Michael Neser’s Controversial Catch in BBL: A huge controversy creates during the 25th league match of BBL 2022-23 played on the first day of 2023.
Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers were scheduled to play the 25th league match of the BBL 2022-23 season at The Gabba, Brisbane. Winning the toss, heat opted to bat first and scored massive 224 runs for 5 wickets loss.
McSweeney scored the team’s highest run scoring 84 runs off 51 balls. In return, the Sixers just scored 209 after losing all 10 wickets. Michael Neser got a three-wicket haul while Mark Steketee, Matthew Kuhnemann, and Ross Whiteley scalped two wickets each.
Michael Neser’s Controversial Catch
Apart from these, an interesting incident took place during the 19th over of Sydney’s innings and opens up a debate over the laws of cricket.
Mark Steketee bowled the 19th over while Silk made an attempt to fly the ball over the ropes. But Michael Neser who was standing at the rope made an attempt to catch the ball. The running attempt made him lose balance and made him to step inside the boundary.
But Michael Neser threw the ball over the air in an attempt to save the boundary but later realised the push wasn’t enough for the ball to reach the field. Thus he made a catch again inside the boundary in the air without touching the boundary area and again threw the ball over the boundary line which he rushed and caught inside the rope.
After a bit of confusion, the umpire gave the decision in the favor of Neser and Silk was declared out at 41. However, the umpire’s call did not go down well with the fans as it sparked a debate over the laws of cricket.
Michael Neser’s juggling act ends Silk’s stay!
Cue the debate about the Laws of Cricket… #BBL12 pic.twitter.com/5Vco84erpj
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 1, 2023
What MCC Laws Says Over Michael Neser’s Controversial Catch
A rule from the MCC Laws of Cricket states that fielders are allowed to go even further if they want to hold a boundary catch.
Again, the key parts here are that Neser first made contact with the ball while within the boundary and was never grounded over the rope while touching the ball.
Law 19.5.2 states: “A fielder who is not in contact with the ground is considered to be grounded beyond the boundary if his/her final contact with the ground, before his/her first contact with the ball after it has been delivered by the bowler, was not entirely within the boundary.”
Speaking on 7Cricket post-match, Neser referenced the aforementioned Renshaw catch while adding, “I didn’t know if they’d changed the rules so I’m going to give it a crack and thankfully they didn’t change the rules.”
Fox Cricket commentator and legend of the sport, Adam Gilchrist, was one of many confused as to how it could be given out in the immediate aftermath of Neser’s effort, but later admitted the umpires made the right call while also suggesting his colleague Mike Hussey was also unaware the catch was within the laws of the game.
READ: BBL Points Table 2022-23 – Big Bash League Team Standings
