'Unjustified' calling off play at Old Trafford due to 'low light' result of 'weak umpiring': Report

The British media has claimed that it was the wrong thing to do for umpires to call off play due to bad light on day four as their might even be a situation, when a side needs 25 runs to win, with six wickets in hand, and the umpires stop play for bad light and Cook could have been told to carry on.

According to the BBC, since umpires Tony Hill and Marais Erasmus set the benchmark on Sunday, the players will have to go off and it was frustrating because the match was so nicely poised, with Australia reaching 172-7 in their second innings for an overall lead of 331.

There are differences to playing with a red ball under floodlights rather than a white one, but you have to get on with it and there is no-one bowling in this match who is dangerous, adding that it is not like playing against West Indies in the 1980s, the report said.

The report added that all the umpires had to do was to say to Cook, come on, lets get this moving a bit, in a friendly way and weak umpiring led to these sorts of situations, where the players naturally took advantage.