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Australia's Steve Smith had to walk out to bat early in the powerplay overs as Mitchell Marsh lost his wicket in the sixth over. With David Warner getting out too, Australia needed a partnership. Smith was up for the task and playing himself in. He had hit Kagiso Rabada for two consecutive fours but then the ball hit him on the pad in front of the leg stump. It looked like the ball will go down the leg side and umpire Joel Wilson paid no heed to the appeal. But the ball-tracking technology left Smith shell-shocked as he had to leave the field reluctantly.
Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock was sure that the ball would go on to hit the stumps. He convinced skipper Temba Bavuma to review the decision. Bavuma went for the review and hawkeye showed that it was not just clipping the stumps but hitting the leg stump.
Seeing the ball-tracking, Smith’s jaw dropped as he could not believe what had just happened. He looked at his partner Marnus Labuschagne who was equally disappointed to see the ball hitting the leg stump. He shook his head and left. Even umpire Wilson looked surprised at the decision.
Smith departed after scoring 19 runs from 16 balls. After the three quick wickets, Australia's middle-order suffered a batting collapse. Australia were reduced to 70/6 in the 18th over. Marcus Stoinis' dismissal caused controversy as well. He was dismissed by Rabada too.
Earlier, Australian fielders were terrible as four catches were dropped and one was misjudged and missed completely. De Kock’s century, Aiden Markram’s half-century and contributions from middle-order helped South Africa post an above-par score of 311/7 at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.
Australian players’ catching efficiency has been the worst in the ongoing World Cup 2023. They have 54 per cent catching efficiency which is even below the likes of Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
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