“Kumar said to me if it was zing bails it would been given out” - Stuart Broad on Steve Smith surviving close run-out call

England pacer Stuart Broad has revealed that he had been told by umpire Kumar Dharmasena that if zing bails had been used for Ashes 2023, Steven Smith would have been run out on Day 2 of The Oval Test. The veteran cricketer added that he had no qualms about the batter getting the benefit of the doubt.

There was a massive moment in the final Ashes 2023 Test on Friday when Smith, who was batting on 42 at the time, took on a throw from substitute George Ealham. Keeper-batter Jonny Bairstow, however, dislodged one of the bails with his gloves before the ball was in his hand. By the time, he took out the other bail, Smith was in his crease.

Controversy, however, emerged as there was a debate over whether Bairstow had dislodged the stumps just before collecting the ball.

Opening up on the same, Broad said following the second day’s play:

"I honestly don't know the rules. I think there was enough grey area to give that not out. It looked like benefit of the doubt sort of stuff, first angle I saw I thought out, and then the side angle it looked like the bails probably dislodged.

"Kumar said to me if it was zing bails it would been given out, I don't really understand the reasoning why," the England fast bowler went on to add.

As per cricketing rules, Law 29.1 states: "The wicket is broken when at least one bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or one or more stumps is removed from the ground."

---

Steve Smith reacts to surviving run-out

Sharing his thoughts on the incident, Smith said that when he looked at the replay the second time, he felt that Bairstow may have knocked the bail before the ball was in his hand.

The batter, who had actually started to walk off after seeing the first replay, commented:

"I saw the initial replay and saw the bail come up, and when I looked at it the second time looked like Jonny might have knocked the bail before the ball had come. Looked pretty close at that stage, if the ball had hit at the initial stage when the bail came then think I was well out of my ground."

The 34-year-old admitted that he was caught off-guard by substitute Ealham's quick throw. Smith said:

“I know now that he's very quick. The next one we hit out there when it was a similar push for two, I was like, gee, this guy's tearing around the boundary, he's coming at pace. Had I known that previously I might have just stayed there for the single.”

Having survived the run-out call, Smith went on to score 71 off 123 balls as Australia posted 295 in response to England’s first-innings total of 283.