It hasn’t taken long for controversy to strike in the elimination final between the Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars. on Wednesday night.
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Ageless Stars seamer Peter Siddle thought he’d dismissed Thunder batsman Matt Gilkes when Tom Curran took a sharp catch at cover in the fourth over on Wednesday night.
Curran claimed the catch and the soft signal was out, but Gilkes stood his ground before the umpires sent the decision upstairs.
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“Oh what a catch, gee there has been some good catches (this summer), that went low and hard and Curran got his hands underneath it,” Mark Howard said on Fox Cricket.
“Gilkes is just remaining to have a look at the umpire but it looked pretty clean. The umpires are just having a chat about it.”
After a lengthy review, which included three ultra slow-motion replays, third umpire Mike Graham-Smith reversed the on-field decision and spared Gilkes.
“There have been a few of them this summer, across all formats, again, depending on what change room you’re sitting in you can see what you want to see,” legendary wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist said.
“It definitely carried but it just felt like it was on its way out again and he didn’t have full control of the ball and at that point it touched the grass and that’s enough for the third umpire to say no.”
Play was then stopped for lighting, giving Sixers batsman Hilton Cartwright a chance to discus the decision with the Fox Cricket commentators.
“I’m rooming with Peter Handscomb on this trip and we were actually discussing this while watching the game last night,” he said.
“Not to say that’s the wrong decision or the right decision but I feel like those dismissals at the moment are getting a lot of airtime and I think if you look back in the past a lot of those have been given out because there’s the argument if his fingers are under there.
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“Like no doubt the ball is touching the turf there but it’s whether or not his fingers are also under that turf which you can’t see because they’re underneath the grass.
“So I don’t want to be in the position of the third umpire to look at that because they’re obviously very difficult decisions but the more they pop up the more they seem to be getting overturned in recent times.”
Cartwright was then asked how he would feel as a batsman if he’d been the batsman in this scenario.
“I reckon I’d be 80-20. I’d be like 80 per cent that probably is out but I’d be lying if I said I’d walk off saying ‘no worries’ because definitely part of me would be thinking ‘was his finger fully under it or was that grass?’,” he said.
“I think that’s the most difficult decision because you can’t see TC’s fingers so you think ok it’s touching the grass but you can’t have X-ray goggles on to see where his finger is under that ball.
“So I’d be lying if I said I’d walk off completely happy but I reckon I’d be OK, knowing the soft signal was given out, I’d have to walk off and at the end of the day you have to respect the (third) umpire’s decision, he’s doing the best he can in that moment with the technology he’s got.
“I’m a big believer in the spirit of cricket and trusting a guy’s judgement because I know when I take a catch or I take one on the half volley, as a fielder you absolutely know.
“So I think there’s a big part of that but because the game has become so competitive and there’s so much on the line in these games, (we need to use) the amount of technology (available) to make sure there are no incorrect decisions made.”
