The England-New Zealand ODI at The Oval was marred by controversy as Paul Collingwood decided not to recall Grant Elliot who had been run out after colliding mid-pitch with Ryan Sidebottom. Richard Hobson writes in the Times that Collingwood took the easy option:
England pride themselves on being a tough side, but there is a huge difference between making themselves hard to beat and messing with the spirit of the game. Collingwood sought victory at any price, little realising that its value would be diminished.
According to Mike Atherton, writing in the same paper, England lost the match, but, more important, a good deal of self-respect in that moment.
Imagine, though, if England had won. It is difficult to imagine how Collingwood could have apologised with a straight face; difficult, too, to envisage how the New Zealanders might have felt able to accept it. When Graeme Swann’s errant throw missed the stumps and evaded four England fielders, the cricketing gods rendered a judgment of their own.
Simon Hughes writes in the Telegraph that when a man as decent as Paul Collingwood gets drawn into temporarily seeking a win at all costs, it is just further confirmation that cricket has sacrificed any right to the moral high ground.
Meanwhile Mark Richardson, the former New Zealand opener, said the collision was "harmless". He said to stuff.co.nz:
Richardson said New Zealand should be careful about "throwing stones" and being hypocritical.
He said the incident was similar to when Sri Lanka's Muralitharan was run out during last year's tour to New Zealand. Muralitharan had walked down the pitch to celebrate his partner Sangakkara's century, while the ball was being returned to the wicketkeeper, and he was dismissed. "We were happy to take that decision," he said.
Paul Holden, the Sideline Slogger, feels there are differences in the two incidents.
I agree that it was a very aggressive move for New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming not to recall Murali, and was arguably a contravention of the spirit of cricket. However, let’s also remember that it was also pretty dumb. In this morning’s case, unlike Murali, Elliott was not at fault. He was not being stupid or naive, he was injured and had been flattened, and unlike the Sri Lankan he could not and unlike the Sri Lankan he could not be accused of failing to value his wicket sufficiently.
The New Zealand Herald has a collection of English press reactions from the incident.
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