Umpires in the wrong at Old Trafford

The umpires should not have taken the players off the field for bad light on day four of the third Ashes Test.

Here we all were, in a crucial Test between England and Australia, with a sell-out crowd and the floodlights on, and off they went.

It was the wrong thing to do because there will be a time - possibly even on Monday - when a team need 25 to win, with six wickets in hand, there is a full house and the umpires stop play for bad light.

Because umpires Tony Hill and Marais Erasmus set the benchmark on Sunday, the players will have to go off.

"England wouldn't have wanted to bat against the new ball, but if Australia were willing to face Broad and Anderson in that light, they should have been allowed to. Cricket doesn't do itself any favours at times like that."

It was frustrating because the match was so nicely poised - Australia reaching 172-7 in their second innings for an overall lead of 331.

There are differences to playing with a red ball under floodlights rather than a white one, but you have to get on with it. There is no-one bowling in this match who is dangerous - it is not like playing against West Indies in the 1980s.

It is very, very disappointing and not the right way for the game to be played. I do not blame England captain Alastair Cook for not putting a slow bowler on as he wants to get off the field given the situation.

It is down to the umpires, and they had another poor day. There was also the slowing of the over rate by England, which the umpires should have chivvied along.

All they had to do was say to Cook, 'Come on, let's get this moving a bit', in a friendly way. Weak umpiring leads to these sorts of situations, in that players are naturally going to take advantage.

Warner respects Umpires decision

It was a very difficult situation for Australia captain Michael Clarke, in terms of timing his declaration. He had to bank on there being play on the final day - you can tuck that knowledge away that Monday is supposed to be a write-off but you cannot let it influence your decision-making too much.

In England's first innings, Stuart Broad gave a great demonstration of how well he can bat. I admonished him in the first Test when he should have walked, so it was great to see him do so on Sunday when he nicked Nathan Lyon without waiting for the umpire's decision.

We all want to see sportsmanship in cricket. Graeme Swann also walked after edging one behind and maybe they have all had a think about Trent Bridge.

It should also be remembered that Swann called a Sri Lankan batsman a cheat  for not walking last year.

David Warner, who made 41 after being promoted to open in the second innings, played well and deserved a half-century, which makes me wonder if he will open in the next Test. It is his natural position, after all.

He has copped a lot of flak during this Test, although I think he enjoys it. He is obviously a tough nut, albeit quite an unpredictable one.

My Test Match Special interview with Manchester United legend Gary Neville was amazing. Neville played a very good standard of cricket before plumping for a career in football and his younger brother, Phil, was an even better batsman.

It was brilliant to hear a top-class footballer give cricket so much credit for moulding him into that tough professional he became as a footballer.

What with Neville on Sunday and Manchester City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart dropping in on Saturday, it is apparent that football, contrary to what many people believe, has some deep-thinking and intelligent people.

Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport's Ben Dirs.

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Where did it go wrong for Ducati?

By Azi Farni BBC Sport pit-lane reporter In 2007, at the dawn of the new 800cc era and five years after their return to Grand Prix racing, Ducati won the World Championship with Casey Stoner.

Since then, no-one but Stoner has brought the Desmosedici to victory and the team look far from adding to their one and only world title.

Next season Briton Cal Crutchlow will take up the challenge after signing a two-year deal with the team.

Ducati have been accused of killing the career of Marco Melandri, and of nearly doing likewise to the untouchable Valentino Rossi.

After top-five finishes in the three seasons before moving to Ducati, Melandri slumped to 17th in the standings after joining the team, and two years later left MotoGP.

Rossi, meanwhile, failed to win a race in his two years at Ducati.

But where did it all go wrong?

Ducati's time in MotoGP started well.

When the regulations were changed to allow four-stroke engines in 2002, the Italian factory started developing the bike that would bring it back to Grand Prix racing in 2003.

Casey Stoner won the World Championship in 2007

That bike, the Desmosedici GP3, took a podium on its debut with Loris Capirossi, who went on to record the manufacturer's first win five races later. He and team-mate Troy Bayliss had nine podium finishes between them that year.

Three years later, Capirossi would take the GP6 to third in the standings, while Bayliss took his only win in MotoGP in the last round while riding as a substitute for the injured Sete Gibernau.

It was a fairytale season that cemented the Italian marque as serious contenders against the might of the Japanese factories.

Then 800cc bikes and Stoner came along, and Ducati went from contenders to champions; the first non-Japanese winners of a riders' title in over 30 years.

If Stoner's success had a downside, though, it was that it would later mask the fundamental problem, the lack of front-end feeling, justifying a slow approach to development.

In later years, the sight of a rider losing the front of the red machine and tumbling down would be all too familiar.

Stoner's biggest attribute, not recognised or appreciated until he was winning on the Honda while Rossi was losing the battle with the Ducati, was his ability to ride around problems. For him there was no limit, he rode the "Desmo" the way it demanded to be ridden, to the point of 'crash or win'.

Others would focus on the problems, perhaps too aware of them to allow the limits to be tested.

Melandri, who partnered Stoner in 2008, cut short his two-year Ducati deal at the halfway point by mutual consent after failing to get to grips with the GP8. As Stoner rode it to six victories and a further five podiums that year, Melandri was told the problem was not the bike and was duly sent to a psychologist. 

Even Stoner would later complain his requests for changes would go unheard.

Later, the likes of Toni Elias, Aleix Espargaro and Randy de Puniet - riders who have proved their worth before or since - would struggle on satellite Ducatis.

Indeed it wasn't until Rossi arrived that Ducati seemed to really take note of the need for a major upheaval in design. You couldn't send a seven-time MotoGP champion to a psychologist for complaining about the bike.

Rossi and his crew were brought in to address the need for change and spearhead development in an ambitious project, the fruits of which ultimately failed to find a cure for the long-standing front-end issues.

The Rossi years saw a variety of updated bikes, each time with fundamental changes.

The GP11 and heavily revised GP11.1 of 2011  gave way to the GP0 at the end-of-season test, where Ducati rolled out a twin-spar aluminium frame,  breaking away from a fiercely upheld belief in a carbon fibre frame after much pressure from Rossi's camp.

More changes would come in the GP12, but it wasn't enough.

Rossi failed to record a victory in both 2011 and 2012 - the first winless seasons of his Grand Prix career - and managed just three podiums with Ducati. Nicky Hayden, in five years with the team, has matched that.

That two world champions couldn't win a single race spoke volumes and it was no surprise Rossi rejoined Yamaha when his contract ended, taking a huge pay cut in order to "enjoy"  racing again.

Why couldn't Rossi, arguably the greatest rider of all time, win on the bike?

By the halfway point of his Ducati contract Rossi seemed unable, or unwilling, to push it to the limits, with a lack of confidence in the machine.

Marco Melandri failed to get to grips with the GP8

At the time, some blamed his age, saying the Italian was past his peak. But in half a season back at Yamaha, at 34, Rossi - with one win and three podiums - has already beaten his achievements of two years in red.

Rossi said Ducati didn't listen,  echoing Stoner and Melandri: "When you say you have a problem, first the Ducati guys don't trust you 100% and secondly they are quite angry because you say the bike has a problem."

Perhaps no surprise, then, that the Audi takeover of Ducati brought about a reshuffle in management, with BMW superbike director Bernhard Gobmeier replacing Filippo Preziosi  as general manager of Ducati Corse, and World Superbikes general director Paolo Ciabatti coming in as the MotoGP project director.

With Audi funding, a German approach and a pragmatic leader in Gobmeier, widely credited with turning around the fortunes of BMW, there was a sense of optimism ahead of the 2013 launch.

Andrea Dovizioso's signing to replace Rossi seemed logical. A regular podium finisher with a proven track record, he finished third in the championship on a Honda in 2011 and fourth on a Yamaha in 2012.

With Dovizioso, Ducati have the invaluable knowledge of a rider who has been on two championship-winning bikes and understands well how they work.

He realises the need for patience and that bringing the Desmosedici back to competitiveness is a long-term project.

There were no wholesale changes for 2013, with Gobmeier emphasising "evolution not revolution" at Ducati's pre-season launch,  saying: "We will not copy a Yamaha, and will stick with the Ducati philosophy."

Rossi underestimated Stoner's achievements and overestimated those of the bike's when he made the move, but Dovizioso and now Crutchlow moved with their eyes wide open.

Cal Crutchlow claims first British pole in 11 years

Ducati's move for Crutchlow shows ambition. In pairing him with his former Tech 3 team-mate, they now have two of the top riders in the championship spearheading development.

Ducati clearly think Crutchlow's riding style will suit their bike, a beast that needs a strong character to tame it.

Bringing it to a competitive level and able to be ridden by anyone - not just Stoner - is a long-term project.

In the meantime, though, they need someone to wrestle the machine to the finish line, bring immediate results and boost morale.

The Desmosedici smells fear but Crutchlow doesn't know how to stay down. His never-say-die attitude could be the catalyst Ducati need to revive their fortunes.

Joining Ducati is a bigger gamble for a rider than the team. They survived the Rossi years, where major changes came at a huge cost - both financially and to their reputation - and left them no better off. But they can ill-afford another spell like it.

Crutchlow and Dovizioso are gambling their successes on believing in Ducati's long-term project. Ducati are gambling their future on a long-term approach to development.

It's a risk for all parties. But taking risks is what this game is all about.

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