Darren Berry gives his take on Nevill

According to former wicketkeeper Darren Berry there is nothing technically wrong with what Australian gloveman Peter Nevill did to dismiss Dimuth Karunaratne in Colombo.

After taking a delivery from Nathan Lyon on day four of the third Test he paused momentarily with the ball in hand waiting to see if the Sri Lankan opener would lift his leg.

Karunaratne did raise his foot that was in the crease and Nevill took the bails off before appealing to the square leg umpire who asked for a video review which ruled the stumping out.

“Hasn’t this kicked off, this stumping?” said Berry on SEN radio.

“Yeah I’ve heard all the debate and the question is, was it sneaky or was it cheeky?

“Well it was both in my opinion, I applaud it and say well done Peter Nevill because he got a wicket for his country and, this is the important factor, within the rules of the game.

“He did not break the rules, so that’s a tick, Peter Nevill is not a cheat I can tell you – he’s one of the nicest blokes of all time.

“So he wouldn’t for one minute have been thinking along those lines.

“However, when I watched it I didn’t feel comfortable because of the delay – it was like the play had been completed.

“There was I don’t know a two or three-second delay and Nevill stood over the bails – it was like watching a cat trying to pounce on a mouse.

“I didn’t like the look of it.

“So that’s my response, within the rules, he didn’t cheat and it’s out but I didn’t like it because of the delay and the batsman wasn’t overbalancing.

“I never got one like that in my 15 years but occasionally if a batsman was playing forward and overbalancing in his crease I would hold the ball and say don’t fall out or I’ll stump you.”