Altona did not let the bizarre dismissal of gun batsman Aaron Maynard stop it from securing its fourth win from five matches in Victorian Sub-District Cricket.
All the talk in the A’s camp after Saturday’s scrappy four-wicket win against Croydon at the Frank Kirk Oval centred on the rare wicket of Maynard.
He had moved along to a confident 29 when he smashed a shot to square leg. The ball deviated off the fingers of the fielder and into the umpire, only to rebound back to the fielder for a catch.
The umpires convened and ruled it out, with Croydon captain Hagan Shakespeare accepting the decision.
“It was a controversial decision,” A’s coach Mike Davenport said. “Probably in the spirit of cricket, their captain could’ve called him back … I’m not saying that it’s right or wrong.”
For the record, Cricket Victoria manager Peter Binns says the umpires got it spot on.
Law 32.3 (e) states: “A catch shall be considered to have been fairly made if a fielder catches the ball after it has touched an umpire, another fielder or the other batsman.”
Croydon still managed to post 121 from 37 overs as the A’s coughed up 24 extras and the tail wagged to recover from a precarious 4-8.
Lee Elmore was the pick of the A’s bowlers with 3-24, while spinner all-rounder and captain Shane Jones took 3-28.
The A’s run chase was patchy, like their bowling performance. They lost their first wicket for no runs, followed by a recovery before Maynard’s bad luck sparked a mini-collapse of 4-8. A second wind provided by Josh Young (38) and Jones (26 not out) proved to be the knock-out blow.
