Marnus Labuschagne has questioned the controversial decisions over Steve Smith’s and Marcus Stoinis’ dismissals during Australia’s match against South Africa in Lucknow yesterday (October 12).
Australia fell short of South Africa by 134 points in the 2023 World Cup, losing for the second straight time. There were two controversial on-field decisions during the innings, which were initially ruled invalid, but were overturned by the television umpire after South Africa sent them for reconsideration.
In the 10th over of the chase, Kagiso Rabada’s back-of-length delivery hit high on Smith’s pads. South Africa’s appeal was rejected by the umpire because to the naked eye the ball appeared to be sliding down the leg side. However, a review showed the ball would have hit his leg stump, forcing the TV referee to reverse the decision on the pitch, leaving Smith in complete shock.
After 8 oversStoinis made a similar controversial call when another back-of-length delivery from Rabada slipped down the leg side and grazed the gloves on its way to the wicketkeeper. It was a sacrifice. Thecall on the field was again “not out.” South Africa came under fire after replays showed Stoinis’ bottom hand was not on the handle of the bat when the ball hit his glove. In this case, he should not have been canceled.
However, TV referee Richard Kettleborough ruled that the bottom hand made contact with the top hand at the moment the ball touched the bottom glove and ruled him out.
In both cases, Labuschagne was a non-striker and watched the drama from the other side. When asked about the two dismissals in the post-match press conference, Labuschagne stood in the middle and explained what the Australian batsmen were thinking.
“You know, the referees didn’t really know what was going on. They just saw what we saw, and really nothing much happened,” Labuschagne said. spoke about Stoinis’ dismissal. “I mean, it looked like that to me, and I was on the field, and I can’t see it, but it looked like his hand came off the bat and hit his glove.” went to the side angle. Marcus and I just asked: Have you checked?
“Because they could only see the top from the front and couldn’t zoom in on the sides. It looked like there was clear sunlight between the two gloves and the handle.”
Labuschagne, however, ultimately played it safe. “But I was in the third umpire room again and the screen is big and everything is much clearer than standing in the middle and looking at a pretty pixelated screen.”
Regarding Smith’s sending off, Smith stated that it clearly felt like the ball had fallen and missed the ball of his foot, especially given the way Smith’s stance was moving, and that the ball tracker showed them the ball. He said it was a shock for him. I hit the ticket gate.
“I looked at the screen and actually said to Joel (field umpire), ‘Good call,’ because from the front it looked like it was going straight down.” Steve then said, “What? Do you think so?” he said. I said, “No, I don’t think it’s even close.” It felt like the angle was pushing down on his leg,” Labuschagne said.
“He (Smith) usually does this type of batting where he hits with his feet out. He doesn’t cross over like a normal batter, he leaves his feet out of the way, so he always It might have hit his leg.’ ‘He hit his leg stump and then it trickled down – but as far as the ball is concerned, I mean, I haven’t seen the final footage yet, but the ball hit his leg. It looked like it had hit, and then almost straight into the stumps.
“Well, it didn’t really feel like it, but then again, you can’t debate whether the technology exists or not at this point.”
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