Ben Stokes on Zak Crawley’s controversial lbw: ‘Technology got it wrong’

Chasing 399 to go 2-0 up in the series, England put up a brave fight in the fourth innings of the match. Crawley, who had scored 76 in the first innings, top-scored in the second as well, adding 73 off 132 balls. His dismissal, however, was fraught with controversy.

In the 42nd over of the innings, bowled by Kuldeep Yadav, Crawley went back to a back of length ball and was struck on the pad. The on-field umpire gave it not out as it looked to be sliding down the leg side. However, India took a review and, to everyone’s surprise, ball tracking showed three reds, forcing the umpire to overturn his decision and send Crawley back to the dressing room.

The ball pitched on leg stump and appeared to straighten just enough to miss, or at best, clip the stump. Had the ball clipped the outside of the leg stump, umpire’s call would have meant that the on-field umpire’s decision would have been withheld and Crawley would have survived.

But ball-tracking showed that a major portion of the ball would have hit the leg stump, leading to a reaction of shock on Crawley’s face and lots of comments questioning the correctness of the technology.

[caption id=”attachment_603004″ align=”alignnone” width=”648″] Ball tracking showed three reds on ‘Pitching’, ‘Impact’, and ‘Hitting’.[/caption]

After the match, Stokes expressed similar sentiments in the press conference. “Yeah, technology in the games, is obviously there and there’s an understanding that it can never be 100 per cent correct,” Stokes said. “So that’s why we’ve got the umpire’s call and everything. That’s why it’s in place.

“And when it’s not 100 per cent correct, as everyone says, I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to ever say that. I think technology’s got it wrong on this occasion. And that’s my personal opinion.

“And I will say that, but, again, in the game full of buts and maybes, I’m not saying that that is a reason as to why we haven’t got the result we wanted. That’s just my personal feeling – I think the technology just got it wrong on this occasion. I think that’s fair to be able to say.”

England lose Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow just before Lunch.

Five wickets and 127 runs in the morning session.#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/yNZqb29nFk

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 5, 2024

Crawley’s wicket was the fifth one to fall, at the score of 194. It led to another in the next over as Jasprit Bumrah removed Jonny Bairstow to dent England’s hopes further back. Ben Foakes and Tom Hartley scored 36 each to take England to 292, but couldn’t prevent a 100-plus run defeat in the end.