Steve Smith caught up in DRS drama against South Africa

Joshua Thomas

Steve Smith caught up in DRS drama against South Africa image

Though Australian captain Steve Smith eventually did fall for 38 during Day Three against South Africa, the skipper survived a seemingly plumb LBW earlier in his innings that left commentators and fans dumbfounded. 

MORE: Kevin Pietersen fires warning to Twenty20 mercenaries

Sitting on 30 just after lunch, a ball from spinner Keshav Maharaj caught Smith on his front pad before hitting bat with captain Faf du Plessis opting to utilise DRS after the umpire failed to raise his finger. 

While ruling the ball did hit pad first and that the delivery would have hit the wicket, DRS inexplicably decided to leave line of impact to umpire's call after seemingly believing it had struck Smith's back pad first. 

"Oh that's out LBW, isn't it?," commentator Mark Nicholas said after the delivery.

"I think for whatever reason that the technology has suggested the ball hit the back pad which it did do at second and then the predicted path comes after it's hit the back pad and not the front pad which is where the confusion lies."

Fellow commentator Brandon Julian was even more bemused.

"It can't be ... I don't think ball-tracking is right," he said.

And it's safe to say everyone else watching wasn't all that impressed with the decision either.





 

The call wouldn't prove too costly however with Smith only adding a further eight runs before falling to a successful LBW review from Dean Elgar.

Australia would end Day Three with a lead of 402 runs, finishing at stumps 9/213.

Joshua Thomas

Joshua Thomas Photo

Josh has been covering sport for nearly a decade now having fallen in love with football at a young age. A UTS graduate, Josh has previously worked for GOAL and now covers football closely for The Sporting News.