Watch: Somerset collapsed in the T20 Blast 2023 final, but their capitulation was briefly postponed when a caught and bowled off Matt Critchley was overturned by the TV umpire, sparking another ‘fingers underneath the ball’ debate.
Critchley was bowling his second over, having already taken the wicket of Tom Kohler-Cadmore in his first. Somerset were in trouble at 68-4 and off the third ball of Critchley’s over, Lewis Gregory punted a leading edge back to the bowler. The ball appeared to die on Critchley as he dove forward, seemingly getting his fingers underneath the ball before it hit the pitch.
Critchley threw the ball in the air immediately as he got to his feet, believing that he had taken the catch. Gregory stood his ground having had a good view of the catch. The umpires decided to send the decision upstairs but gave the soft signal – which is still being used in County Cricket – as out.
On replay, the ball seemed to have briefly touched the ground at the same time as or a fraction of a second before Critchley had his fingers underneath it. As Critchley had fallen with his arms outstretched, the ball scraped along the ground with the ball in his fingers. Having looked at the catch from multiple angles, TV umpire Nigel Long overturned the soft signal and Gregory survived.
Although slightly reminiscent of the Mitchell Starc catch at Lord’s, the question here was not just whether Critchley had complete control of the ball before it touched the ground, with debate over whether the ball had touched the ground and if his fingers were underneath it.
MCC Law 33.3 states in relation to a catch, specifying that the ball can’t touch the ground before the catch is completed: “The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder’s person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement.”
A similar discussion took place when Cam Green caught Shubman Gill in the World Test Championship final, although it is relevant to note that there was no soft signal for that game.
Watch: Matt Critchley’s caught and bowled gets overturned, sparks ‘finger underneath ball’ debate
Matt Critchley with a stunning effort off his own bowling, but the ball is deemed to have touched the ground on review.
Close call 👀#Ashes2023 pic.twitter.com/S7OMSufjeT
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 15, 2023
