Story behind cricket's most bizarre dismissal

By
Faizan Lakhani
|

KARACHI: A video of has gone viral on the internet showing one of the most bizarre out in cricket, leaving all cricket fans amused and puzzled.

The video shows the umpire declare a batsman out caught behind - with no contact made with either bat or stumps.

The batsman walked without protest, most assumed it was a problem-free decision.

In the video, it can be clearly seen that the ball was away from the bat and at no time made contact.

Upon investigation and discussions with players involved in the particular match, it has been confirmed to Geo.tv by multiple sources that the match was played between Surrey and Bradford Leeds University in 2007 and it was a three-day match.

The batsman in question is Thomas Merilaht, the bowler Mohammed Akram and behind the wicket was Jon Batty.

The scorecard of the match mentions Thomas Merilaht caught by wicketkeeper Jon Batty, bowled by Mohammad Akram after scoring 28.

A player involved in the match, on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that there was an appeal from the second slip and gully positions, and umpired acted upon this appeal.

When asked why the batsmen did not protest to the decision, the player said that the batsman was already feeling uncomfortable because of being hit earlier.

“The batsman got hit on his rib cage twice before this happened and that’s why he left without saying anything. The umpire was also supervising his first official match and was under pressure,” he revealed.

It is not yet clear why the video has surfaced on social media, but it has provoked a new debate among cricket fans on standards of umpiring worldwide.