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BRISTOL - Brendon McCullum hopes yesterday's Birmingham debacle has provided a lesson for cricket match officials as he tries to fathom how New Zealand didn't beat England.
The tourists moved to Bristol for Saturday's third one-day international still angry at being denied a likely victory in yesterday's second match, and pointing the finger at their opponents and the umpires.
McCullum was in the thick of the action in the Edgbaston gloom, unbeaten on 60 alongside Scott Styris with New Zealand needing seven runs off the 20th over to reach their adjusted target of 134.
He said the feeling was huge disappointment as he wandered off the ground protesting to Australian umpire Steve Davis who ruled unsafe conditions in ever-increasing rain. Photos of McCullum remonstrating with Davis dominated today's British sports pages, with the no-result popularly labelled a farce.
McCullum said there was "no doubt" in his mind New Zealand would have won, and said England captain Paul Collingwood's delaying tactics played a big part.
"I guess it was just frustrating how long it took to bowl their overs, knowing it was going to be an issue with the weather hanging around," McCullum said.
"But that's part and parcel of the game and we would have tried to do the same thing.
"The people in control out there should have taken more control than what they did."
He said Davis and England umpire Ian Gould should have directed England's bowlers to quicken up as they completed just 13 overs in the first hour of the run chase.
There was also a lengthy delay when third umpire Nigel Llong of England tried to determine whether a James Anderson dive had saved a boundary.
"The third umpire call was pretty frustrating, it took up three or four balls worth of time and that was the difference. If we'd got that last over under way, that would have been enough to see it through.
"The umpires have to identify gamesmanship and make sure it doesn't have a bearing on the outcome of the game, especially in these situations where you know it's going to be a tight finish.
"If there's ongoing dialogue between the players and umpires then you're going to get it right out on the field in the first place by encouraging teams to maintain their over rates."
But England coach Peter Moores took umbrage at claims his side used delaying tactics.
"We were bowling within the time frame required and that is quite hard in one day cricket. For me we did it right, unfortunately we can't control the fact that we came off for rain," Moores said.
"I think (match referee) Javagal (Srinath) was happy with the overs because of the allowances (for stoppages) and I think Paul said afterwards it was not a tactical issue, it was a tight game, you have to get things right but there were delays out of his control."
Moores said it wasn't certain whether New Zealand would have won, and his team were keen to play through in search of a result.
McCullum took out his anger on a golf ball today as he and teammates Jeetan Patel and James Marshall, along with coach John Bracewell, joined former New Zealand opener Craig Spearman's golf day as part of his Gloucestershire benefit year.
Despite trailing England 0-1 with three matches to play, McCullum said the match represented a healthy turnaround.
With allrounder Grant Elliott taking three wickets on debut and McCullum dominating with the bat, New Zealand outplayed England for the first time on tour to offer hope the series wasn't over.
"We still went a long way to wresting the momentum back, and taking away a bit of the momentum England had built up. We've grown a bit of confidence with it.
- NZPA
