Brett Lee was at the centre of a double controversy after his searing bowling helped set up Australia's crushing victory at Lord's. England, however much they had been outplayed, had cause for resentment over the catch that was not and the apology that never came.
Lee's catch to dismiss Andrew Strauss in England's second innings on Saturday was a rare piece of athleticism from a fast bowler in his follow-through but photographs suggest it was more of a touchdown than a catch. Lee also indicated that he had received an apology from the umpire Rudi Koertzen after a hip-high full toss to Kevin Pietersen failed to win an lbw decision that might have propelled Australia to a victory in three days.
England, though, have good reason to feel that Lee was getting things the wrong way round. If there was any cause for an apology, it should have been from Lee to Pietersen.
Law 42 rules that only balls delivered above waist high constitute "dangerous and unfair play" but this does not alter the fact that a 90mph hip-high full toss should have been a source of embarrassment for Lee.
Hawk-Eye suggested that the full toss, which left Pietersen twisting in self-preservation, would have dipped to hit Pietersen's middle stump.
"I think Rudi just lost it," Lee said. "He said that he didn't really pick it up. He said he may have got it wrong. He apologised. I wasn't annoyed with Rudi. I know that's the way it goes. I was trying to hit him [Pietersen] on the full on the toes and it just went a little higher than I expected."
That barely begins to tell the full story. The supposed yorker would have pitched about four yards behind the stumps and, for a bowler with an embarrassing history of bowling beamers - the latest of them against Marcus Trescothick in the NatWest Challenge at The Oval - such inaccuracy should have brought an immediate show of regret. Pietersen, briefly shaken, looked incensed as he watched the big-screen replay.
Lee's beamer to Trescothick left the batsman dumbfounded and brought a furious finger-wagging from David Shepherd, umpiring in his last international. Australia's captain Ricky Ponting, however, had sympathy only for the bowler, blaming slippery footholds.
"It knocks the confidence out of him straight away," he said. "I'm not trying to defend it or anything but, if you could slow the video down and have a look at his front foot, you'd understand that he is slipping a lot."
This followed a beamer to Brendon McCullum in New Zealand this year that led one Australian journalist to call for him to be sent home for his recklessness. As for his catch to dismiss Strauss, Lee said: "It was lucky the ball fell into my hand nicely."
The photographs suggest otherwise, indicating that he must have grounded the ball upon landing. The umpires had no jurisdiction to pass on the decision to the third umpire because they were not unsighted - the regulations on catches change endlessly, so there is little point trying to keep up - and in any case both captains have urged them to make the decision on the field whenever possible.
- DAVID HOPPS