An uncommon occurrence meant South Africa were denied a wicket in the first Test against Sri Lanka after reviewing a ‘not out’ lbw decision, despite DRS showing the impact to be in line and projecting that the ball would hit the stumps.

The incident occurred in the 42nd over the first innings, after Sri Lanka opted to bat at Centurion. The visitors were going well, Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal leading the recovery after they were three down, and South Africa were desperate for a wicket.

It was at this point that Keshav Maharaj had de Silva seemingly trapped in front. The Proteas’ appeals were turned down, so they opted to utilise DRS. De Silva had darted out of the crease to meet the ball, but hadn’t done so quickly enough. He was struck pad first low on the shin, and the South Africans seemed convinced they had their man.

However, their review was turned down after it emerged the batsman was more than three metres in front of the stumps at the point of impact on his pads. South Africa’s review was retained, but de Silva survived, and the game carried on.

According to the ICC Test playing conditions, the on-field decision of ‘not out’ can stand if “the point of first interception was 300cm or more from the stumps” or if “the point of first interception was more than 250cm but less than 300cm from the stumps and the distance between the point of pitching and the point of first interception was less than 40cm”.

@OfficialCSA review is retained after it’s ruled “umpires call” on impact. #SAvSL pic.twitter.com/hrnD3GrN8w

— LiveSportCricket (@LSportCricket) December 26, 2020

It’s a complex ruling, and it’s caused controversy a few times before, most famously in the 2011 World Cup, during the tied encounter between India and England. Ian Bell was trapped in front, but survived despite India calling for a review, as the third umpire was unconvinced Bell was within the permitted space for DRS to be applicable.

More recently, in the 2018 Abu Dhabi Test between Pakistan and Australia, Jon Holland thought he had Azhar Ali trapped in front, only for the three-metre ruling to deny him. Aaron Finch said after the day’s play that the team were unaware of the ruling till the start of that series, and called it a “strange” law.

It needed an injury for South Africa to eventually see the back of de Silva. The middle-order batsman scored 79 before hobbling off with a hip problem. Sri Lanka still held the upper hand though, going through the entire second session without losing a wicket to 212-3 by tea.