Mark Howard and Adam Gilchrist have revealed the stunning cost of the individual stumps used in Test cricket after the drama surrounding Alex Carey on day two at The Gabba.
Carey was bowled on 8, but the bails failed to be dislodged and went on to score 65 in a match turning innings that swung momentum back in Australia’s favour.
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Howard explained the nature of the stumps and the staggering price that each one goes for and why in a segment on Fox Cricket’s The Big Break.
“You know how much one of these bad boys cost?” Mark Howard asked.
“No idea,” Adam Gilchrist replied.
“$30,000 a stump,” Howard said.
“So when you see the ball pile into it and it gets broken.”
“Well that’s interesting because now I know when I was playing I used to come in and try and get the memorabilia,” Gilchrist said.
“Victorious moment, pick the stumps up and start running and all the chords are coming out and sound technicians are running behind me freaking out trying to tackle me trying to save a bit of money.”
Gilchrist then revealed the amazing difference in weight between the zing bail and the traditional wooden bail.
“The traditional wooden bail is nine grams,” Gilchrist said.
“Now the zing bail is 27 grams. Three times the weight.”
Despite the difference in weight Howard explained that bails failing to dislodge is nothing newin cricket, even with the old wooden variety.
“Before we get into Alex Carey it has happened before with wooden bails,” Howard said.
“It has happened before in Test cricket and we can look at various incidents where the ball has hit the stumps and the bails haven’t been removed.
“So it is not a new thing in Test cricket. There has been various times when it has happened in the past with normal wooden bails.
“It happened to Ben Hilfenhaus against India.”
“Cameron Green to Ben Stokes at the SCG,” Gilchrist added.
“It was given out and then Stokes reviewed it. I think he was given out lbw. Certainly he couldn’t have been caught behind, but the noise sounded a bit too woody to be pads.
“So two good thumpings there, but they were the timber wooden bails.
“They are much lighter than these zing bails.”
Howard revealed both the bails and stumps have to be recharged regularly throughout the day’s play to ensure they are working properly.
“The zing bail has a battery system in it and the same with the stump,” Howard said.
“The bails are changed at every drinks break and recharged and the stumps are changed every session and recharged to make sure they are all working and functional.”
Howard believes the plastic nature of the bails contributed to their ability to spin without dislodging in the Carey incident.
“What Alex Carey showed us is due to the plastic nature of the bail, it can spin around, so that could have been what happened with Alex,” Howard said.
“When you look at the Alex Carey vision the bail almost did a full 360.”
“I was in commentary and I thought that was caught behind,” Gilchrist added.
“So did the West Indies, but the umpire said not out and it was the correct decision.
“But that off-stump looked a fraction lower to the left-hander. Who knows if it was up at the same height whether that would have cannoned into it a bit more.”
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Also contributing to the cost is two cameras on either side of each individual stump.
“The other thing in the stumps is a camera facing both ways,” Howard said.
“So you have one camera facing the bowler at the top of his mark and the umpire and one facing the batter.
“This is why it is $30,000.
“Then down below the pitch is where the old stump mic is hidden. The two fluffy things behind the stumps are the stump microphones.”
“They are turned up and down by our sound gurus out the back in the truck,” Gilchrist added.
“Every ball the volume is turned up as the ball is bowled and down between balls.
“The best way I found to get them to turn it down when I was playing was to announce all my personal sponsors.”
Earlier Mark Waugh referenced an infamous line from rugby league in calling for an investigation into Alex Carey’s non-dismissal.
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Referencing a no-try decision in a match against South Sydney, then Manly coach Geoff Toovey demanded an investigation in a heated press conference.
Waugh said on day three: “There’s got to be an investigation, as Geoff Toovey once said, the Manly Sea Eagles coach, when there was a bad decision in a game of rugby league.”
Waugh said on Fox Cricket it was clear the different height of the stumps had an impact.
“It’s definitely lower. That off stump is lower. Hence less of the ball hit the bail,” he said.
Kerry O’Keefe said the stroke of luck could be the difference between winning and losing for the West Indies.
“It was Test-defining. If that bail comes off, Australia trail by 200. If they get bowled out for around 100, trail by 200, West Indies would be careering away here. The bail has decided this Test match and we want to know what happened,” he said.
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