This 2023 Ashes series has been as intense as it has been controversial. In the second Test at Lord's, Steve Smith found himself in the eye of a storm after he tumbled while taking a catch to dismiss Joe Root.
There was a lot of debate about whether the catch was a fair one or not. Cut to the fourth Test and the roles have reversed.
On day three at Old Trafford, Root claimed to have taken a fair catch to dismiss Steve on a duck off the bowling of Chris Woakes.
However, the fielder looked immediately to the ground and didn't even appeal after the catch was completed. Nonetheless, the other England fielders were quite optimistic and they urged the umpires to go upstairs.
After a multi-camera angle replay, the third umpire, Kumar Dhamasena, was convinced that the ball did hit the deck before he had his fingers underneath it. He said that there was enough evidence of the ball hitting the ground and he pressed the not out button.
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Yet there was controversy over the decision as many thought otherwise and opined that it should have been given out.
“I think a lot of the time you can go on the fielder’s reaction,” replied Ricky Ponting.
“There’s certain times when you’re 100 per cent positive you’ve caught it, I think if he was positive there, Joe, he would’ve thrown that straight up.
“The fact that he looked down at the ground as well, he actually kept his eyes down to see if he could find a spot where it might have touched the grass.
“They are so close, they are so touch and go. Making a decision there, if the ball has actually bounced up off of the ground and into the palm of his hand or whether it’s bounced up off the end of his fingers and gone up into the palm of his hand.
“There is so much doubt with those. The amount of technology we’ve got in the game, it’s still not got to the point where it’s 100 per cent clear on whether these catches do carry or not.”
What does the law say?
According to Law 33 of the Laws of Cricket, which deals with catches: “The striker is out Caught if a ball delivered by the bowler, not being a No ball, touches his/her bat without having previously been in contact with any fielder, and is subsequently held by a fielder as a fair catch, as described in 33.2 and 33.3, before it touches the ground.”
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