Iqbal was on 34 when the tall fast bowler thought he had gathered a sharp, low catch
There was a moment of controversy in the 15th over of the second ODI between New Zealand and Bangladesh when Tamim Iqbal survived an appeal for caught-and-bowled off fast bowler Kyle Jamieson.
The incident happened when Iqbal was on 34, and he struck a full ball straight back. Jamieson, 6 feet 8 inches tall, then dived forward in his followthrough to take a low catch with both hands on the ball before momentum sent him to the floor. The on-field umpires asked Iqbal to wait as they asked the TV umpire Chris Gaffaney to adjudicate if the catch was clean with a soft-signal of out.
Replays then showed that Jamieson had grabbed the catch cleanly but the issue was with his followthrough thereafter. When Jamieson fell forward, part of the ball – held firmly in his right hand – was grazing the pitch before he got up again to celebrate.
Although Jamieson had no doubt he had dismissed Iqbal, celebrating with a big roar after the effort, it was Gaffaney’s opinion that the bowler was still not in total control of the catch when the ball grazed the pitch, and therefore Iqbal was not out.
The key law was section 33.3 which states: “The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder’s person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement.”
It was the “complete control” over movement where Gaffaney ruled the catch would not count.
The law is further explained on the MCC’s e-learning website. It says, “when players dive and catch the ball, they will not have complete control of their movement and the ball until they have landed and come to a complete stop.”
When the screen at Hagley Oval displayed Gaffaney’s decision, Jamieson was displeased with it, throwing his hands in the air in disbelief. Iqbal would go on to reach his sixth fifty against New Zealand in the 25th over before falling for 78.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx