Australia v South Africa 2022/23

Watch: Klaasen survives borderline third-umpire decision after another low catch ruled not out

by Wisden Staff January 8, 2023 - 7:52am 3 minute read

In the tale of the Sydney Test match, another borderline catch was ruled not out with Heinrich Klaasen the lucky batter this time.

On day one in Sydney it was Marnus Labuschagne who was ruled not out by the third umpire after edging to Simon Harmer at slip. On day four it was Dean Elgar. And on day five, Klaasen.

All three catches were responded to by the fielding side with standard celebrations with no question over whether the catch had been taken.

After play on day one, Labuschagne admitted that, “if there’s no TV then I’m walking, that’s just how the game works. But with the amount of slow-motion footage of the ball, you see his fingers push and split open, according to the technicalities some of the ball is touching the grass, regardless of whether his fingers are under it or not.”

And so when Elgar and then Klaasen were then caught similarly low to the ground, they too stood their ground with the third umpire Richard Kettleborough delivering not-out verdicts on each occasion.

On day five, Klaasen edged to Smith at slip off the bowling of Nathan Lyon as Australia were pushing for a miraculous final-session victory.

Smith lunged forward and the ball appeared to carry but even though his fingers were underneath the ball, the umpire deemed the ball to still have made contact with the ground due to his fingers splitting in the way Labuschagne mentioned.