Image Credit- ICC
Despite the fact that Marcus Stoinis’ lower hand
appeared to be off the bat when the ball made contact with his glove during
Australia’s run chase against South Africa in Lucknow, he was ruled out for
being caught behind.
In the 18th over of Australia’s innings, Stoinis
blocked a delivery from Kagiso Rabada, and Quinton de Kock took a diving catch
down the leg side. Joel Wilson signalled no out, but South Africa chose to
review, and UltraEdge determined that the ball had brushed Stoinis’ bottom hand
en route to the keeper.
However, third umpire Richard Kettleborough stated
that he felt the right glove was making touch with the left, which in turn was
still hanging on to the bat, even though Stoinis looked to have let go of the
bat handle. “The hand is connected to his top hand, therefore in contact
with the bat, and we’ve got a clear spike,” Kettleborough stated.
Stoinis was given out for five runs on the DRS after
making sure that the catch had reached de Kock cleanly, despite appearing to
protest to the standing umpires that his hand was off the bat.
After Steven Smith was also fired on review, it was
the second dismissal that shocked the Australian contingent. Ball-tracking
technology indicated that the delivery that struck Smith in the pads after he
moved over his stumps in Rabada’s opening over would have impacted the top of
his leg stump.
Smith, though, was not persuaded and left while gazing
bemusedly at the replays displayed on the large screen. Australia was 50 for 3
after the dismissal in their pursuit of 312 to win; by the time Stoinis went,
they were down to 70 for 6.
“The umpires really didn’t know what was going
on,” he said. “They saw what we saw. It looked like his hand was off
the bat – it hit the glove. Because they didn’t go to the side on angle –
Marcus and I were asking have they checked. They just saw the spike front on.
“It looked like there was clear daylight between
the two gloves and the handle. But I have been into the third umpire room and
the screen is big and the picture is clearer than what we have on the
screen.”
He added: “Everyone saw the same thing out there.
There was some talk that maybe it hit the handle of the bat. It was confusing
and I am sure we will get clarity or go and seek for clarity. It’s a World Cup
and we don’t want small decisions that can be avoided to change the outcomes of
games. Obviously in the situation we were in its hard to say it would have
changed the outcome but obviously for the future we want to get I right.”