When it comes to telling the story of Mark Stoneman’s first day of Test cricket in the Wild West of Australia – one of courage, fortune and controversy – it is hard not to begin at the end.
As the England opener trudged off with 56 to his name, debate was already raging as to the process by which his Test best had been snuffed out. Caught behind superbly by Australia’s Tim Paine, after a howitzer from Mitchell Starc was deemed to have brushed his glove, the decision review system – and its human element – was once again under the microscope.
It was amid a hostile spell from the trio of Australian quicks after lunch – and on a Waca pitch that appears to be signing off from Ashes cricket with a throwback to its pacier days – that Starc got one to whistle past Stoneman’s head. The umpire Marais Erasmus remained unmoved despite vociferous appeals, prompting Steve Smith to call for the review.
Replays showed that Stoneman, in fending in front of face, had taken his bottom hand off the handle and thus, were the ball to have struck it, it should remain not out. Hotspot, the least convincing of the DRS tools, offered no sign of friction but from a side-on view – with the ball blocked from sight – snicko tremored to suggest a touch somewhere along the way.
With the sun-roasted crowd roaring as this was shown on the big screen, Aleem Dar, the third umpire, told Erasmus that Stoneman must go. Joe Root and the assistant coach, Paul Collingwood, appeared at the dressing room door in protest, causing a brief pause as the opener approached. When it became clear nothing would change, the England captain thudded his fist on the glass.
The cause of his frustration? Dar, on the basis of the replays used, needed x-ray vision to know for sure which glove was struck. Though England’s dissent was unseemly, its cause appeared valid. After all, the International Cricket Council regulations state the TV official must have conclusive evidence to change a decision and, in its absence, it must stay with the on-field umpire.
As it happened, a further replay from the angle of the slips – but shown after Stoneman was back in the hutch – suggested the end result was likely the correct one. But it was hard not to consider the opener a touch unfortunate, given the process followed at the time.
It is fair to counter this by noting that luck had been on the side of Stoneman up to that point, with two chances dropped by Australian fielders either side of being struck on the helmet during a fiery post-lunch burst from Josh Hazlewood. When tales of the old Waca are recalled over a schooner in years to come it may well arise, along with the guts on show from the touring batsman.
Stoneman demonstrated why the England head coach, Trevor Bayliss, in particular rates his flinty temperament. Across the series he has copped 92 short balls, been struck on the glove six times, worn one on the helmet and seen two of his bats snapped – numbers that were certainly bumped up during his third Test half-century.
The second snap of willow occurred during the morning session, when Starc cracked one into the handle. But it was the bouncer from Hazlewood in the afternoon, one that echoed around the Waca upon impact with the side of his head, that was most worrying. The stem guards that protect the neck may fly off dramatically but this was still an almighty hit.
There may be some technical work required, with a slight blind spot to the angle from around the wicket and a propensity to keep the hands high, as was witnessed in his dismissal. But the Rocky nickname he inherited from his father Ian – a prominent league cricketer and umpire in the north-east – is already getting a second layer of meaning on this tour.
