Olly Stone frustrated with bad-light call

The English team was frustrated with the bad-light call during the second day of The Oval Test against Sri Lanka, where the hosts were forced to use spin. 

After England were bowled out for 325 runs, where the hosts lost the last six wickets for only 35 runs, the hosts’ pacers provided a strong start. 

While the opening partnership was broken through a run out, Olly Stone got two wickets in his five overs (2/28) and Chris Woakes (1/41) and debutant Josh Hull (1/26) got one wicket each. 

It actually started from the seventh over of Sri Lanka’s first innings. After the run out dismissal of the Sri Lankan opener Dimuth Karunaratne, fast bowler Chris Woakes was forced to complete his over by delivering the last four balls as a spinner. However, from the next over, England returned with the fast bowling.  

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The visitors Sri Lanka were once struggling at 93/5. At tea, the visitors were fighting on 142/5. However, England were forced to use the spinners in the third session due to the light issue. The on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Chris Gaffaney felt that the English fast bowling would be too dangerous in the bad light, so the hosts had to go on with the spin bowling options.

The English spin bowling resulted in a good comeback for the Lankans as they ended the second day on 211/5. Captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis remained not out on 64 and 54 runs, respectively. The skipper and Mendis already put up an 118-run partnership for the unbroken sixth wicket. 

The England captain Ollie Pope had to use only spinners during the entire 17 overs of the last session. In that final session, Sri Lanka scored 69/0.  

We'd have obviously loved to have bowled seam there: Olly Stone

At the end of the day, frustrated fast bowler Olly Stone said, "They're the rules, aren't they? You can't change those. It's taken out of our hands. We'd have obviously loved to have bowled seam there. It's just one of those things that's frustrating but has to be done."

During the first Test of the series at Old Trafford, England faced the same situation, where the hosts were forced to use spinners for 12 overs. It allowed the visitors to recover from 113/7 to 236 runs in the first innings. During the second Test of the series at Lord’s, England captain Ollie Pope had a similar fate. 

The Law 2.7.1, which talks about the bad light and any other weather-related issues, claims, "It is solely for the umpires together to decide whether either conditions of ground, weather or light or exceptional circumstances mean that it would be dangerous or unreasonable for play to take place. Conditions shall not be regarded as either dangerous or unreasonable merely because they are not ideal."

Everyone could see the ball, I guess: Olly Stone

Stone believes that everyone could see the ball in that bad light. However, he respected the umpires’ call. 

Stone added, "Everyone could see the ball, I guess. As a team we want to be out there for as long as we can and you have to go off what the umpires say, and unfortunately we couldn't bowl seam. I guess there's a point where it may become dangerous, and you don't want to see anyone get hurt. We'll keep providing the entertainment whether it be with seam or spin, and trying to take the game forward."

England have already secured the three-match home Test series against Sri Lanka by winning the first two Tests. However, the ongoing The Oval Test is also crucial for both of the teams regarding the 2023-2025 ICC World Test Championship points table.