Watch: In the 1991 Georgetown Test match between the West Indies and Australia, Dean Jones was wrongly given run out by umpires Clyde Cumberbatch and Clyde Duncan.
The first Test match in Kingston had ended in a draw, but Australia had secured a 107-run first innings lead – no mean feat against the West Indies of that era, that too at their backyard.
Normal service resumed in Bourda, however. Australia recovered from 24-2, then from 238-6 to post 348, but the total seemed puny after Desmond Haynes (111) and Richie Richardson (182) added 297 for the second wicket.
Carl Hooper, Viv Richards, and Gus Logie all made fifties as the West Indies piled on 569 before unleashing Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson, Courtney Walsh, and Malcolm Marshall an hour before lunch.
The inevitable followed as Australia soon slipped to 67-3, when Jones joined captain Allan Border out in the middle. Having bowled Geoff Marsh not too long ago, Walsh now steamed in to bowl at Jones.
Umpire Duncan signalled a no-ball as Walsh bowled Jones through the gate. Oblivious to Duncan’s call, Jones walked away from the crease. Sensing an opportunity, Walsh gestured at the ball.
Hooper ran in from the slip cordon, picked up the ball, uprooted a stump, and appealed for run out. Border had warned Jones of the impending danger, but the he was too late getting back to the crease. Square-leg umpire Cumberbatch ruled Jones run out.
This was not in accordance of what used to be Law 38.2 back then: “If a no-ball has been called, the striker shall not be given run out unless he attempts to run.” After the match, Border and Richards, the captains, both admitted to not having aware of the exact Law.
The dismissal, to quote for the Wisden Almanack, had a “psychological attack” on the Australians. They did manage to avoid the innings defeat, but that was about it. The West Indies won by 10 wickets.
Australia again managed to eek out a lead in the third Test, but it ended in a draw, and the hosts sealed the series with a 343-run win in the fourth match. The tourists, however, did end the series with a consolation win.
