VIDEO | Adelaide Strikers reject umpire’s decision and call Brisbane’s James Pattinson back to crease

12/19/2018

In a day and age when sportsmanship in cricket has come under question, we are often reminded why the sport is called the Gentleman’s Game. Something similar happened during the first game of the Big Bash League when Adelaide players called James Pattinson back to the crease after he was ruled out.

Being invited to bat first by the Strikers, Brisbane Heat was in deep trouble as they were reduced to 92/6 with Ben Cutting back in the pavilion in the 13th over of the innings. James Pattinson was the new man at the crease and he joined wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson who was at the striker’s end. Facing leg-spinner Rashid Khan, Peirson dabbed the ball on the off-side and set off for a quick single. Pattinson was running towards the danger end and he dived desperately to get into the crease while the bails were dislodged at the striker’s end.

While this might sound like a very normal cricketing delivery, what followed was anything but normal. The square leg umpire decided to go to the third umpire to get the correct decision. Replays showed that Pattinson’s bat was grounded and the Brisbane batsman appeared to be safe from the multiple angles that we saw. But, to everyone’s surprise, the red button was pressed as the third umpire ruled him out. Pattinson, and the rest of the players and officials, just stood there smiling because everyone assumed that the third umpire had pressed the wrong button.

On realizing that the third umpire’s decision was indeed out, Pattinson didn’t want to go off the field and the two on-field umpires also had a discussion among themselves regarding that and probably they also had a word with the third umpire before asking the batsman to leave. Ricky Ponting, who is a part of the official commentary team, called it a ‘100%’ wrong decision while Pattinson was on his way back to the hut.

But the drama wasn’t done yet. Just as the commentators were getting ready to go on a rant about bad officiating, suddenly Pattinson made his way back to the crease and was ready to take strike amidst a huge roar in the packed Gabba. Everyone just assumed that the third umpire had changed his mind and decided to let the batsman play on. Oh, but that was not true either.

With the third umpire sticking to his decision, Colin Ingram, who was picked up by Delhi Capitals in the IPL auction last night, had walked upto the umpires and withdrawn the appeal. This was revealed by wicketkeeper Alex Carrey, who was mic’d up for the match, a couple of overs later.

"I'm sure you guys probably thought he was safe," Carey told the commentators, reported Cricket Australia.

"What we could see on the big screen (was) that James was in, so Colin just told the umpires that we all acknowledged that we thought he was in and was free to bat on. Everyone could see it, I'm not sure what was seen upstairs."