Tom Rogers’ dismissal during Tuesday evening’s Big Bash League match at the SCG understandably raised eyebrows.
The Melbourne Stars opener was caught by Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques, and the moment quickly drew comparisons to Mitchell Starc’s controversial ‘non-catch’ during the recent Ashes series in England.
One dismissal was given out, while on the other occasion, the batter survived. The inconsistency is impossible to ignore.
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The Stars were 0-28 in the fifth over when Rogers chipped a short delivery from Sixers seamer Jackson Bird towards Henriques at mid-on. The Sixers veteran lunged back with an outstretched arm, catching the ball one-handed before landing awkwardly on the turf.
However, replays suggested that Henriques scraped the ball along the ground as he fell back to the deck, with speculation on whether his fingertips were underneath the ball. Nevertheless, after on-field umpires sent the decision upstairs, third official Claire Polosak awarded the dismissal, and Rogers begrudgingly trudged off for 20 (19).
“I obviously felt it was out,” Henriques told reporters after the match.
“I felt I had complete control over the ball … I felt like the ball was never going to come out once I had landed.”
Six months earlier, Starc claimed an outfield catch during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s to dismiss England opener Ben Duckett for 50. However, Duckett was called back by third umpire Marais Erasmus after replays showed the ball had rubbed the turf before Starc completed the catch.
“I was very confused with that particular dismissal as well … I thought Mitch’s was out at Lord’s as well,” Henriques continued.
“It’s a bit of a grey area at the moment in the game.”
The incident prompted heated debate at the time, but Law 33.3 states that a catch is only completed once the fielder has total control over the ball and their own movement. Duckett was correctly adjudicated not out, while Rogers has every right to feel hard done by following his controversial dismissal.
So why the different outcomes? The reason for Duckett’s survival and Rogers’ departure is the much-maligned soft signal.
In May, the ICC announced that soft signals, where on-field umpires indicate their unofficial verdict on a potential wicket while sending a decision upstairs, would be removed from the playing conditions for international fixtures.
Using this system, the third umpire needed conclusive evidence to overturn an on-field verdict, resulting in several dubious decisions, most notably during last summer’s New Year’s Test between Australia and South Africa at the SCG.
“You should probably take the soft call completely out of it,” Australian bowler Josh Hazlewood declared at the time.
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However, ahead of the 2023/24 home summer, Cricket Australia decided to keep the system in place for the BBL and Women’s Big Bash League because third umpires are not available for all matches across both T20 tournaments.
“Prior to the season, the Cricket Australia Playing Conditions Advisory Committee (PCAC) discussed the merits prior of aligning with the ICC’s decision to remove the ‘soft signal’ for low catches,” Peter Roach, CA’s Head of Cricket Operations and Scheduling, confirmed to Fox Cricket in a statement.
“Where possible, our position is to align with the ICC to ensure consistency across the formats and levels of cricket.
“We also strive to align playing conditions across the Weber WBBL and KFC BBL, however occasionally factors such as access to a third umpire and number of broadcast cameras can make this difficult.
“Therefore the decision was made to retain the soft signal to ensure that if there was no third umpire, or no adequate view of the catch in question, or no definitive view of whether a catch is out or not out, that the umpire’s decision on-field remains.”
Speaking to Channel 7 on Tuesday, Polosak explained there was no conclusive evidence that Henriques’ catch touched the ground, so she could not overturn the soft signal decision of out.
“The ICC have removed the soft signal of out (but) we’re still paying that in domestic cricket,” Polosak said.
“As I was looking through the vision I was hoping I was able to see that … I did not have conclusive evidence to say there was no fingers under the ball so we stuck with the original decision of out, and that was how I made my decision.”
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Polosak copped some harsh criticism following Rogers’ dismissal, including from former Australian representatives, but because the footage could definitively prove that Henriques didn’t have his fingers under the ball, she followed due process.
Despite ending up on the wrong side of a marginal decision, Rogers himself confessed he thought Henriques’ catch was out.
“Moises controlled it and took it beautifully, but I suppose it’s just a grey area with what’s happened in the other game with Mitch Starc’s one,” Rogers told reporters after the Stars’ four-wicket victory.
“It’s obviously a hard one to be on the rough side of it, but at the end of the day, I’ve hit a bad shot and he has taken a nice catch, so it probably is out.”
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