ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Why Zing bails refuse to fall?

Over 10 days have passed in the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2019 and a lot of drama and actions have been already witnessed in the 13th edition of the tournament. There has been enough for the cricket fans to keep them glued to their television sets across the globe.

However, one peculiar thing which has been a constant in this World Cup is the failure of wicket bails to fall despite the ball hitting the stumps.

What actually is Zing bails?

In a recent innovation stumps and bails are embedded with red LEDs, which flash when they are completely dislodged. Invented by an Australian engineer and trademarked as "Zing bails", they were designed to aid both umpires with run-out or stumping decisions as well as provide distinctive images to television coverage during day-night matches.

When was it first used?

LED stumps were first used at the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, and have since become commonplace in major white-ball matches like ODIs or franchise T20 leagues. They have also been used in day/night Test matches.

How heavy are Zing bails?

The zing bails weigh somewhere between a light bail and a heavy bail used for high wind.

What the ICC rule book says?

According to the ICC, Law 29.1.1 is very clear on what constitutes a dismissal. “The wicket is put down if a bail is completely removed from the top of the stumps, or a stump is struck out of the ground,” it states.

Here are the five instances in World Cup 2019 when Zing bails didn’t dislodge:

• A Rashid (Afghanistan) – Q de Kock (South Africa), Oval
• T Boult (New Zealand) – D Karunaratne(Sri Lanka), Cardiff
• M Starc (Australia) – C Gayle (West Indies), Nottingham
• B Stokes (England) – M Saifuddin (Bangladesh), Cardiff
• J Bumrah (India) – D Warner (Australia), Oval

Despite five instances, their use will not be reviewed by the ICC. “The zing bails perform exactly as the regular ones and, in fact, are lighter than those used by umpires when it is windy,” an ICC spokesman was quoted as saying by telegraph.co.uk. “The lights make any movement more noticeable,” he added. In IPL 2019, there were similar such incidents of zing bails not moving.