Watch: George Bailey starts walking even before umpire’s decision

The question of ethics is raised frequently in cricket, and the relevance and implication of “walking off” is hotly debated as a moral conundrum. Should a batsman really leave the field when he knows he is out or should he leave it to the umpire to do his job and send him on his way?

Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar has often been hailed for “walking off” truthfully and helping the umpire in his job, while on the other end of the spectrum there has also been outrage over umpire decisions, which resulted in Andrew Symonds and Stuart Broad, popularly among others, stay to dominate and flatten the bowling lineup after obvious respites.

Morally right or wrong, the debate will cease to end, but what happened on day 3 of the Sheffield Shield match between Tasmania and Western Australia was surely one of a kind, a unique sight which perhaps would never be witnessed again. Tasmania and former Australia captain George Bailey missed a friendly full toss and was struck dead on his back leg plumb in front of the wickets.

The 34-year-old, perhaps out of embarrassment at missing out on such a delivery, started walking to the pavilion instantly without even looking back and before the umpire had the time to raise the dreaded finger. A batsman walking or not walking after nicking the ball is a fairly common occurrence but this was surely one of a kind.

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Batting on 44 at the time, George Bailey’s loss was the final nail in the coffin for the bowling side, as Tasmania found themselves at 97-6. Even an impressive recovery to 265 after invaluable lower order performances wasn’t enough, Adam Voges’ Western Australia ended up trumping Bailey’s side by 9 wickets.

The crucial win in a match that featured other cricketers such as James Faulkner, Micheal Klinger, and Cameron Boyce was a clash of the teams reeling at the bottom of the table.

Here is the video of George Bailey walking off: