‘I panicked big time’: Bedingham, Cummins discuss ‘dodgy’ dead ball incident

“Controversy at Lord’s? No way.”

That was commentator Ian Smith’s somewhat sarcastic reaction, as David Bedingham, the centre of attention, sheepishly looked around.

In attempting to paddle away a tricky Beau Webster delivery, the South African batter hit the ball only as far as inside the flap of his right pad. As it slowly began to roll down the side of his leg, towards an approaching Alex Carey who was keeping behind the stumps and eyeing off a potential catch, Bedingham took possession of the ball and swiftly helped it find the safety of the ground.

It was an incident which caught the attention of Aussie captain Pat Cummins, along with his teammates fielding in close, and could’ve very quickly created an enormous stir. After all, the memory of the Carey and Jonny Bairstow incident at Lord’s in the 2023 Ashes series still remains reasonably fresh in the memories of cricket fans worldwide.

Umpire Richard Illingworth, after a brief consultation, ruled a dead ball.

Bedingham, 31, candidly admitted while addressing media after the day’s play that the incident may have come across as “dodgy”.

“I panicked big time because I think Carey was standing up, so he was quite close,” Bedingham said.

“I think, the way I dropped the ball, picked up the ball, came across a bit dodgy.”

Cummins helped defuse any lingering controversy when it was his time to talk to the media.

“The umpires said it was (a) dead ball first of all, but I think we would have withdrawn (the appeal),” he said.

Bedingham was on 31 at the time of the incident and went on the top score for the Proteas with 45. Coincidentally, it was Cummins that ended up removing him en route to his six first innings wickets.

“I’m glad they just withdrew the appeal ... I’m glad nothing happened out of it,” Bedingham continued.

“The umpire said, ‘regardless, I think it was dead ball.’”

After the tiring fallout following the Ashes incident two years ago, both teams were more than happy to put this one to bed, without any major fanfare.

At stumps on Day 2 of the World Test Championship Final, Australia is 144/8 and ahead by 218 runs, in what has been a Test so far dominated by the ball. 14 wickets have fallen on each of the first two days.

The match is set up for a potential nail-biting conclusion on Day 3 in England’s capital.