Take a look at the controversial catch below:
3rd umpire gives Not Out on Mitchell Starc's catch. pic.twitter.com/d39LhaTTI4
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 1, 2023
"In relation to the below incident, Law 33.3 clearly states that a catch is only completed when the fielder has ‘complete control over the ball and his/her own movement.’ The ball cannot touch the ground before then," the statement said.
"In this particular incident, Mitchell Starc was still sliding as the ball rubbed the ground, therefore he was not in control of his movement."
The decision made by the on-field umpire to request an injured Ollie Pope to the field in Australia's second innings during the ongoing second Ashes Test at Lord's has left the home team, England, in a state of bewilderment.
Pope had sustained a shoulder injury while attempting a diving catch and had to leave the field on the opening day. However, after receiving treatment, he was deemed fit enough to bat in his regular position at No.3 during England's first innings, where he scored 42 runs. At the end of day three, Australia stood at 130/2 in their second innings, leading by 221 runs.
To the surprise of the English dressing room, the on-field umpire, Marais Erasmus, insisted that Pope must field in Australia's second innings or risk being unable to bat at No.3 later in the match, which caused irritation among the England team.
"He is sore but he should be OK to bat again tomorrow," England's spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel was quoted as saying by the English media.
"We're a bit bewildered by it all. We haven't clarified yet with the officials as to why he was told he had to get back out there and field.
"It's a pretty tough situation when you nearly bust your shoulder and you're told it was an external (injury), is it still an external, we don't know? He had to go back out there. It was always going to happen, isn't it? He's so committed to this team he was always going to fall on something, and now he's back off the field icing his shoulder," he added.
The injury to Pope's shoulder was exacerbated when he landed heavily at mid-on, adding to his history of two previous significant shoulder injuries.
"It's a bit confusing. We assume that he was told he had to be back out on the field or else we had to field with 10 men, and that made no sense to me," Patel said.
"It's a bit messy if I'm honest with you. We're probably as frustrated as everyone else out there that saw what happened, and him, and he's probably more angry at the situation than anything else."
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