Mitchell Starc has accepted his day-four catch of Ben Duckett was rightly ruled not out, but Australia have used the incident to suggest their opponents should accept that Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal was also correctly adjudicated.
During Saturday’s final session, Starc had been certain he had taken a clean catch off Duckett, holding his finger up to signal ‘out’ before television umpire Marais Erasmus ruled in England’s favour.
Replays showed Starc sliding the ball along the ground shortly after taking the grab, with Erasmus deeming the fielder had not been in control of his body, a call later endorsed by cricket’s Laws custodians, the Marylebone Cricket Club.
By the end of the second Ashes Test that Australia won by 43 runs, Starc had come around too.
“I had no doubt I was under control of the ball. They’re going by the letter of the law, which states that in bracing my body, the ball was on the turf,” Starc told cricket.com.au on Sunday following Australia’s day five victory at Lord’s.
“We’ve got to accept that one just like they’re going to have to accept the stumping” Mitch Starc gives us his view on that contentious ‘non-catch’ at Lord’s #Ashes
“It’s going to be interesting moving forward with (similar catches).
“But we’ve got to accept that one, just like they’re going to have to accept the stumping.”
That was in reference to the even more contentious dismissal of Bairstow, which ignited a war of words and suggestions from England captain Ben Stokes that Australia had acted contrary to the spirt of cricket.
It has prompted a firestorm of reaction, with Australia adamant the dismissal was similarly out by the letter of the law which requires the ball to be “settled” in the wicketkeepers’ gloves before it is dead
“Let me put it this way – his (Bairstow’s) was as much out as mine was not out,” Starc said. “If you’re going by the letter of the law, they were the right decisions. We’ll leave it in the hands of the officials.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins had a similar view, saying of Starc’s catch: “As soon as I saw it come up on screen, I knew that to the letter of the law that’s probably not out so we all accepted that decision.
“You could argue he had control but to the letter of the law, it’s not out. It’s unfortunate but it’s not out.”
Cummins’ counterpart Ben Stokes suggested the rule could be simplified.
“I think the law on it is 12 lines long, but it could just be as simple as if the ball touches the ground, it’s not out,” Stokes told reporters after the match, referring to Law 33.2 on ‘fair catches’.
The MCC had clarified that rule in the aftermath of the Starc catch.
It pointed out that a catch is only completed when a fielder “obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement
“The ball cannot touch the ground before then,” the MCC said in a tweet.
“In this particular incident, Mitchell Starc was still sliding as the ball rubbed the ground, therefore he was not in control of his movement.”
