Umpires left clueless. Middle stump falls but bails stay on!

A truly bizarre dismissal in Victorian cricket appears to have defied the laws of physics and divided opinion as to whether or not it’s out. A seemingly inexplicable photo has gone viral in recent days, showing a set of stumps with the middle stump missing but both bails still on.

Moonee Valley batsman Jatinder Singh was given out against Strathmore Heights despite the bails not being dislodged when the middle stump was knocked out of the ground.

Moonee Valley captain Michael Ozbun has a few theories as to how the anomaly can be explained.

“We had no idea what the actual ruling on it was, but we all admired it for a few minutes,” Ozbun told media. “You probably couldn’t do that again if you tried. However, Rules say, “if both bails remain “on top“ of the stumps, or if any part of a displaced bail is above unbroken stumps, the stumps are not deemed to be ‘down’. In this case, both the bails were on top of stumps and weren’t “displaced“, and they were both technically above the “unbroken stumps.“ The report added, justifying the umpires’ decision, “But keen cricket followers would of course know the first part of Law 28 also states that a wicket is considered down if a stump is “struck out of the ground.“