Bob Woolmer believes that Law 33, which deals with Handled the ball, needs to be reworded to prevent a recurrence of the Michael Vaughan affair. Woolmer, the former coach of South Africa and now in charge of Warwickshire, argues that the Law should only come into force if the batsman "is preventing his dismissal", which, in his view, Vaughan was not doing. As it stands, Law 33.1 states that "Either batsman is out Handled the ball if he wilfully touches the ball while in play with a hand or hands not holding the bat unless he does so with the consent of the opposing side."

While Vaughan was correctly given out according to the Laws of the game, Woolmer would like to see a new formulation that wouldn't infringe upon its spirit. "A batsman should be given out handled the ball if in the opinion of the umpire he is preventing his dismissal," he told Wisden.com.

This clearly applies in the two previous instances of Handled the ball in Test cricket - Graham Gooch and Steve Waugh were both protecting their stumps - but Woolmer is adamant that Vaughan's dismissal was different. "The Indian appeal was truly against the spirit of the game," he says.

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