To the naked eye, the ball seemed to be a bit high and drifting down leg. But wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock prompted captain Temba Bavuma to go for a review
Australia’s Marcus Stoinis (left)interacts with umpire Joel Wilson after being dismissed against SA on Thursday. Pic/Getty Images
When the chips are down, nothing seems to go your way. Much to the dismay of the Australians, they were at the receiving end when two controversial DRS decisions went against them while they were struggling to come to terms with the South African pace bowling.
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They were chasing a challenging 312 for victory and had already lost early wickets. To add to their woes, Steve Smith was ruled leg before wicket off Kagiso Rabada after the DRS review was sought by the fielding side. To the naked eye, the ball seemed to be a bit high and drifting down leg. But wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock prompted captain Temba Bavuma to go for a review.
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Low and behold, the ball tracker showed the ball hitting the top of leg stump. Both non-striker Marnus Labuschagne and batsman Smith were bewildered by the decision. There was nothing Smith could do but begin a long walk back to the pavilion.
Controversial Stoinis call
If that was not enough, a few overs later, Marcus Stoinis tried to fend off a Rabada delivery which passed by his waist into the wicketkeeper’s hands. Since there was a noise, the South Africans went for the review after the umpire had ruled Stoinis not out. On the DRS, there was a clear spike as the ball passed his bottom glove, but the question was whether his hand was still in contact with the bat handle?.The third umpire Richard Kettleborough thought so and ruled Stoinis out. That was game, set and match as far as the fate of the match was concerned.
These two dismissals were the talking points even after South Africa had won the match convincingly. However, the Australian camp was unhappy with these two decisions and expected clarification from the ICC. Australia coach Andrew McDonald said, “We have got to accept the umpire’s decision in these moments. I’m sure there will be some sort of explanation coming from the ICC around the dismissal.”
Rabada unsure
Rabada, the South African fast bowler responsible for both contentious dismissals, shared his thoughts on the controversial decisions after the game. On Smith’s dismissal, he said: “I was hoping for ‘umpire’s call.’ I felt as if it just skidded through and didn’t bounce much. The technology favoured us today, but I thought it was close. I don’t think it was as obvious as ‘missing.’ ”
On Stoinis, he said: “I initially thought it hit his thigh pad, and my teammates around me felt that they heard a woody sound. Stoinis didn’t look so convinced. I think he looked as if he felt he had touched it.
So that was that”
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