Of course not and the law was rightly changed after. Never said I liked it only that they didn't actually do anything wrong to be absolved from
For what it is worth I will tell a little story.
Approx 1 year or so before the infamous underarm I was playing in a game (nothing major, comp involving 6 teams from 2 different towns in rural Qld) and our opening bowler was having his last club game before moving on. In his last over he advised our captain and the umpires that he was going to bowl an underarm ball. We were all shocked as most of us weren't aware of the rule, the umpires were perplexed but could do nothing and the other teams batsmen were beside themselves. He did this to a particular batsman who was a noted 6 hitter and when the ball was bowled he just threw his bat as far as he could throw it and all hell broke loose for a while. I will say most of us (bowlers team mates) were not happy he did it and as it was the end of the game were not sure of our reception off the field. (the game was being played in their home town so we were the visitors)
It was customary for both teams to get together after the game and down as much beer as we could before finding someone who could drive us the hour trip home. Anyway we packed our gear then head to where the drinks and a barbie were and after some initial words were exchanged, everyone got over it and had a great laugh. Actually the blokes that thought it the funniest were the batsman's team mates (cause he was bit up himself and don't think he ever saw the funny side of it!!)
Anyway fast forward to the NZ / Aus game and I probably had a different reaction to the actual incident. (Remember calmly explaining to my NZ father in law some 7 or 8 years later that it was all legal, although he wasn't quite as calm
)
Anyway, there you have it..................
