David Warner received a bizarre reprieve in the first Australia-Zimbabwe ODI, initially walking off after a caught-behind decision was sent upstairs, only for the technology to show no conclusive evidence to overturn the decision.

Warner, on 36 at the time, went on to make 57, Australia’s highest score in a five-wicket win.

The incident came in the 17th over of Australia’s pursuit of 201. The final ball of Sikandar Raza’s first over of the contest surprised Warner with some extra bounce, beating his attempted cut shot for the Zimbabwe keeper, Regis Chakabva, to complete a good take.

Umpire Rod Tucker was unmoved, with Zimbabwe opting to review the decision. As soon as they did so, Warner began to walk from the field, seemingly convinced that he had hit it, and not waiting for the DRS technology to show that he had.

The on-air commentators felt Warner had hit it too, with one citing a sound on stump-mic. “Warner knows that he’s a guilty man,” added another.

However, neither the hot-spot or Snicko technology showed a mark or a spike, which would provide evidence to change the decision to ‘out’. Upon seeing the second piece of technology in action, Warner halted his march back to the pavilion. “He might just get a reprieve here even though he knows he’s hit it,” was the summary on-air.

Warner was reprieved, adding another 27 runs to his total. Had he been given out, Australia would have been 80-2. Instead, they proceeded to chase down Zimbabwe’s total with five wickets and 16.3 overs in hand.

The result gave Australia 10 Cricket World Cup Super League points, leaving them needing two more wins from eight further games to confirm their place at the 2023 Cricket World Cup. The second game of the series will take place at the same venue, in Townsville, on Wednesday, August 31.

The decision followed on closely from another piece of DRS caught-behind drama, with Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka unable to overturn an ‘out’ decision despite scant evidence that he had hit the ball in the Asia Cup 2022 opener.

The video is available to view on cricket.com.au.