Frustrated Scorchers skipper Ashton Turner is adamant he took the catch that was overruled by the TV umpire and allowed young Oliver Peake to lead the Melbourne Renegades to a final ball victory on Wednesday night.
Peake was on 15 when he skied David Payne to Turner, who took the catch one handed before rolling onto the Optus Stadium turf.
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But it was that roll that got TV umpire Stephen Dionysius involved – stating Turner’s hand made contact with the turf, therefore giving Peake a reprieve.
And the 19-year-old took full advantage, hitting a six off the final ball to keep the Renegades’ season alive.
Speaking after the controversy, Turner was disappointed with the call – but believes the right decision was made under the current cricket laws.
“In the incident, I didn’t know that I put the ball on the ground. And it’s really frustrating because I think that everyone who is a cricket person or watched cricket or played cricket in a backyard knows that’s a catch right? That’s out,” he said.
“If it happens in the backyard, you’re walking off and giving your brother a send off and I’m sending them on their way, right? “But that’s the letter of the law.
“The officials have made the right decision – we don’t dispute that. But it’s frustrating isn’t it?
“It’s one of those parts of the game. It probably cost us in the end.
“It’s frustrating but I’m not going to sit here and point my finger to that incident. We batted pretty average and we bowled pretty average and we were pretty average in the field as well.
“The crowd were clearly frustrated as well.
“The rules and regulations are written by people sitting in offices – not people out throwing themselves out in the outfield.
“I get it can be hard to have every scenario captured within the playing conditions. It’s frustrating because we were on the wrong end of it tonight.”
Ex-Aussie Test keeper Brad Haddin believes Turner was at a disadvantage with the grounding ruling given his shoulder injuries in the past.
“Normally when your ball goes over your head like that, you’re vulnerable when you fall back and his natural reaction is to save his shoulder rather than roll and try and get underneath the ball so you can understand what Turner did there,” he said.
“The crowd doesn’t like it but … that’s the rules.”
The Perth crowd were relentless in their booing after the decision to keep Peake at the crease – something the teenager was able to laugh about after hitting the winning runs.
“The crowd was going mental. And it seemed like every time I hit a run they were into me,” he shared.
“I hope I’m not the most hated (in Perth) – it was a pretty awesome atmosphere to play in front of, even if it is against you.
“It makes it almost a bit more satisfying. As the ball was flying into the crowd (off the final ball) the boos started to erupt even more – walking off I had people yelling at me from the top level. It was really cool to get it done.
“If that’s in a Sheffield Shield game or something like that, (the catch replay) is not getting picked up.
“Because we were out here (in BBL) with heaps of cameras and attention, I was just lucky tonight.”
Peake would finish 42 not out off 30 balls in a matchwinning effort.
He then had to rush from the ground to Perth Airport to catch a flight to Namibia where he will represent Australia in the ICC Under-19 World Cup.
“That’s what you dream of in the nets, in the backyard,” he said of his matchwinning heroics.
“I’m sure my brother would be watching at home – we had plenty of these situations in the backyard. Usually it was him doing the batting.”
The ‘Gades had needed 10 off the final Aaron Hardie over before it came down to four off the final ball.
Peake went for the ramp shot, and it sailed for six.
“I felt like he was trying to give me not much room … I was like stuff it, I’ve got to try and lift it over the top,” he shared.
“I had Whitey (coach Cameron White) in the dugout yelling at me to do it and then Sammy (Elliott) came down to meet me and said go for it as well – it gave me the confidence to take it on.”
The win keeps the Renegades finals hopes alive in BBL15, while for the Scorchers they miss out on jumping into top spot.
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