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Watch: ‘The dimmer-switch position’ – Extraordinary creative fielding placement accounts for Kieron Pollard in T20 World Cup clash

by Wisden Staff 3 minute read

Watch: Kieron Pollard fell victim to an ingenious piece of captaincy from South Africa’s Temba Bavuma, finding a fielder stationed in a position which had journalists scrambling for their diagrams in search of what to call it.

The dismissal halted West Indies’ late charge, with Pollard, their captain and one of the most feared T20 batters on the planet, falling to the second ball of the final over, hitting the ball to Rassie van der Dussen, who was standing just inside the ring, almost directly behind umpire Aleem Dar.

Indeed, Dar had to duck for his safety after the firmly struck stroke whistled past him. That left the path of the ball unimpeded as it flew straight into van der Dussen’s hands, where the top-order bat claimed a good low catch, with the decision upheld on umpire review. Dar was in the firing line again just after van der Dussen completed his catch, with his throw back in to the bowler forcing the match official to take evasive action once more.

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Pollard had survived a similar chance earlier in the game, with another straight shot just clearing the fielder stationed in the ultra-straight position. In that instance, the fielder moved straighter just as the ball was delivered, and thus was left grasping forlornly as the shot travelled just out of reach.

Van der Dussen, one of South Africa’s tallest players, was then moved to the slot, and used all his height to dive low and forward to take the catch.

The only thing left to figure out was what to call the novel position.

Watch Pollard fall to the ‘dimmer switch’ below:

 

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