Anrich Nortje, like his teammates, was convinced that the catch made by Simon Harmer when Marnus Labuschagne’s bat slipped was clean, but after several replays, the third umpire ruled ruled in favor of the batter.
Rabchagne, who was 70 at the time, pushed a delivery from Marco Jansen in the 40th inning with a slip to Hamer’s left. The ball remained low and it looked like Hamer pulled the catch inches off the ground. However, Labuchagne defended his position and referee Paul Reifel called for help from third referee Richard Kettleborough who, after checking several angles, concluded that the ball had touched the ground.
But Nortje asked for another opinion. “We all thought it was out. Simon [Harmer] was sure it was straight. If you look at the front at an angle it looks like your fingers are down. Too bad We didn’t realize it while we were there. It was a big problem at the time. We’re sure it was there.
Speaking about how he advised Jansen to put it behind him, Nortje said:
“You just have to try and focus again, it can quickly get out of hand where you feel you’ve been hard done by. I told Marco as well to just try and focus on what you were doing. Try and get through that phase where that drifts out of your mind again.”
Nortje eventually dismissed Labuschagne for 79 shortly before Stumps, with Australia ending the day’s play at 147/2 on Wednesday (January 4).
When asked about his comments regarding the decision, Labuschagne said:
“The easiest way to explain it is that I nicked it and looked back, saw that the type of the catch, regardless of whether it’s caught or not, with the technology, there’s so many ones that people are adamant they have caught – and Simon said that, I’ve caught that – and in the old rules of catching it because you felt like your fingers are under it, absolutely, but in the new footage those are so scrutinized because you see so many angles.
“Especially that side-on angle, makes it look really bad, then the front-on angle actually looks pretty good,” said Labuschagne. “Without the TV, I would walk. That’s how the game works. , you can see part of the ball touching the grass.”