Klinger Dismissed on Seventh Ball of the Over in BBL

Cricketnext Staff | Updated: January 13, 2019, 8:04 PM IST

The Big Bash League clash between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers on Sunday was marred by controversy as opener Michael Klinger was dismissed on the ‘seventh’ ball of an over during the hosts’ run-chase at the Optus Stadium.

The veteran opener was caught near the third man boundary by Steve O’Keefe off the bowling of Ben Dwarshuis in the second over of Scorchers’ innings, slashing hard at a short delivery. The umpires went to the third umpire to check whether the catch was taken clean. Replays showed that the fielder had his fingers underneath the ball and ‘OUT’ was shown on the big screen.

However, both on-field umpires Geoff Joshua, Simon Fry and TV umpire Nathan Johnstone failed to realise that Dwarshuis was bowling his seventh legal delivery of the over.

Klinger walked back to the dugout, having scored one from five balls, unaware of the situation.

Scorchers coach Adam Voges said the controversy was “not ideal” when asked about it on Channel Seven.

“Obviously it’s the umpires’ jobs to count the number of balls in an over,” he said.

The incident proved to be inconsequential in the larger scheme of things for the Scorchers as they raced to the 178-run target with seven wickets and seven balls to spare. Opener Cameron Bancroft anchored the run-chase with a fabulous unbeaten 87 off 61 balls and was well-supported by Ashton Turner at the other end with 60 from 30 balls.