Has Ben Stokes simply had his Herschelle Gibbs second?
With Australia pursuing the primary Ashes sequence victory in England in 22 years and the fifth Test on a knife’s edge, England thought that they had their man in Steve Smith on 39.
Bowling the ultimate over earlier than lunch, Moeen Ali had a ball bounce up, take Smith’s glove and lob excessive to Stokes at leg slip.
Stokes leapt within the air to take it one handed, and whereas he gathered it cleanly, the ball slipped out as his arm knocked his knee in celebration with one leg nonetheless within the air.
England’s captain knew instantly he had erred, and whereas he reviewed the choice, his worst fears have been quickly confirmed.
Smith was not out, free to go on in Australia’s pursuit of 384 with the rating 3-237 on the time.
And rightly so.
Law 33.3 of cricket states {that a} catch can solely be dominated to have been claimed when “a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement”.
It was the identical rule enacted on day 4 at Lord’s within the second Test, when Mitchell Starc thought he had caught Ben Duckett just for it to be overturned.
In that case, Starc was nonetheless sliding alongside the Lord’s outfield when he positioned the ball on the bottom to regular himself, making the catch null and void.
It’s additionally the identical rule that denied Gibbs the wicket of Steve Waugh in a vital World Cup group stage match at Headingley in 1999.
In maybe cricket’s most well-known dropped catch, Gibbs had the ball slip out of his hand whereas celebrating the wicket of Waugh at mid wicket.
Waugh went on to steer Australia to victory in that match to maintain their event alive, earlier than knocking out South Africa within the semi-final by way of a tie.
At the time, Waugh was stated to have advised Gibbs he had simply “dropped the World Cup”.
If Australia do go on to win at The Oval and declare a drought-breaking sequence victory in England, Stokes might have an identical feeling on the finish of play.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
