Cricket: Billy bags the ball again

Umpire Billy Bowden collected the Ashes match ball and gave it to England player Paul Collingwood. Photo / AP

New Zealand cricket umpire Billy Bowden shocked the sporting world when he took home the winning ball from the Ashes as a souvenir five years ago - and last week it appeared he had done it again.

England leapt in celebration at the series win, while just outside the circle of players, the notorious umpire bent to the ground.

He was right in the foreground of the television broadcast when he pocketed the match ball and walked off-screen.

Bowden yesterday told the Herald the ball's fate - and it was "100 per cent not" to keep for himself, he said.

In 2005, Bowden wanted the ball as a memento for his first Ashes series, though the English side, who had won the nail-biting test by two runs, certainly expected to get to keep it.

It was their first of two victories on the way to their first series win since 1987.

As English wicketkeeper Geraint Jones celebrated, Bowden simply walked up to him, asked for the ball, and took it home.

"I should have kept the match ball but Billy caught me when I wasn't thinking straight," Jones said later.

The England and Wales Cricket Board were forced to intervene and request it back.

Bowden is widely accepted as being "eccentric", known for signalling batsmen out with a crooked finger and performing little jigs upon making other calls.

He has inspired a YouTube video, "Billy Bowden Funny Bits".

This time, though, he was just looking after the players, Bowden said: "I just collected it and made sure that one of the players from the England team, Paul Collingwood, who had played his last test, got it.

"I underarmed him the ball, just like a good umpire should do. He was very grateful and gave me a hug, so all was happy."

Things were different from five years ago, he said, as he brushed off a suggestion that he had been up to something cheeky.

"You always change your ideas of what you think is good for the game, and Paul Collingwood deserved the ball so, like a good umpire does, he looks after the players."

England took the series 3-1, winning the final test by an innings and 83 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground.