A nail-biting County Championship match ended in controversial circumstances with Worcestershire’s Ethan Brookes initially refusing to walk after Essex’s Jamie Porter claimed a low catch, with replays - not available to the umpires - suggesting the ball may have bounced.
Brookes, batting with an injured hand, had constructed a 64-run last-wicket stand with No.11 Jacob Duffy, to which Duffy had contributed no runs. As Brookes hit his seventh six to move to 88 and bring the target within 30 runs, hopes were beginning to build of a famous Pears victory.
However, the next ball brought an end to proceedings, Brookes getting a leading edge which spooned back to Porter, who slid in to claim a low catch. As Essex began to celebrate, Brookes stood his ground, pointing down the wicket as if to suggest the ball had bounced. Porter responded by pointing at Brookes and the pair exchanged words. In the background, the umpire knocked off the bails and raised his finger, indicating that the game had ended. After some discussion, a dejected Brookes accepted the decision, shaking the hands of Porter and his Essex teammates.
Low catches are a regular source of cricketing controversy, even in games with a TV umpire, which the County Championship does not have. Cameras have a foreshortening effect, which can cast doubt on clean low catches, while umpires generally look for fingers being under the ball as the deciding factor in the question of whether the ball has been grounded.
In this case, a slo-mo replay suggests the ball may have bounced just before Porter’s fingers closed around it, though the quality of the pictures make a firm judgement difficult. Just as technology has revealed that batters don’t always know whether or not they have hit the ball, contrary to accepted wisdom, so too is it possible for fielders to be convinced that a catch is clean when it has in fact been grounded.
The dismissal completed an excellent game for Porter, who finished with six wickets in the innings and eight in the match as Essex wrapped up their first win of the season. For Worcestershire, the defeat continued a tough start to a season which began with a heroic rearguard against Somerset, batting out 200 overs to a nine-down draw in a game which also featured umpiring controversy, before succumbing to the biggest defeat in County Championship history against Yorkshire.
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