This has become a ridiculous pantomime now. One bowler in world cricket
regularly breaks the stumps in the delivery stride and one team complained
about it, but this is enough for a protocol to be agreed at the
pre-tournament meeting that every such instance should be called dead ball.
My guess is that most batsmen don't even know the stumps have been broken
and statistically it seems more likely the batting side will end up
disadvantaged than the bowling side, who after all are the ones at fault
here.
That said, if the protocol was put in place before the tournament started
then it's up to the teams to get on with it, although Broad saying it isn't
a big deal and that Finn is working hard to eradicate the problem has a very
hollow ring.
Perhaps more of an issue was Simon Taufel's inability to apply his wide
calls accurately or fairly. It's very difficult to score off a ball that
bounces over the batsman's head or one that passes well down the leg side
and if these are not called wides the batting side is disadvantaged
significantly.
Andrew