The last play of Australia’s World Cup opener at the MCG ended that contest prematurely because Umpires Dharmasena and Dar got a decision plainly wrong. Here is what happened.
Umpire Dar upheld an LBW appeal by Josh Hazlewood against James Taylor. As the ball trickled towards cover point, Taylor and his partner James Anderson set off for a quick single. Even though Umpire Dar gave the batsman Out, James Anderson who was running away from Umpire Dar headed to the batting end. Glenn Maxwell threw the stumps down from cover point with Anderson short of his crease.
James Taylor decided to review the LBW decision and this was reversed upon review. Even though Taylor was ruled to be not out, Dharmasena requested an Umpire Review for the run out. This was completed, and the Anderson was ruled out, ending the match.
The ICC’s rules on this are clear. 3.6(a) of Appendix 7 (which specifies the rules for DRS) of the ICC’s Standard ODI Playing Conditions for 2014-15, which apply to this tournament clearly states the following:
a) If following a Player Review request, an original decision of ‘Out’ is changed to ‘Not Out’, then the ball is still deemed to have become dead when the original decision was made (as per Law 23.1(a)(iii)). The batting side, while benefiting from the reversal of the dismissal, will not benefit from any runs that may subsequently have accrued from the delivery had the on-field umpire originally made a ‘Not Out’ decision, other than any No Balls penalty that could arise under 3.3 (g) above.
The rule is in place for precisely the situation described above. The ball should have been considered ‘Dead’ when the original decision was made. The correct outcome after the reversal of the LBW decision should have been to disallow the Leg Bye and put Taylor back on strike.
It is remarkable that two of the world’s best Umpires, in a big World Cup opener for one of the two host nations, should miss this. The ICC’s response to this should be interesting. If there is in fact justification for Dharmasena and Dar’s decision, it will have to overcome the rules specified in 3.6(a).
The third umpire is blameless in the matter as all matters of fact, relating to the LBW review and the Run Out review were correctly reported to the Umpires on the field.
Update: The same text is found in Appendix 6 of the 2015 World Cup Playing Conditions. (h/t Jonathan Dixon)
Update II: The ICC has acknowledged that the ball should have been called dead.