England captain Eoin Morgan understands why Australian centurion Glenn Maxwell was given a reprieve

Sport360 staff 19:24 07/02/2018
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  • A dejected Eoin Morgan in Hobart.

    England captain Eoin Morgan believes contested catches are an unavoidable part of the landscape after watching Glenn Maxwell cash in on a debatable decision and power Australia to victory in Hobart.

    Maxwell’s superb 103 not out saw the hosts to a second straight win in the Trans-Tasman T20 series, having thrashed New Zealand in Sydney, but it might easily have been a very different story.

    Having already been dropped by Alex Hales on 40 he chipped the ball to long-off on 59, where Jason Roy stooped to claim a low catch.

    Standing umpire Gerard Abood offered a ‘soft signal’ of out but sent it for review and was overturned by colleague Chris Brown, despite typically inconclusive replays and the precarious position of the match.

    Morgan felt that was the wrong call but shied away from a hard luck story, admitting there was no easy way to avert such controversies.

    “Jason said it was out. I trust the player’s call, I agreed with the on-field umpire at the time, but I can understand how it got overturned,” he said after the five-wicket defeat in England’s first T20I outing of the series.

    “Sometimes you don’t get those decisions going your way. There were two dropped catches, officially.

    “My opinion doesn’t really matter but we always know TV makes it look worse than it is.”

    Asked if he would support a review of umpiring protocols for similar incidents, Morgan demurred.

    “I would say yes but I don’t know how, I don’t have an answer,” he said.

    “If there’s no right answer to something then you can’t correct it. I’m all for reviewing catches.

    “If the umpire is 60 metres away and can’t see he needs to go upstairs but there’s no solution to it yet. Until somebody comes up with one I’m not sure.”

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