Most disgraceful episode I've ever seen in international cricket. Today's crowd should all be given a full refund for this fiasco. 

Sadly, this Ashes series will forever be remembered for the atrocious umpiring - that the ICC ruined the last day on a matter of pettiness simply rubs salt into the wounds of Cricket fans the world over

As has just been said on TMS... they should start games 30 minutes earlier.

Farce. There was nothing wrong with the rule before.

True but bollocks at the same time.

Spectators utterly cheated out of their extortionate admission prices.

Is a ball bowled faster in a test than a day/night match?

remember this  - a bit dark when it finished 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOjHxYIF7h4

The umpire saw well enough to give Bell out. These days they're so pathetic they need TV replays when batsmen are four foot out.

They use a white ball in day/night matches. It's generally considered to be harder so possibly comes off the pitch faster. Having said that, there aren't any really fast bowlers around in any form of international cricket at the moment. The other point is the level of protection batsman now have available means they don't face the same risk of physical injury as players did until the early 1980s.

And remember - it wasn't too dark.  It was simply as dark as it had been on a previous day when, with it not really mattering at all at the time, they went off for bad light.   Had they waited another 5 minutes on that previous occasion, so it was slightly darker when they went off, then chances are this match would have been allowed to finish.

No, but they use a white ball in the shorter formats. Big difference, to be honest.

It's difficult for the ICC. There have been attempts to tweak the laws relating to Bad Light over the years, and they still havn't got it quite right yet.

Until we have all Test matches capable of being played under lights with suitable clothing and the right coloured ball, this issue of bad light and safety versus the entertainment/"paying public" issue, will never go away.

I would have been really galling if there had been no declarations by the Aussies, and we were set to win completely on our own merits so to speak.. but it was a bit of a contrived finish and I'd have taken a draw on Thursday night.

What is the safety issue? Facing Lillee and Thomson or West Indies pace quartet in the 70s/80s even in bright sunlight was dangerous because the protection available wasn't adequate. There is no safety issue now for batsman, even more so considering the lack of genuine pace bowlers. Sorry, but the safety issue is a complete nonsense. 

Quite. It's not the batsmen's fault that people like Siddle aren't picking up the ball quickly enough.

The decison to end the match when they did to me was even more of a farce than when they closed the roof at Wimbledon during Andy Murray's semi-final, when the daylight was still pretty good. Seems that common sense among those running top class sports these days is practically non-existent.

Agree. And thats why the laws need looking at again.

When I said "safety issue", I mean as defined by the ICC and not what is actually dangerous these days as others have alluded to in recent posts with improvements in procective gear etc.

As for the series itself... we won the big moments but we are going to have to play a lot better in Aus to keep the urn. I think the pitches over there will suit Finn/Broad/Tremlett very nicely, and hopefully our batsmen will find the quicker bouncier wickets easier too.. but they need to pick their form up. A lot.

It will be a closer series down there for sure.

Quite.  But remember that Billy Bowden is next on the list. Frankly it would have been far worse IMO had he been officiating. My view is that umpiring hasn't kept up with the professionalisation of other aspects of the game.

a) we all know that 

b) it's the rule that's daft in general

c) this was a particularly drastic example, though - the earlier examples in this series have hardly been in such a tight and enthralling situation

d) if you think this is the time for measured, balanced analysis, then you're way off the mark. 

That is the key issue IMO. If what happened this evening had been during the pre-floodlit cricket era, then I think there would have been fewer grounds for criticism of the decision, but surely these days with floodlights (at some grounds at least, The Oval being one), surely some leeway could be given to allow the game to continue on for a bit longer than would have been possible without floodlights. I know that floodlights don't solve all the issues re bad light, but surely they are of at least some help in situations like we saw tonight.