Mark Butcher has termed the lbw dead ball loophole that cost Bangladesh a potential victory against South Africa "nonsense".
In pursuit of 114 against South Africa, Bangladesh needed 26 runs off 23 balls when Mahmudullah was struck on the pad by Ottniel Baartman. The ball raced to the boundary for four leg byes, but the runs did not count as the umpire had answered South Africa's appeal for an LBW dismissal in the affirmative.
The batter reviewed the call, and the decision was overturned. However, due to the fact that the ball had gone dead the instant he was dismissed, Bangladesh were not entitled to any runs 'scored' off that delivery.
Mahmudullah was initially given out, but the third umpire overturned the decision. Although the ball reached the boundary, Bangladesh did not receive any runs due to the 2024 T20 World Cup playing conditions, which proved crucial in the end.
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Butcher labels the loophole "nonsense"
On the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher brought the incident up by saying, "If you remember the Reddit [AMA] we did last week, I got a surprise question about what I would change in cricket if had the power to. It happened last night, or the night before, the leg bye given out erroneously.
"It's just nonsense, isn't it? Imagine that had been the last ball of the game, and the umpire fires off somebody when the ball's missing leg stump by two yards, and it goes for four and you lose the match, [because it's a] dot ball. It's just a nonsense, absolute nonsense."
He then attempted to put forward a solution. "In cricket without DRS, that decision is final. When the decision is no longer final, then unfortunately that's a bad way of doing it. I mean, it's pretty straightforward. You can still have the umpire put the finger up, but you still carry on with your runs and whatever, then you make your review and you find out afterwards, it gets cancelled out if you're out. But you know, it's nonsense. Umpire error costs the chasing side four runs and costs them the game potentially."
The on-field umpire's decision is no longer final and many have argued that if decisions on dismissals can be changed retrospectively, the same can be done regarding runs. Another popularly proposed solution has been that if the umpire's decision of out is changed to not out upon review, the ball must be re-bowled.
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