Anis Mahmood

Cricket World Cup 2023

Two balls had been played in the men's World Cup game on Thursday at the Ekana Stadium when a black kite emerged above the northwest corner of the field. It created a sever silhouette hanging all but still in the cruelly cloudless steel sky by volubly rolling its wings to aid it tread air.The bird examined the ground many meters below for a considerable amount of time as it hovered at almost the same height as the symmetrical ring of roof of the 50,000-seat stadium. Then it dove, a frigid plunge out of the heat into some poor edible minding its own business among the blades of grass, as unconscious of its impending death as it was that two of cricket's most illustrious teams were about to walk on its turf. The kite's talons flashed, tore, and grabbed as it got closer to the ground. With the same startling suddenness as it had arrived, it left completely loaded.Australia was destroyed by South Africa in a slower but no less devastating fashion. The ball descended from the same location for two of the six catches the Aussies missed, while two of the five sixes Quinton de Kock hit to record his second century in as many innings in the competition flew through the same area of sky as the kites.Throughout, Pat Cummins' crew had a similar low-key appearance to how high the kite had been. Even though De Kock and Temba Bavuma had the lone century stand in the five ODIs played at this venue, their bowlers were able to recover after that. De Kock and Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram subsequently each shared a half-century partnership.As a result, South Africa's final total of 311/7 was arguably 30 runs below what they could have achieved. But it didn't really matter. Australia's time on the field was clouded by the constant drizzle of dropped catches. In addition to their own oddly weak performance at the crease, they also suffered from what could be described as imaginative umpiring.More than just Steven Smith and his batting partner Marnus Labuschagne gasped in shock at how DRS determined that a straightening delivery from Kagiso Rabada that struck Steven Smith on the flap of his pad as he jumped upward would have hit the stumps and not veer over them."I was looking at the screen and I said to Joel [Wilson] good decision [for not out],'" Labuschagne recalled. "From the front, it appeared to be lowering a leg. When Steve asked what I thought, I responded, "No, I don't think it's close.Rabada disagreed, which is not surprising: "I was hoping for umpire's call [to keep the review]. It seemed to just skid through, in my opinion. It barely bounced at all. Steve crosses his stumps as he moves. That is his set-off. Quinny's angle and mine both gave it a good look. We chose to ascend. Although it wasn't as clear as missing, I believed it to be near.De Kock showed his skepticism, saying, "I didn't really think it was out. It's nearer, as I said. I thought it was at least the umpire's call, but let's check. "KG" stated that it was relatively close. We both possessed an insignificant quantity of devotion, so let's have a look. We weren't convinced the rerun was out when we initially observed it on the screen, but three red hues later, we discovered it was. We sensed awe and joy concurrently.Then, despite the fact that the ball touched Stoinis' bottom hand's glove when that hand was not gripping the bat, Richard Kettleborough, the television official, determined that Stoinis had been caught by Rabada – beautifully by De Kock diving down the leg side. The gloves were in contact, which is the right reading and Kettleborough's stated justification. Further complicating matters, it appeared from the press and public replays that Stoinis' gloves weren't in contact at the crucial moment. Two of the four foreign umpires who participated in a post-incident informal survey agreed with Kettleborough, and the other two felt that Stoinis shouldn't have been awarded.Again, Labuschagne was the non-striker. He claimed: "The umpires truly had no idea what was going on. They observed what we did. His hand appeared to have been off the bat because it struck the glove. Marcus and I asked if they verified before going to the side-on angle, but they didn't. The spike was all they had seen up close.It appeared that there was ample natural light between the handle and the two gloves. However, the third umpire's room has a larger screen with a clearer image than ours, and I've been in there before. It appears that the Australians will approach officialdom about the matter, if necessary.It was unclear, but I'm confident we'll figure it out or go on.De Kock was also unaware: "I just attempted to make the catch, whether it was off his bat, glove, or what have you. I was on the wrong side since it happened too quickly for me to notice what was going on. I merely raised my hand since everyone else seemed interesting. I took the gallery up. Many of the guys yelled that it was off the glove or bat, so "Tems" [Bavuma] went for it. "It's about focusing on the next ball," said Rabada when asked how he managed to stay involved and grounded enough to take 3/33 in eight quick overs. We merely follow the umpires' judgments and those that technology impacts. Technology worked in our favor.The contest became a sad march to defeat as Stoinis' removal dropped Australia to 70/6 in the 18th over. The match's outcome was confirmed in the 41st over when they were bowled out for 177. In the 109 ODIs between the nations, South Africa had dismissed them for less than a run 12 times, but this time the result had more weight to it. For the first time in their World Cup history, the Australians have now dropped four straight games—the first three against South Africa, England, and India in 2019 and the most recent one to India on Sunday. This is a team, keep in mind, that has won of the dozen crowns that have yet been contested and that has won all 33 games that it has played in the competition from May 27, the year 1999 till. Wins vs Sri Lanka on Saturday in Delhi and the Australians on Thursday amounted to neither in terms of more than a pair of matches played, two games won, and seven to go. Although winning over Australia means more, it still doesn't convince South Africans locally and abroad that this time will be different. Sometimes you don't get the memo if you're the first one in.