Victoria and South Australia faced off in the 16th match of the current Sheffield Shield at the Adelaide Oval. After falling behind badly at 16/4 to 252 all out in the first inning, South Australia rallied. When Victoria captain Will Surtherland called up Jake Graser-McGurk during the game after the umpire had declared him out, it was one of the most intriguing moments of the competition thus far.
He took the strike in the thirty-first over, but when he was on ten, a delivery with his bat beat him completely out. The first slip caught the delivery as it bounced off the wicketkeeper’s gloves. After the umpire initially declared the hitter out, Sutherland sent him back. Fraser-McGurk, who struck 101 off 106 deliveries to lead his team to a reasonable total, was able to reach his century and stabilize the innings for South Australia thanks to the Victoria players’ choice.
Bizarre scenes at Adelaide Oval as Jake Fraser-McGurk is given out caught, but is allowed to keep batting moments later 😲 #SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/WaDPTGYkt3
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 29, 2023
I was a little taken aback. McGurk, Jame Fraser
Regarding the incident, Fraser-McGurk spoke up and expressed his shock at the umpire’s ruling. He said that, in the end, the choice was the right one.
“I guess I missed it by about three feet; it spun around a little before coming off Sam Harper’s glove and landing in Peter Handscomb’s grasp. Wisden cited Fraser-McGurk as saying, “There are times when they [the opposing teams] are just like, ‘yay,’ and it might not have been a serious appeal, but then the umpire’s starting to nod his head, and I was a little bit in disbelief.”
“After I turned to leave, umpire Michael Graham-Smith altered his mind a few seconds later. The Vic lads were not pleased with this, as they felt they had made some bad choices. However, that’s the nature of the game, and ultimately, you want the right umpiring call, he continued.