the first Test against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl.
It wasn’t the first such transgression this match, with Gabriel himself and England’s Jofra Archer both having wickets chalked off after checking the no-ball call on review, and this isn’t the first game in which missed no-balls have been an issue; in one session on England’s tour of South Africa earlier this year, 12 oversteps were missed in a session at one point.
On that occasion Hussain criticised both the protocols in place and the players’ training methods, while on this occasion he highlighted just how vital any missed runs could be in what is set to be a tight finish.
“Got to keep an eye on these no-balls,” Hussain said. “This wasn’t called, and it’s runs isn’t it? You know if you get a wicket they’ll have a look at it but there are runs that you miss out on that might be needed by England later today.”
While it is permitted to have every ball reviewed off-field, that technology is not in place for this series.
