Derbyshire wicketkeeper Harvey Hosein claimed an extraordinary stumping on the first day of his side’s Bob Willis Trophy clash against Leicestershire.

The visitors had already made a strong start to the game as Sam Conners removed Leicestershire opener Ben Slater for a duck before wicketkeeper Hosein effected a bizarre stumping to put Derbyshire well on top.

After letting a good length ball outside off stump from Luis Reece go through to the keeper, batsman Hassan Azad momentarily switched off and remained outside his crease where he took his guard with the keeper standing back.

A remarkable piece of wicketkeeping from Derbyshire’s Harvey Hosein 👏pic.twitter.com/srBH1o5eO8

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 8, 2020

Hosein’s quick thinking saw him produce a sharp under-arm throw into the base of the stumps sending the slip cordon into a mass appeal before the finger was raised from the square leg umpire.

The act split opinion on social media with some questioning whether the dismissal would go down as a run out or stumping.

Law 39.1.1 of the MCC laws of the game state that ‘the striker is out stumped… if he/she has not attempted a run when his/her wicket is fairly put down by the wicket-keeper without the intervention of another fielder”, meaning the dismissal will go down as a stumping for Hosein.

Some have called the act as something they would expect to see in a village or amateur cricket match. The under-arm throw stumping is commonplace at that level, where batsmen are often less switched on and the cost of dismissal reduced, and can be a nightmare for square-leg umpires up and down the country every weekend who then have to resurrect the stumps.

Absolutely village.

— Rob Heath (@RobHeath85) August 8, 2020

Fans have also questioned the difference between Hosein’s act and a Mankad dismissal, when the bowler runs out the non-striker whilst in their delivery phase, which is often lambasted for being against the spirit of cricket. One high profile Mankad incident was when India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin ran-out Jos Buttler from the non-strikers end in an IPL game.

Shall we call this Hosseining. Hmm

— Sunit Purandare (@sunitpurandare) August 8, 2020

But the English players always say there's no skill involved in mankad so it shouldn't be done

— Peter Gate (@PeterGate19) August 8, 2020

However, plenty praised the keeper’s smarts, saying the blame lay with the batsman.

Standing out of his crease is an advantage he's trying to obtain so it should be fair game if he's not going to get back in his crease each time, same as if the keeper is stood up

— Cufflink Maker Extraordinaire (@CoolCarCuffs) August 8, 2020