Watch: Craig Overton was given out caught by Nick Browne in Somerset’s ongoing County Championship fixture against Essex, despite the ball hitting the ground before bouncing up off the short-leg fielder, as revealed in a slow-motion replay posted on Somerset CCC’s Twitter account.

Overton was attempting to rescue a calamitous collapse in Somerset’s first innings at the time of the incident. Batting at eight, he was only the third batter to make it into double figures in response to Essex’s 462-9 declared.

Facing up to Simon Harmer’s off-breaks, he tried to play a delivery down into the leg side, where several fielders clad in helmets waited close in to the bat. As Overton played the delivery off his hip, the ball went towards Browne at short-leg, but bounced directly in front of him before cannoning into his boot.

The ball then popped up with both keeper and Browne looking to catch it, Browne just completing the catch in the end. The umpire at the bowlers’ end, David Millns, did not give his decision straight away, despite the Essex fielders celebrating. After a brief chat with Nigel Llong at square-leg, Millns raised his finger and Overton stood in the middle in disbelief before walking off the field.

His displeasure at the decision was clear as he walked off shaking his head. Somerset were eventually bowled out for 167, 295 runs behind Essex.

A video of the dismissal was later posted on Somerset CCC Twitter account, which showed the dismissal in extreme slow-motion. From the video it could clearly be seen that the ball had bounced before ricocheting off Browne’s boot. The admin of the page captioned the video: “WICKET: Craig Overton has been given out caught………..”

Watch: Craig Overton given out caught despite ball bouncing into ground, Somerset post extreme slo-mo in protest

WICKET: Craig Overton has been given out caught………….#ESSvSOM #WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/7hg2NavJQl

— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) June 12, 2023